I spent part of the Thanksgiving weekend driving around my neighborhood – midtown Sacramento – and taking pictures of some representative homes. I’ll expand the gallery soon to include some of the many great Mission and Italian Revival homes in the area, and of course lots more Craftsman stuff.
photography
carved door, Berkeley CA
Saw this terrific carving on Acton Street in north Berkeley, California the other day; nobody was home. Anyone familiar with this craftsperson’s work? Let me know if you think you might know who is responsible – I’d like to see more of his or her work.
The carving is not particularly deep, yet the details all really stand out – not sure if it’s the light or the wood or a combination of the two, but the delicacy of the design is visible all the way from out in the street. every detail of the irises is clear, as well as the gently scalloped hex-pattern in the ground behind them.
TurnHere Brings Neighborhoods to Video
TurnHere ("short films – cool places") is a well-organized library of short video snapshots of residential neighborhoods around the world, mostly shot and narrated by the people who live there. This would be the perfect tool for real estate agents – especially those who handle lots of corporate inter-city relocations – to help their clients pick where they want to concentrate a property search. It’s also a great way for real estate voyeurs like us to peek into neighborhoods throughout our country and the rest of the world.
Here’s Albany, California, where I grew up; one of my dad’s favorite restaurants; and my wife’s favorite deli. Pasadena has several films, including one that touches on the Gamble House; you can poke through almost every San Francisco neighborhood in a few dozen short bites, and even take a walk through downtown Santa Barbara – a town with some of the nicest bungalow-full neighborhoods on the west coast.
It’d be great to get more architecture-centric tours – maybe video versions of your own home town’s historic home tours? – up on the site. Every film on the site was shot and edited by volunteers, though, so there’s certainly plenty of room to contribute an architectural tour of your favorite bungalow neighborhood.
Set in Stone and Tile
The Los Angeles Times has a nice photo album of shots taken at historian Robert Winter’s Pasadena home. There are a number of nice pieces of Batchelder tile, a wonderful cave-like living room full of great rugs and furniture, and more. There’s also a neat photo of the Lloyd Wright House which follows the six of Winter’s home (it relates to the article in the latter link).
If Winter’s name rings a bell, then you’ve probably read at least one of the books he’s made with longtime collaborator, photographer Alexander Vertikoff- The Architecture of Entertainment: LA in the Twenties, American Bungalow Style, Craftsman Style, Batchelder Tilemaker, and plenty more.
Highwater Bungalow, Sacramento
Seen on a drive through an east Sacramento neighborhood recently. Apparently, the homeowner wanted to make it even taller (amazing that the city allowed this to begin with…). The neighbors "talked him down" (ouch, bad pun, sorry). Note that it will be the tallest structure within several blocks, and is totally and completely out of character with the rest of the neighborhood – every single house on this street is a modest bungalow on a relatively small lot.
I noticed the owner kept the electricity connected and the front porch light on; maybe he’s worried that a low-flying plane might hit it.
It will be interesting to see how the project turns out!
Recent Flickr Finds
Lots of great new additions to Flickr lately – there are thousands of images added every day to the immense collection here; much of it is pretty badly tagged, so who knows how many neat Arts & Crafts related photographs are really here – I can only search for those that are well-tagged. Here’s what I found today:
- an amazing Batchelder fireplace;
- Greg E continues to document the re-bungalowization of his home; here are pictures of his beautifully-refinished hardwood floors, and a neat staircase project. He’s also got plenty of pictures of his new doors and hardware installation;
- a neat tile frieze in Roadsidepictures’ photostream;
- Allan Ferguson’s many pictures of North Park bungalows in San Diego;
- there are plenty of shots of new & remodeled kitchens;
- Hali-Mel’s new Shaker cabinets;
- my good friend Dean’s new kitchen;
- NancyUSA’s kitchen cabinet plans;
- an interesting double-level plate rack;
- user HistoricDundee has lots of pictures of bungalow and other architectural detail in Omaha, Nebraska’s Historic Dundee neighborhood;
- user Merideth has new pictures of her ongoing Spanish Revival bungalow restoration in the East Bay; her place is really shaping up, and
- user 1921Bungalow has many photos of his/her namesake.
International Arts & Crafts at the de Young: photographs
Barbara Traisman, Senior Media Relations Officer at San Francisco’s recently-reopened (and absolutely stunning) de Young Museum, has supplied us with a number of high-resolution images from their upcoming International Arts & Crafts show. The exhibit is on loan from the Victoria & Albert museum in London, and you may remember the short preview from last week. Please do check out the photographs!
Rejuvenation Hardware on Flickr
I’ve said it before: oh, how I love Portland’s Rejuvenation Hardware. Not only do they have one of the best collections of period Arts & Crafts lighting available anywhere (all of which is sold through their wonderful catalog, which I always look forward to!), but they also have a wonderful showroom in Portland. The showroom, though, sells an awful lot more than just lights and hardware. Furniture, signage and mantels, grills and registers, architectural salvage – all sorts of treasures! Flickr user Madduxdavid recently visited the shop and took these great pictures – you should stop by, too, if you visit Portland.
San Francisco Arts & Crafts on Flickr
Flickr user Ceriess has a gorgeous collection of Grueby, Faience and other A&C pottery; I’m also trying not to be jealous of the beautiful Stickley bed, magazine rack and other furnishings in his especially attractive 1910 San Francisco home (and that view!).
Matt Jalbert photographs
Matt Jalbert, a photographer and graphic designer living in California, has a wonderful portfolio of images of the Gamble House. Many of the photographs were taken during the recent exterior restoration.
Jalbert, incidentally, has also designed websites for The Craftsman Home, Whit McLeod, and The Arts & Crafts Press. He is also the creator of an A & C dingbats font.
