Donald Olsen

For the American violinist, educator and painter, see Donald P. Olsen. For the member of the Alaska Senate, see Donny Olson.

Donald Olsen (July 23, 1919—March 21, 2015) was an American architect and educator.[1] He was an important mid-20th-century San Francisco Bay Area modernist architect.[2][3]

Biography

Olsen was born in Minnesota. He studied at the University of Minnesota, and later under Walter Gropius at Harvard University.[1][4]

After graduation, he briefly worked at the firm of Eliel Saarinen and Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.[4] Olsen established an architecture practice in Berkeley, California in 1953. In 1954, he designed Olsen House (known as Donald and Helen Olsen House) in the International Style in Berkeley, California.[5][6] Olsen was a member of the University of California, Berkeley's School of Architecture faculty, which became the Department of Architecture when the College of Environmental Design was founded in 1959. Along with Vernon DeMars and Joseph Esherick, he designed Wurster Hall, which opened in 1964.

References

1. "Remembering Berkeley architect Donald Olsen". Berkeleyside. May 18, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
2. Keeling, Brock (March 11, 2020). "Donald Olsen's midcentury-modern masterpiece bumps up asking price". Curbed SF. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
3. Lubell, Sam (April 6, 2015). "Bay Area modernist architect Donald Olsen dies". The Architect’s Newspaper. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
4. Serraino, Pierluigi (August 28, 2015). "Donald Olsen (1919–2015)". Artforum. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
5. "WEEKLY HIGHLIGHT Olsen, Donald and Helen, House, Alameda County, California".
6. Weinstein, Dave (July 10, 2004). "Against the grain / Architect bucked Bay Area's take on..." SFGATE. Retrieved December 30, 2023.

Further reading

• Landmarks Commission Embraces Modernism