Architecture CodeX #59 The Gamble House, Pasadena CA by Greene and Greene

architecture codex if you want to see more like comment share and most importantly subscribe [Music] a good house should have character a presence that is unique and hopefully attractive in the movie Back to the Future Doc Brown is a distinctive movie character and he lived in a house that matched his eccentric nature this house was famous before the movie at least among Architects as the epitome of an arts and crafts building the 1909 gamble house designed by Architects green and green in Pasadena California the house remained in the gamble family until 1966 when they handed it over to the City of Pasadena and the USC School of Architecture consequently it is one of the better preserved buildings of this style particularly from green and green it is reported that at one point the family considered selling the house until the prospective buyers said they wanted to paint the interior all white the family refused to sell as a result the house escaped changes by people who don't know architecture but know what they like and while it is understandable that when someone buys a house they feel empowered to make changes they may be ignorant of their own architecture illiteracy they may not realize that sometimes there is something much greater than their own personal likes or dislikes arts and crafts being the emergence of modernism it's kind of fun to go back and look at what people once thought was the future starting with the interior then you see the extensive use of wood with heavy ponderous beams with mortised joints hags and dowels immediately you get the sense of being in a carefully crafted piece of art like an ornately carved Chinese wood jewel case but here you are the jewels or maybe the woodiness has all the raw power and naturalness of a log cabin that has been schooled in the etiquette and grammar of traditional architecture green and green was an Architecture Firm that consisted of primarily two brothers Charles Sumner green and Henry Mather green both brothers were born in Ohio and schooled in St Louis particularly in the crafts of metal and Woodworking and then completed a certificate program at MIT this was not quite an MIT architecture degree but having such a degree was not the usual path to being an architect at this time most men and they were still predominantly men at this point simply served apprenticeships and architecture offices and worked their way to the master level the Green Brothers with this experience and education were able to land a quick series of apprenticeships in Boston while still in their early twenties they decided to move to California where their parents had previously relocated on their way they stopped at Chicago's World Columbia exposition of 1893. while neoclassicism dominated the exposition there were some Modern buildings and a heavy presence of Japanese architecture this appears to have been influential they established their firm in 1894 and they became known for their ultimate Bungalows such as the blacker house and the Thorson house where they got to design not only the house but also the Interiors custom light fixtures furniture and even textiles and they had a close association with the brother contractors Peter and John Hall allowing them more intimate control over the construction because they were a small firm Hands-On and doing a lot of details themselves they shunned larger commissions and consequently did not achieve the fame that might have been their professional right The Firm eventually dissolved in 1922. recognition would not come until almost 40 years later shortly after their deaths when they were listed among the five California architects in a book by Esther McCoy I can understand the Green Brothers preferring to be the Architects and to designing such total spaces all that requires time but it is the fun part of being an architect admittedly though you cannot do that kind of work on a flat fee basis or with a very limited construction budget so knowing rich clients is important but with steady and fulfilling work like this why should they grow into a massive firm doing institutional work my mentor once told me that as a firm gets larger you stop being an architect and you end up being the manager of an Architecture Firm that's one of the reasons why I've stayed small I like being the architect and doing the drawings myself whenever possible many of the Great architects of this era had firms staffed with younger talented people probably most of them had an effective business manager or partner who would run the firm be The Rainmaker and allow the big name architect to be the creative genius this was and is a good way for large firms to work and it helps them meet their payroll but practicing small and finding the art inside each of the buildings is a wonderful way to practice so I would not be surprised if the green brothers were very satisfied with their body of work looking at the gamble house you can understand the appeal of the work of green and green the Arts and Crafts movement was looking to more modern organic Inspirations for the basis of an architectural aesthetic it was akin to the arch Nouveau movement in Europe relying on earthy materials such as wood stone brick and art glass they express structure and imitated natural biological forms each joist each Outrigger that bears its load is shown with all the Majesty of a Japanese Temple not surprisingly the building is not hidden in decoration framing covered over with plaster and frescoes of pale girls and fluffy taffeta on swings in Rococo Landscapes the building is the decoration I think that wood stone brick and light captured through the use of glass are so Elemental to The Human Experience that they evoke ancient emotional responses I think that is why so-called Tudor homes are so popular because of the materials and they express a certain amount of captured chaos in their assemblage the Arts and Crafts movement made use of the same materials as the tutors but in non-traditional ways and for Architects such as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright who use such materials it made them famous but it would be insincere to say there is any evidence that green and green were directly influenced by Sullivan or Wright rather it is more likely the same things that influenced Sullivan and Wright influenced green and green by the 1920s Bauhaus modernism would emerge seeking non-materiality and perhaps the earthy style of green and green who had been practicing for 30 years fell out of fashion at least among the art glitterati who had the money it is that pursuit of non-materiality which might have prompted that prospective buyer of the gamble house to ponder about painting the interior all white thankfully the gamble family recognized the treasure that their predecessors had commissioned and sought ways to preserve this masterpiece it is easier to preserve a building if it has entered into lore into the stories that people remember King Kong and the Empire State Building being the best example so if parking a DeLorean in front of the gamble house helps people value the 1909 work of green and green maybe that was always meant to be its density I'm Michael molinelli and this is architecture codex [Music]

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Length: 9min 26sec (566 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 14 2023