• Los Angeles’ Arts & Crafts jewels are in … Garvanza?

    LAist‘s "Neighborhood Project" feature included a report this past week on a part of Northeast LA that I’m not at all familiar with – I always assumed that was Highland Park – and found extremely interesting:

    Once the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement in Los Angeles and a
    bohemian artists’ colony, Garvanza is today one of Northeast LA’s
    hidden treasures seeking to retain its turn of the century identity
    while creating a liveable neighborhood for the twenty-first century.
    Although many consider Garvanza to be just a part of Highland Park,
    this small and hilly area brimming with historic buildings has more
    than enough charm and character needed to stand out on its own. Named
    for the wild sweet peas (garbanzo beans) that used to grow on the
    hillsides, Garvanza itself is much like a hearty wildflower, blooming
    stubbornly amidst the dominant concreted landscape, unabashedly
    colorful and pleasantly surprising to discover.

    Check out the whole story for plenty of photographs and maps and a reasonably complete history of the region.

  • “like watching Ann Coulter debate Al Franken”

    Picture_3
    Neighbors in the Decatur, Georgia neighborhood of Oakhurst are definitely not agreeing to disagree about a proposal to turn their area into an official historic district. Scott Henry fills us in on the story, something that may not be all that hard to imagine for many of you who live in historic districts, whether recognized or not:

    Threats. Intimidation. Yard signs. Snotty e-mails. Yes, the knives
    are out in Oakhurst, where the proposed creation of what would be
    Decatur’s largest historic district has resulted in a nasty
    neighborhood-wide squabble in which many homeowners have been forced to
    choose sides.

    Terry Michel, a real estate agent who says she supports voluntary
    design guidelines rather than city imposed building restrictions, says
    she’s stopped discussing the issue with neighbors because the rhetoric
    on both sides has become too overheated.

    “The vitriol is off-putting to me,” Michel explains. “It’s like watching Ann Coulter debate Al Frankin (sic).”

    So what is it about a historic district that has so many peoples’ knickers in a wad?

    Mainly, the argument comes down to control over one’s own property.
    If a house is included in the district, then the owner would need to
    get a “certificate of appropriateness” to tear it down, build an
    addition or make significant exterior changes. Construction plans that
    aren’t seen as keeping within the historic character of the
    neighborhood – say, replacing a 1920s Craftsman bungalow with a
    modernist stucco triplex – may not be allowed.

  • Rich Baumhofer & Cindy Bechtel’s Curtis Park firehouse, part II

    Yesterday, HGTV ran an episode of their reZONED program on Richard Baumhofer & Cindy Bechtel’s beautiful Curtis Park home in a remodeled and restored firehouse, which we originally wrote about this week last year. Marybeth Bizjak has more on the house in her September 2006 article in Sacramento Magazine. Later in the article, Rich notes his favorite northern California salvage yards – which happen to be mine, too – Ohmega Salvage and Urban Ore, both in Berkeley:

    Vision. Some people have it; some don’t.

    Rich Baumhofer and
    Cindy Bechtel fall squarely into the “have vision” category. When the
    couple stumbled upon a dilapidated old house in Curtis Park, they could
    see it had major potential.

    Their friends told them they were
    crazy to consider buying the structure, which had been built in 1917 as
    a fire station and later converted to a private home. But buy it they
    did, setting out to restore its “firehouse charm.”

    They
    succeeded so spectacularly that HGTV will feature their house on an
    upcoming episode of “reZONED,” a show about people who turn commercial
    spaces into one-of-a-kind homes.

    “My intention was to
    rebuild in the spirit of the original firehouse,” says Baumhofer, a
    builder and general contractor who has worked on many old houses. He
    kept the shell of the Craftsman-style building intact while gutting the
    inside to create a spacious, family-friendly home.

       

    Congratulations to both Rich and Cindy – it’s nice when the rest of the world acknowledges all your hard work. And thanks, too, for sharing your home with all of us!

  • Alfred Faber, Portland architect

    James Heuer has put together several SmugMug photo galleries, including one on homes built by Portland-area architect Alfred Faber, who was active as a residential designer from 1904 to 1917. I stumbled across that gallery this morning, and was struck by the level of detail and the tight symmetrical grids that Faber seemed to enjoy. I was very surprised that he dropped off the map, as it were, after moving to Los Angeles for a very early retirement, right when these elements were very much in demand by builders throughout the Los Angeles area.

    The M. B. Nease House is a particularly attractive example of Faber’s work, with all kinds of attractive woodwork – builtins and other architectural detail – still intact.

  • news roundup, July 2007

    Several bits & pieces of interest to old-house aficionados, rehabbers and others interested in A&C:

  • Frank Lloyd Wright in Buffalo: a podcast conversation with Neil Levine

    Caroly Batt with the Buffalo-Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau writes to tell us about a very interesting podcast:

    Harvard University professor and noted Frank Lloyd Wright
    Scholar and author Neil Levine recently discussed Wright’s important
    architectural contributions to the Buffalo area. Buffalo is the home to many acclaimed Wright
    achievements including the Darwin Martin House Complex and Graycliff
    Estate    . The interview is available
    as an audio podcast on the Wright Now in Buffalo website.

  • Squak Mountain Stone: recycled fibrous-concrete countertops

    Squakcounter

    There are several different commercial formulations of concrete on the market for countertops, flooring and other interior architectural uses. Some are aerated or mixed by varying but mostly-similar techniques, some are molded or installed in different ways, and some are aerated, or treated with dyes or special sealants. But one in particular is as attractive as real stone, is made in a range of mineral shades and has a natural texture from inclusions such as recycled paper, glass and coal fly-ash.

    Squak Mountain Stone’s fibrous-cement material is beautiful and just as visually appealing as real stone – but it’s a truly environmentally-friendly countertop that makes great (re)use of some otherwise-ignored ingredients. It is available both in slabs and as tiles, and the maker is happy to work with clients on custom applications and mixtures. In that respect, it’s even more appealing than real or manufactured stone!

    According to developer and owner Ameé Quiriconi, the ingredients list reads like a how-to book for those interested in establishing a truly green, environmentally-friendly business:

    • Fly-ash is generated at a Washington-state coal-fired electrical generation facility. It’s collected and bagged for sale in Seattle.
    • The mixed waste paper comes from a small home-based document destruction business staffed by four young women with developmental disabilities (with the help of a job coach and the women’s parents.)This business is located in Issaquah, WA.
    • The recycled glass is mainly waste from local window manufacturers that is collected and processed by a local glass recycling company.

    We’ve put together a whole Flickr album of high-res images showing the product in use – if you are planning a kitchen or bath remodel, you really should take a look at this material before you finalize your countertop material plans.

    It is available from retailers up and down the west coast, including Green Sacramento, Ecohome Improvement in Berkeley, Greenspace in Santa Cruz, Eco Design Resources in San Carlos as well as EcoSpaces in Telluride, Colorado.

  • Frank Lloyd Wright & the house beautiful

    From June 28 through October 8, the Portland Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit showcasing "Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture."

    In particular, the exhibition focuses on his legendary skill in
    creating harmony between architectural structure and interior design
    while fulfilling the needs of a modern lifestyle. Featuring
    approximately 100 objects, the exhibition includes furniture,
    metalwork, textiles, drawings, and accessories from the collections of
    the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other public and private
    collections. Curated by Dr. Virginia T. Boyd, professor at the
    University of Wisconsin-Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House
    Beautiful conveys the methods through which Wright implemented the
    philosophy of the “house beautiful.” The exhibition explores how Wright
    sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American
    spirit of democracy and individual freedom, illustrates his development
    in integrating the space with furnishings and architectural elements,
    and shows his experiments with bringing these ideas to the homes of
    average Americans.

    Several podcasts and audio programs relating to the exhibit are also available:

  • delicious del.icio.us: Craftsman links from all over

    Delicious is a great way to keep track of your bookmarks between machines – and between people. I’ve been steadily adding to my own bookmarks, and hopefully will soon have several hundred links – furniture makers, blacksmiths, tile dealers, sellers of architecture salvage, antique buyers’ guides, auction notices, do-it-yourself directions and lots more.

    Eventually, I’ll get around to organizing it all, but until then, I’m sure you’ll find plenty to browse.