When people talk about notable sites in Marin County, the discussion usually centers on southern cities, such as Sausalito and Tiburon, or coastal stretches, including Point Reyes National Seashore. Novato, with its inland location flanking Petaluma, doesn’t make the cut as often, but it should. The city of about 52,000 has a host of important buildings visible to anyone driving down Highway 101. Novato is home to the Buck Institute, one of the only I.M. Pei commissions in California, the iconic Birkenstock Building, and the Harkleroad Revolving Roundhouse. Now, for the first time, the latter is on sale. The Round House, the “French Fry House” (a hyperbolic paraboloid structure) and five other properties are listed together and are selling for $3.3 million. “It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of local history,” listing agent Angelo Baglieri said during a phone call with SFGATE. For Baglieri, listing the homes is a dream that has been almost a decade in the making. She initially cold-called the owner, Harold Pozzi, in 2017, and the two met in person at the property a couple of years later. At first, Baglieri had difficulty accessing the spinner’s famous home. “The doorknob is in the middle of the door,” he said. He stayed in touch after the visit, dropped off a bottle of wine over the holidays, and got the call this year: Pozzi was ready to sell. The seven detached homes sit on approximately 2.25 acres, off the De Long Avenue exit of Highway 101 along Harkle Road. The street, named after Pozzi’s grandfather, Sam Harkleroad, was almost renamed Harkleroad Road. Currently, all the houses are occupied by tenants who pay their own utilities. Although Sam Harkleroad has no formal training in architecture, his creations have stood the test of time. More than 60 years ago, using many recycled materials, he designed both the French Fry House and the Round House, which rotates 320 degrees over the course of 20 minutes. Bringing these buildings to life along with a now-dismantled wind turbine earned Harkleroad the nickname “The Frank Lloyd Wright of Novato” from the Los Angeles Times. “I’m very impressed with the ingenuity,” Baglieri said, noting that the revolving house rotates using a deceptively simple method. The 1,562-square-foot home rests on a plinth and rides on an old railroad track. The movement is operated by a washing machine motor and controlled with a switch that simply says “clockwise” and “counterclockwise.” Harkleroad was very intentional with the placement of the homes, Baglieri said: They are all built on bedrock. The Fries House is a rare architectural feat in itself, sharing its design with several legendary “fries” stadiums, including London’s Lee Valley VeloPark and Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. Marin County locals and others who regularly cross the Marin-Sonoma border on the 101 probably also remember the shop building, which featured a power-generating wind turbine. built into the roof. The building is still there, although Pozzi removed the turbine in 2021 after strong gusts of atmospheric rivers and storms in the region. He was concerned that the spinning 50-gallon drums could dislodge and hit passing vehicles on the highway. Baglieri isn’t sure who will get these unique properties, but he hopes the new owner will keep the houses intact. Given the nature of these striking structures, he pointed out an unexpected peculiarity. The round house design has given some hungry travelers the wrong impression over the years. After seeing it from the highway, “people thought it was a restaurant and went into the house,” he said.
