Diamond Midriffs

Faux half timbering accompanied by four faux tenons/beam ends.

I love the Craftsman style and influence, but sometimes I find the diagrammatic tendencies, form as the basis for ornament, a bit forced.

Marvelous relief panel echoes the muntin pattern in the flanking sash windows.

Like its geometric partner-in-arms the lozenge, the diamond is sometimes used as a ground for other patterns, as in strapwork. 

In image bottom, the diamond adds visual focus to an otherwise undifferentiated facade.  

Bemoan, Bemoan Part 1

The topic to which I'm probably most continuously drawn (no doubt to the consternation of my forgiving readers), are those forces occasioning alterations in the housing stock of inner core neighborhoods.

Cultural signifiers, the makeover phenomenon, and the ego-imprimatur impulse have all been referenced, sociology, economics, cultural transmission, and memetics, as well.

I've largely resisted imprecations, and a fruitless, villainizing impulse.  Still, I'm hard-pressed to understand how anyone, anywhere, for whatever reason, would think to transform, for example, image top to image middle.

Avoid opining about aesthetics, I'm often cautioned, matters of taste are dissevering, unfixed,  and coupled with elitism.   Does taste play a role, is there such thing as "good taste" or is it all "different taste"?

Eyebrows Again?!

Yes, only this time it's Eyebrow Eaves!  (See Eyebrow Dormers 7/18/08, More Eyebrow Dormers 8/3/08, and Even More Eyebrow Dormers 3/16/09.)

Eaves are that section of roof which extend past (or overhang) the roof/wall junction.

Eaves with a wavy lip or profile are Eyebrow Eaves.

A Craftsman/Four Square with a more jagged brow.  (And flower boxes with an overlay that matches the muntin pattern!)

Another eyebrow eave from a "rustic colonial" similar to top; and, another concave set.  Unframed round (or full) arched windows with consenting roofline.

10 at 10

FM radio station 100.3 ("The Sound") recently aired an LA themed 10-song block:

1. I Love L.A. - Randy Newman

2. L.A. Woman - The Doors

3. Los Angelinos - Billy Joel

4. Walking in L.A. - Missing Persons

5. Coming into Los Angeles - Arlo Guthrie

6. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers

7. Los Angeles - X

8. Free Fallin' - Tom Petty

9. Blue Jay Way - Beatles

10. Valley Girl - Frank & Moon Unit Zappa

Turtles

Sometimes when houses of wood are stuccoed, features above the roofline escape cement internment.

Are these mostly small dormers overlooked (since they are seldom accosted by changes of fenestration), or might their exclusion be a cost savings move?  Is 'The Dormer' beneath notice or viewed benignly?  

Like the head of a turtle emerging from its cartilaginous shell, the tactile difference is conspicuous, even when masked by common color, like this example wherein the beta gable has been left unmolested, er, shingled.

Whilst I tend to get a bit peppery when confronted by detail diminishing alterations, perhaps I should be grateful for these vestiges, restoration road maps of a sort, Sirens for the aesthete.

Realbonics

Contemporary?  Modern?  Modern with an 'e'?

Label for this post?  Real Estate Rants!  Yep, another opportunity for snarkiness, righteous self-promotion, and a little squawk.

Increasingly, the term 'Architectural' is being used by real estate 

agents as a catch-all for things new, blobitecture, deconstructivist, International style re-hash, anything that isn't neo classical.

How lame. 

"I'm selling architecture too," I chided one of the descriptive language challenged, "you know the result and product of building."

"Cute," she responded cooly, before adopting a more smug tone, "but this is architect designed."

"Very cute," I returned, "is he an architect of architecturals?" 

Check out these marketing comments (see bottom image): Stunning Architectural with fully integrated Craftsman and Asian details.  Integrated details, as opposed to unintegrated details, WTF?!

If you can't accurately describe product, you're an unqualified salesperson.  

More Prow

A clarion call, from rooftops and passing cars, "more prow," on corners, between verse, aided by amplification and chorus.

Yet again shabby treatment, marvelous wooden plasticity, incarcerated by a stucco gaoler.  Look at that stupid little window (middle of frame), companion catastrophe to a fiberglass 

shower stall installation I expect.  A challenging strike zone for me and my rotten tomatoes.

Now, my mood has lightened, inspirited by this cross-gabled example in powerful plum, the building type from whence the prow likely originates, the Shingle Style.   Textural effects, sock it to me!   

What's a post without a third photo?

West Adams Heritage Association Spring Tour

Saturday, June 6 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Last ticket sold at 1 pm)

WAHA is back with another self-guided, driving/bicycling tour, featuring a radical array of monuments, big and small, churches, mansions (the Italianate Guasti Villa, see top image), farm houses, multi-units, from Victoria Circle to University Park, and neighborhoods in-between.  Nine stops at latest reporting, for a measly $30.

For more information and check-in location, visit www.WestAdamsHeritage.org

I'll be holding court during the afternoon docent shift at the Queen Anne on Bonsallo (image below).

The TV that wouldn't leave

Me: "It's still here."

Marc: "It's heavy."

Me: "Should we set an over/under?"

Marc: "Four."