Arts and Crafts style architecture in America began in the late 19th century, focusing on the use of natural materials with attention to detail and craftsmanship. This comprehensive design and art movement remained popular well into the 1930’s and if you live in Los Angeles, craftsman/bungalow homes can be found sprinkled throughout the city and are a signature of Southern California architecture. A stellar example is The Gamble House, a huge three-story house in Pasadena that was built in 1908 by local brothers Charles and Henry Greene.
The house and furnishings were designed for David and Mary Gamble of the Proctor & Gamble company, and was originally intended as a winter residence for them. What is now considered an Arts and Crafts masterpiece and a National Historic Landmark, the family turned over The Gamble House in 1966 to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California School of Architecture. The style influences are from Japanese aesthetics and California spaciousness, where rooms were built using multiple kinds of woods consisting of teak, maple, oak and cedar, and mahogany surfaces were placed in sequences to bring out contrasting colors.
While designing the exterior, gardens and outdoor space, which was just as important as the interior, the garden walls were made of clinker bricks and boulders and the overall landscape design and garden elements were integrated proportionately. Today, two fifth year USC architecture students live in the house full-time, and selected students change yearly. I’m sure if Marty McFly were around these days after returning Back to the Future, he would be assisting the docents on tours inside the all-American Gamble House which played a major part in getting him home. www.thegamblehouse.org
