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The brothers, known collectively as Greene and Greene, were not largely “self-promoters,” explained Smith, who has been researching the pair for over 30 years. Yet, their designs, characterized by a Japanese aesthetic, have permeated Pasadena and Southern California, forever altering the landscape of American architecture. Preservationists had originally finished the exterior eaves with a type of soap stain, which ended up wearing off over the years. To protect the exposed structure, they started to apply a preservative, which ended up oxidizing and turned the exterior green and some of the wood black. When a team revisited the project to try and achieve its original colors, they removed the old preservative and replaced the original screens with ones made of copper.
Craftsman Masterpiece
She’ll be bringing it back to life based on the original vision that Mary Gamble had created. It had been her cherished cutting garden and was a place where Isabelle spent much of her childhood. Also found throughout the house are complete collections of art tile, pottery, and art glass that were compiled by the resident family.
Public Tours
The Gamble House, which was built by the Greene Brothers for the Proctor and Gamble family in 1908, is known as one of the most authentic and well-preserved examples of the Arts and Crafts movement that spread like a wildfire in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pasadena. Now, a video from Curbed gives a peek inside the Los Angeles architectural icon. It highlights a few of the elements that make the house exceptional and offers a brief tour and primer for those who haven’t been lucky enough to visit in person. In 1907 they decided to build a permanent home in their adopted hometown, and hired the firm of Greene and Greene to design the home.
AD Classics: Gamble House / Greene & Greene
It has patterned brick paving with planting areas, a large curvilinear pond, and garden walls made with distinctive clinker bricks and boulders. Paths made with large water-worn stones from the nearby Arroyo Seco are reminiscent of running brooks crossing the lawns. The overall landscape design and constructed garden elements are integrated with the architectural proportion and detailing. The triple front door and transom feature a Japanese black pine motif in plated (more than one layer) leaded art glass, highlighting the Asian influence that runs throughout the house. The woods, the low and horizontal room shapes, and the natural light that filters through the art glass exterior windows coexist with a relatively traditional plan, in which most rooms are regularly shaped and organized around a central hall.
Design
The developed style of Greene and Greene is very distinguishable in the design world, as their Japanese inspirations are incorporated into stain glass windows, details carved and formed with wood, joinery and joint pieces traditional to architecture in Japan. The architects worked closely with the Gambles in the design of the house, incorporating specific design elements such as the family crest among its motifs. Drawings for the house were completed in February 1908, and ground was broken in March. Ten months later, the house was finished, the first pieces of custom furniture were delivered, and The Gamble House became home to David Gamble, his wife Mary, and their youngest son Clarence. (Their oldest son Cecil was already working for Procter & Gamble; their middle son Sidney had just started at Princeton University.) Mary’s younger sister, Julia, also came to live with the family. The Arts and Crafts Movement in American Craftsman style architecture was focused on the use of natural materials, attention to detail, aesthetics, and craftsmanship.
Gamble House Transforms Into Serene Friday Night Retreat from May to September - Pasadena Now
Gamble House Transforms Into Serene Friday Night Retreat from May to September.
Posted: Mon, 29 Apr 2024 01:35:53 GMT [source]
A stellar example of Art & Crafts architecture, and a movie set to boot.
The Gamble House, also known as the David B. Gamble House, is an iconic American Craftsman home in Pasadena, California, designed by the architectural firm Greene and Greene. Constructed in 1908–1909 as a home for David B. Gamble, son of the Procter & Gamble founder James Gamble, it is today a National Historic Landmark, a California Historical Landmark, and open to the public for tours and events. Off of the living room is the dining room, which is connected to the butler's pantry and the kitchen.
A Brief History of Scent With Saskia Wilson-Brown
Critical acclaim for their work did not come again until after World War II, when it was almost too late for the brothers to enjoy it—Henry died in 1954, and Charles followed in 1957. In a 1950 issue of House Beautiful, Elizabeth Gordon and Jean Murray Bangs resurrected the Greenes’ work as a vital link between the decorative excesses of Victorianism and the clean expressions of American Modernism. The house is located on a grassy knoll overlooking Pasadena's Arroyo Seco, a broad, seasonally dry river bed.
Materials and Tags
David and Mary Gamble lived in the house during the winter months until their deaths in 1923 and 1929, respectively. Cecil Huggins Gamble and his wife Louise Gibbs Gamble lived in the house beginning in 1946. They briefly considered selling it, until prospective buyers spoke of painting the interior woodwork white. In 1966, the Gamble family turned the house over to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California (USC) School of Architecture. The Gamble House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977.[3][6] Today, two 5th-year USC architecture students live in the house full-time; the selected students change annually. The Gamble House in Pasadena, California, is an outstanding example of American Arts and Crafts style architecture.
Timeline
Seeing the home's floor plan up close is a unique and unforgettable experience. Yet, at its core, the Gamble House is a “Western” home, explained Jennifer Trotoux, director of collections and interpretation at the Gamble House. Where the house diverges from the Japanese aesthetic is how it defines spaces. The Greenes’ style is “enclosed,” explained Trotoux, whereas Japanese architecture is open and spacious with pavilion-style designs. The rafter tails extending beyond the house’s eaves evoke Japanese sensibilities, yet they were an invention of the Greenes and are rarely found elsewhere. Similarly, the home’s Japanese metal lanterns, which differ from traditional designs, are adorned with art glass.
The house and furnishings were designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene in 1908 for David and Mary Gamble of the Procter & Gamble Company. The house, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, is owned by the City of Pasadena and operated by the University of Southern California. The Gamble House was designed in 1908 by Pasadena architects, Greene & Greene as the winter residence for David and Mary Gamble. The Gamble House is the finest example of early 20th-century Craftsman architecture. It is preserved with all of its original furnishings which were also designed by the architects. Food and drinks are not allowed inside the house, guests are welcome to picnic outside on the grounds.
H. Richardson in Boston before heading out to California to visit their parents in 1893. At the same time the Gambles were selecting their lot on Westmoreland Place, a house designed by the firm of Greene & Greene was being built for John Cole on the adjacent property. Perhaps meeting the architects at the construction site, and certainly impressed with the other Greene & Greene houses in the Park Place neighborhood, the Gambles met with the brothers and agreed on a commission. The second floor of the Gamble House is accessed by a staircase located in the living room. The staircase is a beautiful piece of woodwork in its own right, and it leads to a large landing.
Using Douglas fir posts and beams, redwood split shakes, local river stones, clinker brinks, and a creeping fig vine that literally and figuratively roots the house to its site, the Greenes skillfully choreographed a seamless integration of house and landscape. This integration reflects the topography, climate, and the relaxed, outdoor orientation of the southern California lifestyle. Pasadena’s lure among culturally minded and wealthy Midwesterners, combined with a building boom in the early twentieth century, made the city a viable, if short-lived, market for the Greenes’ costly work.
“Architecture as a Fine Art,” was Charles Greene’s mantra (he wrote an article of this title in 1917), and his vision of marrying exquisite craft with beautiful and useful designs became central to the Greenes’ reputation, for better or worse. In the Gamble House, the two brothers could explore the full possibilities of this vision for clients who appreciated and could afford it. That their work was no longer in demand by 1915 is as much due to changing fashions (including the rise of interior decorators), as it was to the wartime economy and the high cost of materials and labor. Charles moved with his family to Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1916, where he continued some design work, though at a slower pace. Henry nominally carried on the joint practice in Pasadena until 1922, when it was formally dissolved.
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