Built in 1963 by tinkerer Sam Harkleroad, Novato’s iconic rotating round house in Marin County, California, has been listed for sale for the first time as part of a seven-property package asking $3.3 million.
A circular house overlooking Highway 101 in Novato, Calif. is on the market for the first time ever. The dwelling has fascinated generations of commuters with its ability to turn on a central pivot, standing as a landmark along the Marin County corridor.
The History and Architecture of Sam Harkleroad’s Dwellings
Sam Harkleroad built the unconventional round house in 1963 before he died in 1993. His grandson, Harold Pozzi, noted that the creator was tired of the same old houses
and thought normal residential architecture was boring. Harkleroad dotted Marin County with unusual structures without having any formal architectural training.
Over six decades ago, using many recycled materials, Harkleroad designed both the round house and its neighbor, built in 1959. His imaginative constructions earned him the moniker of The Frank Lloyd Wright of Novato
from the Los Angeles Times, according to reporting from SFGATE.
How the Rotating Mechanism and Potato Chip House Work
The 1,562-square-foot round house sits atop a pedestal, moving along an old railroad track. The movement is operated by a washing machine motor and controlled with a switch that simply says “clockwise” and counterclockwise,
enabling the structure to spin 320 degrees over the course of 20 minutes.
Listing agent Angelo Baglieri expressed that he is very impressed with the ingenuity of the rotating house, which spins using a deceptively simple method.
Next to the round house sits the Potato Chip House,
a hyperbolic paraboloid structure whose swoopy roof approaches the ground at two points. This design shares its architectural lineage with legendary arenas like London’s Lee Valley VeloPark and Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome.
Inside the $3.3 Million Seven-Property Offering
The round house and the potato chip house are part of a broader offering. The seven detached homes sit on about 2.25 acres just off Highway 101’s De Long Avenue exit along Harkle Road, which was named after Pozzi’s grandfather, Sam Harkleroad.
All seven properties are listed together with an asking price of $3.3 million. Currently, every home on the site is occupied by tenants who pay their own utilities.
The Decade-Long Effort to Bring the Property to Market
Listing agent Angelo Baglieri pursued the listing for nearly a decade. He initially cold-called Harold Pozzi in 2017, meeting him in person on the property a couple of years later. Accessing the spinning home initially proved difficult because the doorknob is located in the middle of the door.
Baglieri maintained contact over the years by dropping off a bottle of wine during the holidays until Pozzi finally decided to sell. Describing the offering, Baglieri called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of local history.
Tenant Perspectives and Quirks of Living in a Landmark
The unusual architecture has occasionally startled travelers on Highway 101. Over the years, motorists spotting the round domicile from the freeway thought it was a restaurant and would walk into the house,
according to Baglieri.
Additionally, the property once featured a workshop building topped by an energy-generating wind turbine constructed using 50-gallon drums. Pozzi removed the turbine in 2021 after heavy atmospheric rivers and storms struck the region, fearing the whirling drums might dislodge and strike vehicles on the nearby freeway.
