Famous Homes: The Gamble House

After my recent History of Furniture post about the Arts and Crafts movement here, let's examine one of the most famous Arts and Crafts homes located in Pasadena, California. Designed by architect brothers Charles Greene and Henry Greene for David B. Gamble, son of the Procter & Gamble founder James Gamble, the Gamble House is now both a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark.

Gamble House. Photo by Jim Heaphy.

Constructed in 1908–09, the house remained in the Gamble family until 1966 when they turned the house over to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California (USC) School of Architecture. Because of this, the house has been maintained and luckily keeps most of its original furniture and furnishings designed specifically for the home.

The style is a prime example of the Arts and Crafts aesthetic, being inspired and influenced by Japanese architecture and interiors as well as the Arts and Crafts dedication to fine handcrafted elements and furnishings in honest, organic materials. Remember, the Arts and Crafts movement was in reaction to the machine-made furniture of the Industrial Revolution. The Gamble House displays a stunning variety of hand carved and hand fabricated pieces from many different wood species like teak, maple, oak, Port Orford cedar, and mahogany, along with metal, art glass, and semi-precious stones. The long low lines of the interior reflect an Asian sensibility and feel part of the shape and integrity of the land.

Stylized tree design on the front door, shown partly open.

Hand railing of main staircase, and front entryway in background.

Living room inglenook with Burmese teak queen-post trusses.

Living room. Each piece of furniture in the living room was designed to occupy a specific location within the space.

Detail of carved living-room frieze with adjacent boards, blocks, and iron straps — decorative elements that mimic functional features in other areas of the house.

Sconce hanging from a leather strap in the living room.

The Gamble House is open for tours. Visit the website for more information and to purchase tickets!

Happy designing!

History of Furniture: Arts and Crafts

As is so often the case with particular historical developments in art, interiors, clothing, even politics, a movement is usually a reaction to and against something that came immediately before it. Periods of excess lead to periods of austerity and vice versa, whether we are speaking of architecture, furniture, painting, sculpture, dance, or even literature. Such is the case with our next story in our History of Furniture series.

Formed in the late Victorian period (previously here), the movement known as Arts and Crafts came into being as a way to protest the new, and to some the menacing, Industrial Revolution. Roughly between 1880 and 1920, there arose a mistrust and dislike of machine-manufactured furniture and home goods. These objects were seen as too ornate simply for its own sake, soulless, tasteless, and removing humans from the natural world. There were dozens of high profile designers and architects, several of whom I will mention here, but they all felt what was lacking in the modern machine age was the touch of the craftsman, a sense of an object being made by hand out of an organic material like wood and stone.
It is understandable that the movement originated in Great Britain, the first part of the world to really see the proliferation of the Industrial Revolution. Major proponents of this movement include William Morris and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

William Morris' Wiki entry exhaustively lists him as a "textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist" and while all of that is true, he is most remembered for his textile and wallcovering designs. Influenced by the flat presentation of Japanese wood block prints and featuring natural, organic motifs, many of these original wallcoverings and fabrics are currently in production through Morris & Co. owned by the Sanderson Group.

William Morris, age 53

Compatriot and fellow Arts and Crafts figure Charles Rennie Mackintosh, previously here in a Famous Homes post, created his own visual vernacular with his wife, the artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. Also inspired by Japanese wood blocks and the honesty of handmade crafts, Mackintosh worked with even simpler shapes and forms that look more like cloisonné. Look at these rose designs made for the Mackintosh's masterpiece, Hill House, created for publishing magnate Walter Blackie in Helensburg, Scotland.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

It took a little while but Arts and Crafts eventually made its way to North America and held sway from roughly 1910 to 1925 or so. There were many different Arts and Crafts societies that sprang up around the United States, all dedicated to simplicity of form and design along with integrity of construction. Major figures included Gustav Stickley who made furniture that featured mortise and tenon construction reminiscent of traditional Japanese joinery, and Elbert Hubbard who created the Roycroft community of craftsmen in upstate New York. These legendary brands are again in production and can be purchased through Stickley.com. This style of furniture is often referred to as Mission Style but in actuality, Stickley rejected that name, claiming it to be misleading. The name refers to the Spanish missions of California and can be traced back to a very simple, chunky, near-Shaker chair made by A.J. Forbes around 1894 for San Francisco's Swedenborgian Church. New York furniture manufacturer and retailer Joseph P. McHugh copied these chairs and created a coordinating line of  furnishings which resembled the pieces coming from the Arts and Crafts movement at the time. Thus the term Mission was born.

On the West Coast, Arts and Crafts manifested with the work of architects Julia Morgan and brothers Greene and Greene as American Craftsman (an offshoot of this is Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style which we will examine in a future post of History of Furniture, as it deserves its own section). They each created buildings and interiors that changed the way people lived. Indeed, Greene and Greene's contributions led to the evolution of what is still referred to as the California Bungalow style which is seen everywhere in cities like Berkeley, Venice, and Pasadena. 

Julia Morgan, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, Calif., 1908–16.
Julia Morgan Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley

Greene and Greene's masterpiece is the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. Built for David B. Gamble, son of the Procter & Gamble founder James Gamble, the home is a National Historic Landmark, a California Historical Landmark, and open to the public for tours and events. Tour tickets can be purchased at Gamblehouse.org.

There was also a great interest in pottery and metal work in the Arts and Crafts movement, as evidenced by the iconic mica-shade copper lamp, and many pottery companies like Grueby, Newcomb College, Rookwood, Roseville, and Weller.

Happy designing!

Contrast Brings Interest

When I meet with clients, one of the first things I want to find out about them is their personal style. What you like and want around you is what makes up the visual vernacular of your life. But sometimes a personal style can be difficult for a client to pinpoint or narrow down; people often feel that they have a mish-mash of clashing styles in their lives without any curating. In design, there are no absolute right or wrong answers. There are many ways to reach a goal. With this in mind, I have a few classic design mantras I have developed over the years and one of them is that, within an interior design context, contrast brings interest. Sleek or organic? Antique or modern? Matte or gloss? Light or dark? Wood or stone? How about both! It is precisely the play of stainless steel next to aged, reclaimed timber that makes a statement. An antique Louis chair is supremely present in a sleek, modern room. It is the same with food: think of salted dark chocolate, caramel and sea salt, strawberries and balsamic, and prosciutto and melon.

Take a look at the following examples. The conversation going on between these seemingly disparate pieces is intriguing and engaging. "Contrast brings interest."

These iconic Verner Panton molded plastic chairs look fantastic next to a chunky old farmhouse table. Design, styling, and photography by Emily McCall. Photo used by permission.

Slim console tables, abstract art, sculptural ottomans, and chairs with a Deco shape play off the classic architectural elements (ornate crown moulding, wall panels, wainscoting) of this Georgian room by London-based Studio Indigo.

Australian interior designer Karen Akers used clean-lined pieces and a minimalistic style for this otherwise traditional Arts and Crafts home. Photo by Tom Dalhoff.

Many elements are at play here to create a fascinating, rich room layered with styles and textures. A mid-century desk, worn vintage industrial chairs, a Biedermeier settee, a Rococo mirror, and an organic burl wood cocktail table stand out as museum pieces in a light, bright room.

A carved Louis XV settee on parquet floors is delicious surrounded by modern art. Of particular interest is the combination of round-backed neo-classical Louis XVI chairs with sleek black Panton chairs at the rustic dining table in the background!

And finally interior designer Jessica Helgerson proves that turn-of-the-century (the prior one, not this recent one) American four-square homes needn't be boring. Using a crisp black and white palette, she boldly furnishes such spaces with cool, modern pieces. The old and the new benefit from being in close proximity to each other.

So when you are trying to figure out how pieces go together (or don't) in your own space, remember that, used judiciously and creatively, contrast brings interest!

Thanks for reading and happy designing!