Thursday, May 20, 2010

Mysterious Greene & Greene Like Houses

I belong to a Yahoo newsgroup on Greene & Greene design, architecture and furniture. I have always enjoyed the style of the Greene brothers, and, while not a strict copier, I have often been influenced by their design vocabulary. when working with clients with a fondness for Arts & Crafts style furniture. So, in 2003, while preparing to make a couple of rooms of furniture for one of my local clients, I took a trip to Pasadena to tour the Gamble House, the Huntington Museum, meet with John Hamm about lighting and visit a friend in Huntington Beach ... Good trip.

On my way to the airport, I ran into a friend and told him about my upcoming trip. He told me his sister-in-law, or someone related to him, lived in a G&G house and gave me her number .. I called her when I got to town and she agreed to let me visit her and her house ... Cool neighborhood ... I don't know if her house is a documented G&G but it sure had some similarities ... The whole neighborhood had a consistent Arts and Crafts feel. As I recall, she had some original plans and I glanced at them, but don't remember the details ... Click the photos to enlarge them and leave a comment if you know anything about the houses or the neighborhood ... Thanks ....
My memory is a little sketchy and I didn't take notes, but I think this is the front door of the 'sister-in-law'? Since she met me when I pulled up, I didn't take a lot of photos of the outside of the house ... I think hers was the 2nd or third on the left.
Her front door from the inside ...
She took me to meet her neighbor down the street at #309 ... He was also friendly and gave me a tour of his house ... I don't have a photo, but he had a definite G&G like stairway and I also recall some stained glass transom lights ...
The neighbor's front porch ...

Below I have posted photos of (I think) Charles's studio around the corner from the Gamble House .... I would love to know a little about that and what it looked like inside ... Thanks ...

3 comments:

Erik Hanson said...

There are photos of the interior of Charles Greene's Pasadena house in several publications, including The Bruce Smith & Alexander Vertikof book "Greene & Greene Masterworks". Another magazine (can't recall it just now, its here somewhere) focused on the interior colors, especially the blue dining room.

Unknown said...

There is a lot of Greene & Greene history in that little area. A little about the pictured bridge history:

http://www.gamblehouse.org/nnb/object/421.html

Unknown said...

Here's a little bit more about the Oaklawn development in South Pasadena from American Bungalow magazine:

http://www.americanbungalow.com/2010/03/oaklawn-a-suburb-de-luxe/