The post-and-beam house of architect Jean G Killion gracefully flows down a wooded hillside in Pasadena, Los Angeles County. It features a discreet entrance and an impressive vantage point to the rear.

Killion is one of the few recognised female architects in the immediate post-World War II period. Although Killion helped design many buildings while working for iconic practices such as Neutra & Alexander, the California property is the only one the press credited her as having designed entirely on her own. It was constructed in 1954 as her home and office while she was self-employed.

The three-bedroom Jean G Killion Residence has a dramatic three-storey structure with a low, pitched roof, projecting, stilted balconies, and redwood exterior siding, which brings to mind Japanese architecture and alpine chalets.

Recently, the Pasadena property been sympathetically renovated by HabHouse and is now on sale for $1.548m with Unique California Property and Joey Kiralla of Sotheby’s International Realty.

Inside, wooden interiors centre around a galleried living space with an 18ft-high ceiling and two-storey picture windows offering long views over Los Angeles and beyond. Mosaic brick flooring runs across its multi-levelled ground floor, and a part-concealed, L-shaped staircase, which accentuates the open layout.

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