Harold Nesland Dies; Award-Winning Architect

Soon after Harold Nesland earned his architecture certificate in 1955, the Ballard High School graduate was winning awards for his homes and offices.

He won "Home of the Month" from the local chapter of the Architecture Institute of America in 1955 and again in 1958. He designed the Roadside Community Chapel in Issaquah and the Bellevue Medical Art Center.

On car rides around the area, Mr. Nesland delighted in pointing out his accomplishments to friends and family.

So it is fitting that Mr. Nesland's memorial service will be held at a funeral home he designed.

Mr. Nesland died of heart failure Saturday (June 5) at the University of Washington Medical Center. He was 76.

Born in Ballard, Mr. Nesland graduated from Ballard High in 1941. The next year he joined the Navy and served on a minesweeper in the Pacific.

Mr. Nesland returned to Seattle in 1947 and enrolled in the University of Washington to study architecture. After graduation, he formed Mithun and Nesland in Bellevue.

In the late 1950s, Mr. Nesland decided to venture out on his own and founded Nesland and Associates. He lived with his wife, Peggy, in Renton and never retired.

Mr. Nesland enjoyed sailing and yachting.

Besides his wife, he is survived by sons Harold Nesland Jr., Seattle, and Bruce Nesland, Bellevue; daughter Karen Robles, Seattle; stepdaughter Kathy Kohout, Redwood City, Calif.; and stepson Timothy Bradshaw, Seattle. Also surviving are three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Green Funeral Home, 16551 N.E. 79th St., Redmond.