Chateauesque II

Steeply pitched hipped roofs serve as a backdrop for busy roof lines, punctured by towers and turrets with bell-shaped or candle-snuffer roofs, pinnacles, and finials.

Perhaps L.A.'s best high-style example of the Chateauesque, the Rindge House, designed by Frederick Roehrig (top).












This example features Italianate modillions (or ornamental brackets beneath a cornice), nicely emphasized with a dark blue, movement inducing, accent.












16th Century France on Bonnie Brae. Azey Le Rideau and Gilles Berthelot meet Merithew and Haley. Parapeted dormer, hood molds with label stops, the whole deck of cards, a royal flush.

Chateauesque

Less monumental, and more eclectic than the Richard Morris Hunt led revivals, an 1890's Los Angeles expression of the Chateauesque, exhibits the influence of the contemporaneous Queen Anne and Richardsonian house types; and, unlike its Eastern brethren, is crafted of timber.

Belt courses and balconies are common.













Nearly if not wholly symmetrical, and twin towered, a few examples feature medieval inspired Strapwork, or scroll saw elaborations (see top image).

Windows are sometimes divided into narrow vertical units with transoms above (see second image). Note also this example's jaw-dropping variations in fenestration (or design and placement of windows).













Dormers that split the cornice line or suggest a central pivot grace a few instances.

Even this stripped down case of house abuse from ol' Windmill Links wields a powerful silouhette.

No Words

The Highest Office

(Continued from Quattra Catharsis. See The Trial throughline.)

Our meeting was kept secret, away from pining ears, the usual handlers, secret service, Michelle.
"There's a broad spectrum of real estate," the pres started, "you needn't limit yourself to sixty years of interest. Our markets require broader stimulus."

"I like the 1870's too," I fired back defensively.

The leader of the free world continued, "a man shouldn't live in times gone by, lest the shackles of the past become the restrains of the present."

"Last I checked your crib was in Kenwood, not Schaumberg, " I volleyed, no longer wide-eyed and retiring.

"True," he paused, before a change in tone, "you know what I dislike? When windows are set into walls, without any decorative treatment..."

"Moldings," I interrupted.

"Exactly, it looks like a shadow box, or a picture without a frame."

"Precisely," I nodded.

"Now this business with the quattrefoil, are you in continued danger, have you adequate health care coverage?"

"An HMO."

"I've been reading the blog, I'm a bit concerned."

"Judge not my entries as wahnbriefe," I asserted, "but as ubermensch-ian pursuit, inoculation, reconstitution."

"Reform," he questioned softly.

"Perhaps," I offered, "but first I'm going to kick some pre-cast ass!"

Walkabout Closets?

Bedrooms serving as closets, er--dressing rooms, once seemed supremely decadent, reserved for fashion professionals and the wardrobe department. Now, despite a consumerist backlash, they're practically commonplace.
The ultimate walk-in and the latest of status wrinkles, with full length mirrors, center islands and jewelry organizers, cedar-lined, or finished like a ballpark locker room.

Typically the smallest of the second floor bedrooms is conscripted, sometimes augmented by de-partitioned adjoining space, a hall or linen closet, or even the landing of a back stairway.

The smart aleck would suppose I've been encamped in Fremont Place (seldom) or the homes of wealthy gay men (more often); but, likely it has something to do with shrinking household size. Demographers predict within ten years, the most common household type in the United States will people living alone.

I guess fewer tykes, equals more togs.
Or just better display.

Interview with Skye Peyton

Recentering El Pueblo: What is the 'West Adams Moms Club'?

Skye: The MOMS Club of West Adams is a Los Angeles chapter of MOMS Club International (www.momsclub.org) We are a non-profit group providing support for mothers who are with their children during the day. We offer activities and resources for moms with children and raise money for community organizations benefiting mothers and children. Each month we have a variety of activities including play groups, field trips, mom's night out and service projects.

Recentering El Pueblo: How did it start?

Skye: The MOMS Club of West Adams was started in July of 2008 by it's current President, Skye Peyton, with the help of a neighboring chapter, MOMS Club of Mid-Wilshire.

Recentering El Pueblo: How does one join, or get more information?

Skye: To see our boundaries and to get more information, check out our website at www.momsclubwestadams.org. To join the club, send an email to Jenna Flexner at momsclubwestadams@yahoo.com

Recentering El Pueblo: Anything else you'd like our readers to know?

Skye: Yes, we are having a raffle to benefit the local charity that we support, Gramercy Housing Group (www.gramercyhousinggroup.org). We have some fantastic prizes and the tickets are just $2 each or 12 for $20 (2 extra chances to win!). The drawing is going to be held on Monday, May 4th (you do not have to be present to win). I can be contacted directly to purchase tickets: skye@filmmaker.com

My Mayoral Platform

Vexed by Villaraigosa's intellective infertility, I've joked often about my mayoral platform, concerned almost entirely with beautification.

Razor Wire or Barbed Tape, is available in straight lengths but more typically deployed as spiral, concertina wire. An intimidating visual deterrent, owing to its earliest use around military installations and prisons, the multiple bladed edges can nonetheless be easily breached with cutters or surmounted by a carpet scrap. Some critics claim Barbed Tape rarely provides greater personal security, and more often diminishes the value and esteem of a place.

Many locales have banned barbed coils, including even "high crime" cities like Newark New Jersey, largely to counteract the detrimental impression created by a militarized hardscape. Amongst the visual improvements Los Angeles should effect: a ban on barbed tape in residential contexts.

Vote for me and I'll push for an ordinance--no wait--I like my job.

20th Annual Bungalow Heaven Home Tour

Bungalow Heaven, Pasadena's first Landmark District, a ballyhooed collection of Arts & Crafts era residences, holds their annual home tour on Sunday, April 26th, from 10 am to 4 pm. The 2009 sampling includes 8 houses, and a "Living History Home," wherein costumed performers will portray family life typical of the period.

Tickets are available in advance for $18 (BHNA Home Tour, P.O. Box 40812, Pasadena CA 91114-7812); or, for $20 on day of tour (available at McDonald Park at Mar Vista Avenue & Mountain Street).

For more information call 626-585-2172 or visit: www.bungalowheaven.org

The Thin Grey Line (Returns)

Concrete, amongst the most permanent of records, continues its recital (please see The Thin Grey Line 10/20/08).

A curb cut from 1974, at the probable expense of a parkway palm (an original landscape element). Likely when the alley-accessible garage was converted to a granny flat.


Flower power, and speaking of summers of love...





The summer of '79: People's Park protests, Donna Summer, Howard the Duck, Apocalypse Now, the Islamic Revolution, Juan and Nancy. Juan and Nancy forever. Right on!

Quattra-Catharsis

(Continued from Firstly, the Bay Tradition 3/1/2009)

Unmasked, pathology fresh and gleaming, I could no longer deny the influences, the obsession with asymmetrical shingled masses, houses of wood, the shin-zukuri and gassho styles, the odd classical detail distorted, engorged, layers of wood, roof lines akimbo, wood.

No matter the obloquy, handicapped by outspokenness and the headwinds of time, I determined to muster on, without resent for the fickle Klieg and its current fancy, lofty post war boxes with lean pipe columns and glass walled bridges; nor, with animosity for chintzy foam appliques and purloined ornament.

Rather as I surveyed the steep, fog-bound uplands of Diamond Heights, the corkscrew rise of the Balboa Highlands, even the methane saturated bog of Playa Vista, my mind eagerly filed and sorted, crafting architectural treatise and style precis. Had I become a seer, freed from constraints of time, place, and culture?

I sought comment from the nation's chief.

The Hover Market

Nowadays the real estate salesperson gig goes something like this:

First, you show your buyer a property.

A few days later, the listing agent follows up, "did your buyer like the property?"

"As a matter of fact," you respond, "s/t/he/y did and they're considering an offer."

"Well, I haven't anything in writing," the listing agent predictably returns, "but there's a couple hovering."

"Let 'em hover," I growl, "my buyers are throwing down paper and kicking ass!" (Thereafter, I would throw down, er forcibly reseat the receiver; only, I damaged a cell phone making a similarly grandiloquent gesture.)

It's the hover market, everybody's hovering. I get updates from agents every day, e-mails, texts: 'they're hovering, three different buyers are hovering, two ladies are h-h-hovering.'

"Are they in hovercrafts?" I snigger, whilst trying to restrain myself from forcibly reseating the receiver.

In the meantime my buyers are putting pen to paper, taking numbers, and....well....a few are hovering.

"What about your buyers," another agent asked, "aren't they also hovering?"
"Oh no," I gasped, "they're not hovering at all, we're locked in a furious endurance battle, smoking out the enemy, biding our time..."
"They're hovering," he interrupts.
"Bingo," I add.

Adaptive Abuse/Facade-ectomy (Part 1)

Building Reuse or Adaptive Reuse is the process of adapting buildings to new primary uses whilst retaining historic or significant features. Valued for its economic, social, and environmental advantages, examples include Santa Monica's Bergamot Station (train yard turned art galleries), and downtown's many loft conversions. Previously, I featured a spectacular Shingle Style house in Highland Park, the Ziegler Estate, reborn as La Casita Verde, a day care and pre-school (see Shingle Style 7/26/2008 ).

Adaptive reuse can help preserve buildings, and maintain a valued heritage; however, not all re-purposing exhibits sympathetic handling. Often structures are altered irreversibly and in uncomprehending fashion. Whereas the Ziegler Estate survives mostly intact, two other Shingle Style gems have been unforgivingly converted into restaurants. The Davis house (built in 1897) hosts a generally mediocre eatery, the 2-9 Cafe, near USC (top image); while, La Parilla in Westlake mars a magnificent form.

The most controversial practice in preservation however, is the facade-ectomy.

(To be continued)

The Mystery Listing

Historic Cultural Monument in desirable West Adams pocket neighborhood.

Designed by renowned architectural partnership, in the Craftsman style with overt Prairie School influence.

Nearly unaltered, with original plumbing and lighting fixtures, art glass windows, and sumptuous woodwork.

Three bedrooms, plus sunroom, a den, two baths, two fireplaces, and substantial basement.

True master bedroom with side-by-side closets, including 7 X 9 walk-in, attached bath, and linen closet.


Public records data:

Living area: 2,632 square feet
Year Built: 1908
Lot Area: 6,675
Zone: LAR1

More specifics upon request
Click on images to enlarge

Maybeck Lives in Venice?

Architect Bernard Maybeck's best known work may be the Goslinsky house (1909) in San Francisco's Pacific Heights, with its irreverent, broken, tilde-like pediment (image left and previously exhibited in Subterfuge 1/28/2009).

Craftsman bungalow with contemporary second floor addition in Venice. Also sporting an exaggerated, discontiguous pediment or cornice. Perhaps too weighty, but a fascinating attempt at abstraction, or geometric reductionism.