Old California Residential Architecture - Random Photos
 

I love California bungalows, Moorish, Spanish colonial, Mission...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236206034.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236206056.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236206079.jpg

There are (surprisingly) a lot of hidden architectural gems around the Long Beach area - you have to look for them though. Buried in a sea of boring stucco lumps.

There's a great book called "The Unexpected Metropolis" by Cara Mullio that is a nice summation of a lot of them. I'd recommend it if you're into these sorts of things...

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Beach-Architecture-Unexpected-Metropolis/dp/0940512394

Wife took me to tour the Gamble House in Pasadena (thought of it from your first picture). Was a neat experience. I love the diversity of architecture in SoCal, both native and imported.

Here's a picture of some of us when Grady Clay was in SoCal. The house was built by Grady's grandfather. I didn't get whether he built it or built had it built for himself.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236209723.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236209736.jpg

That's Sherwood on the L (911pcars), then Chris (porcupine), (don't remember his back side), Grady (looking at a map or something), and Jack Olsen. (then another backside)

My brother-in-law and his wife just bought an old house around the area of the rose bowl. It looks like the second photo. It's really nice, need some updating, large lot etc. I cant wait to get out there and see it, maybe next year. That's when houses were homes.

The Gamble house is def. something to check out if you are in Pasadena. Also check out some of the modernist stuff around Silverlake/Echo Park areas. Lots of neat little houses tucked up into the hills.

Did Greene and Greene do anything else in SoCal?

This house had a view of the Rose Bowl from the balcony behind Grady.

Oh, and I remember the red shirt, it was DavidI.

Here's another Pasadena house by Greene & Greene..


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236212007.jpg
They designed all over So. Cal, especially Pasadena. There were 2 bunkhouses from a citrus farm in the Fillmore /Santa Paula area that were one of their first commisions. One is still in Fillmore, the other moved to the Citrus Museum in Riverside.

Here's a neat piece of Highland Park architecture built by Jackson Browne's Grandfather and featured on the "For Everyman" album, Abbey San Encino..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236212051.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236212121.jpg

Mid century modern, anyone?

The Kaufmann desert house in Palm Springs, designed by Richard Neutra, circa 1946

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236213436.jpg

A Frank Ghery in Santa Monica.
http://www.you-are-here.com/architect/gehry.jpg

LOVE mid century modern. My parents collect Heywood Wakefield blond furniture.

That sure looks like a Greene & Greene Architects to me.

Never pass up an opportunity to tour a Greene and Greene house - IMHO!

Pasadena and surroundings were heavily populated by Easterners who came west for their health - most importantly, breathing issues.

The Greenes' father was the then equivalent of a pulmonologist - a lung doctor back then. Amongst other phenomenal designs, their houses prominently featured fresh-air devices and designs. Not the least of which were sleeping porches - screened in areas off of the main bedrooms for sleeping when it was warm. They were all fleeing the coal fired, consumption prone East.

And then there's the exposed joinery...

In one of the "Back to the Future" movies, I think the first one they seem to be in a Green & Green similar to the above photo.

Drives me crazy (in a good way) how many FLW homes are filmed in.

That's his residence. Been there 30 years now I think.

My pediatrician here in the LBC had Neutra build him a house in Park Estates, The Matlock Residence on Ramillo St. A cool book is Long Beach Architecture: The Unexpected Metropolis. Yes, I am a fan of schlong beach, the ghetto by the sea...

You beat me to it. Yes, that's Frank G's house. Been to it a few times myself.

Good article on the LATimes Sunday about him. I'd like to see him move on from the current style. Bilboa, WDCH, ok, I get it, that's what he'll be remembered for. I was privileged to be work on the concert hall. Insane construction fo sho...

You can't leave out the Eichler homes, lots up in Palo Alto and a few in Thousand Oaks.

NorCal representin'

Before/after of a beautifully remodeled bungalow in Alameda

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236228440.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236228457.jpg


The William Thorsen house in Berkeley, one of the few Greene & Greene designs in the Bay Area, currently a Cal frat house

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236228605.jpg

Some neat stuff.

Any guesses where this is?
http://www.frankoma.org/images/xl.jpg
http://www.frankoma.org/images/FIREP...08-26-2007.jpg
http://www.frankoma.org/images/Frank...ru%20Tiles.jpg

Great thread!

I didn't do any acid. FLW rocks...this looks like a slantnose kit gone wrong with testarossa slats, a ford svo scope, evo vortex generators and a contach wing on backwards.

I'm surprised Julia Morgan hasn't been referenced yet. Along with Hearst Castle she designed many other houses throughout the Bay Area. This a Julia Morgan house that some friends of mine lived in for a few years in Berkeley. Really cool house!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236236367.jpg

http://www.splintergroupadvertising.com/GehryAd.jpg
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/archite...hry_bilbao.jpg
http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncateg...fred_gehry.jpg
Ah! The beauty of opinion...:rolleyes:

I was getting there... SmileWavy

Alright, the other iconic Bay Area architect - Bernard Maybeck. He did the Palace of Fine Arts and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, a nat'l historic landmark. His residential designs have been compared to Greene and Greene's ultimate bungalows. One of his most famous is the Guy Hyde Chick house in Berkeley, built in 1913. An awesome spread, IMO.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236241281.jpg

I grew up in an Eichler in Menlo Park, absolutely loved that house. Every single room (except the bathroom) had a glass door leading to the outside. We heard from some old neighbors that after my parents sold it to move to the East coast in 1986 the new owners lived in it for a while, then tore it down to build a new house. What a shame.

Nice thread. I love houses with character, even if the style doesn't really do it for me. Every once and a while I'll drive by a house and think, "I bet that house is really interesting inside". While not as "out there" as some previously posted, I've always been a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright. Here's the Allen-Lambe house in Wichita.

http://home.onemain.com/~allenlam/alhfront2.jpg

Not as old as some of the others in this thread, but I've always had a thing for the houses at Sea Ranch.

http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncateg...1/p1011154.jpg

http://mocoloco.com/sanfrancisco/arc...om-book-lg.gif

Someday when that tree dies, I don't see that ending well.

Here is the mid century modern I own here in ...of all places, western PA. Built by Sholz in the late 50's.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236263923.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236263963.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236263980.jpg

Here are a few FL Wrights close to me.

Falling water


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236264344.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236264363.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236264402.jpg

Kentuk Knob


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236264433.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236264452.jpg

Nice house targa. That's more my style, too bad the boss won and we ended up in a 2-story traditional built in 1990. My home of choice was an immaculate 1961 ranch with an open floor plan.

Falling Water is basically my dream home. Just awesome.

Years ago on a trip to the LA area, I was exploring the hills above Hollywood and drove past the Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House. I thought that it was really intesting with the Maya/Aztec-like textured concrete.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...enni.1.650.jpg

http://populuxebooks.com/blog/media/ennishouse.jpg

http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifac...sBlock%201.JPG

Thanks, yes it is super open on the inside. Huge laminate beams hold the whole roof up and lots of hardwood flooring. We love the house. It makes living in the middle of nowhere livable. I love Falling Water also but man you want mold problems whoo boy it's a full time job here I can't imagine what it is there with a falls running through the house! My choice would be the Knob. The garage pictured is actually built into the hill, something we have a lot of here.

I've read about the issues that Falling Water has, definitely not a house you want to live in and maintain. It's long on the aesthetics, but a bit short on substance. Were it not for a lot of work I think it would have basically collapsed by now.

It was in a state of disrepair before they saved it, but it literally is a full time job to keep the forest from taking it back. As you can see mine too is in the deep woods and it is really a lot of work to keep it going. Fall is beautiful but all those leaves do fall, and when they do you can hardly see the house if it weren't for windows.

We have a whole tract of Cliff May houses in the LB.

http://la.curbed.com/uploads/Custom%...amarillo-5.jpg

The thing is, only a few out of hundreds survive as original. Shame.

I understand that Scholz only built 500 homes. Only 3 are in my area. They really belong in a no snow area. The pitch of my roof is such that it accumulates quickly and never goes away until thaw. We had way over a foot on it until a few weeks ago. Gotta stress the place bad.

Falling Water, unless you were Edgar Kaufmann or FLW, would be a no-no for pretty much anyone over 5 foot 6...

Each time I go I do bash my head on most doorways and in the stair....

It was designed by a vertically challenged man for a man of equal measure...both were proportionally correct as well so its easy to feel really squeezed as you go thro doors and the short corridors.

However it is possibly the most well designed house FLW created... just for most of us its a model.. not full size..

Thanks so much for this thread & all the great pictures. Keep em coming, you guys. It's wonderful to enjoy these from afar!