A. Quincy Jones-Designed Midcentury Party House for Sale in Pasadena

Throughout their lives, Pasadena residents Adelaide and Alexander Hixon used their substantial wealth and prominent social position to give back to many causes. One of their philanthropic passions was education, with the pair staunchly supporting the local Westridge and Polytechnic schools, as well as Pasadena City College, CalTech and Yale University. And before her death in 2019 at age 101, Adelaide — heiress to an Iowa lumber fortune — bequeathed the couple’s longtime home and another structure on the same four-lot compound in the Linda Vista hills to Harvey Mudd College, where she’d previously helped found the Hixon Center for Sustainable Environmental Design in her husband’s memory.

The main house — designed in the 1950s by architect Thornton Ladd — recently sold for nearly $3 million, with proceeds going to the Claremont-based institution. But the adjacent midcentury modern building, designed by noted modernist architect A. Quincy Jones specifically for fundraising events and parties, is now available for the first time ever — asking $8 million.

“The A. Quincy Jones home that is currently on the market was built by the Hixon family to host events,” says Gus Ruelas, who is co-listing the property with Anthony Guthmiller and Mauricio Umansky, all of The Agency. “It definitely feels more like an event space. The kitchen was very obviously built for caterers. However, the home does feature three bedrooms and five baths, so it just needs some restoration and adjustments to make it a fully livable space. The architecture speaks for itself.”

Nestled at the end of a lengthy tree-lined driveway, on more than an acre of heavily wooded land situated at the southern end of the Arroyo Seco, the striking glass-and-metal building boasts just over 6,500 square feet of living space almost in its original state. Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the 1973 structure — besides its eye-catching façade that vaguely resembles a grand piano — is the expansive walls of glass framing breathtaking panoramic views of the Rose Bowl, San Gabriel Valley, Downtown L.A. and Pacific Ocean beyond.

Other highlights include a spacious circular motorcourt centered around a stunning bonsai tree, and a kitchen outfitted with a commercial-size refrigerator and cooktop embedded in a center island. A double-height, blue-carpeted living room sports a mod floor-to-ceiling fireplace as its focal point; directly above is a sun-drenched mezzanine level, while a video taken by the listing agents show whimsical touches like a bathroom clad in vintage wallpaper. Rounding it all out: an indoor-outdoor koi pond, plus several courtyards and atriums surrounded by gardens and a cascading waterfall.