The Gamble House National Trust for Historic Preservation
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Visitors can see the bedrooms how they appeared when the Gambles lived there. The master bedroom contains walnut dressers inlaid with fruitwood and semiprecious stones. Even the bathrooms are ornate, with one on the second floor containing stained glass doors.
AD Classics: Gamble House / Greene & Greene
This integration reflects the topography, climate, and the relaxed, outdoor orientation of the southern California lifestyle. Pasadena’s lure among culturally minded and wealthy Midwesterners, combined with a building boom in the early twentieth century, made the city a viable, if short-lived, market for the Greenes’ costly work. The oft-published houses of Greene and Greene inspired builders of more modest dwellings, and the brothers’ work would soon be conflated in the popular imagination with more modest craftsman bungalows. The Gamble House is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, CA. The home is also known as the David B. Gamble House and epitomizes the iconic style of the American Craftsman period.
Worldwide Church of God Historical Site
The Gamble family lived in the house until 1966, and, after briefly considering selling it, deeded it to the city of Pasadena and the University of Southern California's School of Architecture. Renovations in 2004 insured that the house will be around for many more years. Like with any home, the Gamble House requires maintenance and upkeep. In the 1990s, the city of Pasadena and USC launched a plan to conserve and preserve the house. Pergola and trellises were incorporated into the grounds, connecting the home to the gardens that surround it. Hanging exterior lanterns accent the grounds from beams surrounding the home.
Gamble, David Berry and Mary Huggins, House, Pasadena, CA (1908-
Round, tapered beams extend on the exterior of the home to support the extended porches providing an artistic highlight to the home's exterior styling. Heavy layers of shingles insulate the house; even today the home does not need air conditioning to cool the interior because of the particular design of the roof. Stone and brickwork were incorporated not only as a design element, but also for practical reasons.
Greene & Greene Neighborhood Walking Tours
While the home was constructed in the Craftsman style decades prior, the elements of indoor-outdoor connections, horizontal lines, and earthy color palette resonated with the era. The original patrons lived in the house until death, and it was continually passed down through the Gamble family until 1966, when it was almost sold to a family who intended to paint the interior teak and mahogany woodwork white. They immediately realized the artistic and architectural importance of this home and deeded it to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California Department of Architecture.
The Gamble House: Materials and Design Elements
The Gamble House has developed a special one-hour tour of the house’s grounds and exterior. Your guide will lead an exploration of the house’s context and history throughout the gardens and terraces. It was commissioned by David and Mary Gamble, of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a winter residence. Teak, maple, oak, Port Orford cedar, and mahogany surfaces are placed in sequences to bring out contrasts of color, tone, and grain. Inlay in the custom furniture designed by the architects coordinates with the inlay in the tiled fireplace surrounds, and the expressed, interlocking joinery on the main staircase was left exposed. The Greene brothers received little acclaim for their work during their active years.
Allen Balik, The Napa Valley Wine Exchange: Savoring Sauvignon with Tom Gamble - Napa Valley Register
Allen Balik, The Napa Valley Wine Exchange: Savoring Sauvignon with Tom Gamble.
Posted: Mon, 02 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Wood is incorporated as a major focal point throughout the interior of the home. Teakwood and mahogany are common species of wood incorporated throughout the interiors of Gamble House. Traditional styles of wood joinery including scarf joints were employed by the Greene brothers in the construction of many interior elements and furnishings in the home. Five varieties of wood were used throughout the home in ways that highlighted the natural colors, tones, and grains throughout the interiors of the space. The Greene brothers found nature and the natural environment to be pivotal to their personal and professional senses of style.
The Greene's style was influenced by the Japanese architecture they saw at the World's Columbian Exhibition, a world fair in 1893 in Chicago. They would become leaders in the Arts and Crafts architectural movement, which sought a return to more handcrafted work in response to industrialization. The Gamble House is an example of this movement, with all of its beautiful, yet functional woodwork throughout the house. When it came to designing and building the house, it was all about quality versus quantity. The Gamble House was built as a winter home, and the Gamble family lived in the house every winter until their deaths in the 1920s.
Organic Architecture
The Gamble House in Pasadena, California, is an outstanding example of American Arts and Crafts-style architecture. The house and furnishings were designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene in 1908 for David and Mary Gamble of the Procter & Gamble Company. The house, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, is owned by the City of Pasadena and operated by the University of Southern California. The Gamble House was built by architect brothers Charles and Henry Greene in 1908, in Pasadena, California. It was first used as the winter residence of David and Mary Gamble and is an excellent example of Arts and Crafts architecture, which sought a return to more handcrafted work in response to industrialization.
Tours are offered now, as the Gamble House is both a museum and a National Historic Landmark. The essential nature of architecture by Greene & Greene begins with intense attention to detail and craftsmanship, as their bungalows mark the height of the American Arts and Crafts style. The brothers were inspired by the concept of total design, or gesamtkunstwerk, which was stressed in the German-designed rooms at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase International Exposition in St. Louis. When they met David and Mary Gamble, they already had developed a list of rich couples who commissioned them to design their houses, with generous budgets and relatively free reign.
Paths made with large water-worn stones from the nearby Arroyo Seco are reminiscent of running brooks crossing the lawns. The overall landscape design and constructed garden elements are integrated with the architectural proportion and detailing. The triple front door and transom feature a Japanese black pine motif in plated (more than one layer) leaded art glass, highlighting the Asian influence that runs throughout the house.
Ted was looking for confirmation on period correctness on the proposed replacement stove and icebox, and on the linoleum in the old black and white images. Karla was able to send him images of period advertisements, which corroborated the period of the icebox, stove and linoleum. Karla also pointed out that the stove was not of the correct period for the house, and she could assist with sourcing that as well. At that point, Karla raised her hand and let Nancy know that she could help provide an appropriately sized, correct period icebox for their cold room.
The Gamble House was commissioned by David and Mary Gamble to be built as their winter home in Pasadena, California. The Gamble family hired brothers Charles Greene and Henry Greene of Greene and Greene to build the home beginning in 1908. The home was finished in 10 months and represents an iconic example of the American Arts and Crafts period. Impressive interior woodworking employed by the Greenes including the usage of scarf joints highlight the natural tones of the many species of wood incorporated into the home's interior. The exterior is equally impressive, and the grounds and woodworking highlight a cross between the Arts and Crafts style and Japanese design that were commonplace in homes designed by the Greene brothers.
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