The Wright Tour Pt. 5

I had never heard of the Millard House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Unfortunately, we were not able to tour the inside, so had to be content with a stalker's view from the outside. There were still plenty of cool details to document for this textile block home.









The back gate afforded another view of the home:



Hopefully in the near future the new owners will allow this beauty to be seen by the public. Oh the responsibility of owning a Frank Lloyd Wright creation!



Lunch that day was at The Raymond, a historic restaurant in Pasadena.



Once the caretaker's cottage for a much larger and grander hotel, it is the last remnant of that property.













After lunch, we were able to visit the Blacker House, another Greene & Greene architectural masterpiece.



What an entrance; can you imagine your driveway being this grand?



Like the Gamble House, the craftsmanship of the woodwork was magical.



The front door:



We were asked not to post interior photos as it is a private residence, however, since the entryway was used in the movie "Back to the Future" as Doc Brown's house, I figured most of the world had already seen this!







Last stop for the day was Pasadena Woodworks.



Founded by James "Jim" Ipekjian in 1972 as Ipekjian Custom Woodwork. Jim's early career involved building custom furniture in a variety of styles including early American, French, contemporary, and Greene and Greene, which led him to being hired by the owners of the Blacker House to reproduce all of the home's light fixtures. Jim became their project manager and oversaw all of the trades throughout the restoration. He was also commissioned to reproduce all of the furniture and lighting for the house which continues to this day.



Jim's son, John "Jack" Ipekjian graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in American history and then joined ICW in 2006. Since then he has tried to learn as much as he can from his father. Today he designs and builds furniture and lighting. In 2014, John established his own business called Pasadena Woodworks. Jim and John continue to work on projects together. Ipekjian Custom Woodwork focuses strictly on custom projects while Pasadena Woodworks focuses on limited production furniture and furniture-related products.



John told us that this early piece of his was not really all that good. Of course, it was one of my favorites!



As you can imagine, I was exhausted by the end of this day!

More Frank Lloyd Wright architecture photos at my main website.

The Wright Tour, Pt. 3: The Gamble House

For me, good architecture can be thought provoking and even life changing; I can think of at least three times that my jaw dropped and I rethought my sense of design and style because of what I had seen. First was the tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Studio in Oak Park Illinois, followed by Taliesin West in Arizona. The most awe-inspiring sight was seeing the atrium of the West Baden Springs Hotel for the first time. On my recent Frank Lloyd Wright tour in Pasadena, a fourth time had to be added to the list when I was able to go through the Gamble House by Greene & Greene. If it looks familiar to you, then you have probably seen the movie "Back to the Future," where it served as the home of Doc Brown.



Built in 1908, The David B. Gamble House was designed by architects Charles Sumner Greene and his brother Henry Mather Greene. The Gamble family generously gifted the home to the city of Pasadena in 1966 in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California, aka USC.

The garage, which now serves as the museum store:



Listening to the tour guide as we stood on the front porch seemed like it lasted for an eternity.



GET ME INSIDE!



Detailed view of the stained glass on the front door, as the outdoor light streams into the front entrance.



Loved this little sculpture that hung by the entryway staircase:



This staircase is a masterpiece. The soft rounded corners of the wood make it appear velvety soft.



The last interior shot I was able to take before a tour guide appeared out of the back and sternly announced that photos were not allowed.



The rest of today's post is an assortment of outdoor shots of the Gamble House as well as some views from the second floor overlooking the backyard.













The Gamble House is reason enough alone for me to hightail it back to Pasadena in the near future.

For great photos it's no gamble; just visit my main website.