A last minute addition to our tour was The Batchelder House, an historic 1910 Pasadena home that was designed and built by Ernest Batchelder, a huge name in the Arts and Crafts movement and his wife, Alice Coleman, an accomplished musician.
Batchelder created his signature decorative tiles (seen in the walkway here) and Alice also used the house's backyard stage to host chamber music concerts.
The light fixture at the entrance also caught my attention. I was in Arts and Crafts heaven.
Custom-made pieces could be seen in almost every corner of the home.
The Dining Room:
How about the irony of Frank Lloyd Wright as a marionette? This man was nobody's puppet!
The decorative border seen throughout the living room:
For the last 44 years, historian Robert Winter has owned and preserved this amazing historic home.
Winter is best known as coauthor of "An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles" and is often considered to be one of the foremost experts in the California Arts and Crafts movement. I truly enjoyed meeting him and listening to his tales about the home. He has a great sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye.
Winter studied history at Dartmouth College, where he first saw slides of Los Angeles' and Pasadena's architecture. In 1971 when Winter was giving an architectural tour of homes in the Arroyo Seco Historic District that he learned one house in the neighborhood had belonged to Batchelder. "I saw the fireplace and did one of my phony fainting acts," says Winter, laughing. About a year later the house was up for sale and Winter grabbed it.
The living room:
Even more gorgeous tile can be found outside in the backyard:
The bark on this tree looked like a mouth screaming to escape:
The house also includes a typically Californian pool:
As a huge Arts & Crafts nut, this tour was an extra special treat for me.
More Pasadena photos at my main website.
4 comments:
Man, what a gorgeous and beautifully maintained house/home. There's just so much about it that's right. Beautiful rugs, fixtures and furniture too. Wonderful job photographing it, Dave. Thanks!
Beautiful dwelling. Very warm and inviting.
What a treasure. Having recently designed and built (well really supervised the construction)our own home, I can appreciate the level of effort put into this place. Can't imagine what it would cost to replace it and its contents today. KS
Arts and Crafts style is so beautiful and so outlandishly expensive to re-create.
A profound irony, since the style was intended to be affordable design and art for everyday people, but the changes in society that the movement tried to circumvent have made it unattainable for most.
Beautiful pictures and insights, thank you, Dave.
JG
Post a Comment