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Family Album - Issue 67

Santa Cruz, Calif., Dean Silvers and Ira Schwartz
Starting with a simple 1904 bungalow that had seen its features get lost and confused over the years, we decided that our goal was to clarify our home’s style.We have put in wood floors and added a mix of original and reproduction Arts and Crafts furnishings, along with a collection of international folk art. We also “furnished” many “rooms” in our garden that surrounds our home, with ponds & fountains interspersed between over 1,000 species of plants crowded into our 50 by 100 lot. Our place, which we’ve named “The Trellises,” is an oasis in the midst of busy downtown.
Indianapolis, lnd., Wifliani Guide
This wonderful American Foursquare sits in the historic neighborhood of Irvington, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is home to hundreds of similar Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts—era structures. Constructed in 1906 as a private residence, the home also served as a fraternity house for Butler University in the 1920s.The exterior is clad in fieldstone and shake. A matching fieldstone fireplace and beautiful wood-beamed ceilings and woodwork make this an incredible home in which to dwell.
Cincinnati, Ohio, Marilyn Bossmann and John McEvoy
Our bungalow was built by the famous Detroit architect Leonard Willeke. We have all of the home’s blueprints in addition to many of Mr. Willeke’s original pencil drawings and letters. The correspondence he maintained with craftsmen and the original owners proves very revealing.
Ferndale, Mich., Keith Binkowski and Kelly Collins
Our home is a 1922 Craftsman bungalow that we and our two children have lived in for two years. Located in an historic section just north of Detroit, the house had fallen on hard times. Slowly though, we have made improvements. Oak hardwood floors abound upstairs and down and most of the original trim was thankfully left untarnished. The living room’s brick fireplace is flanked by built-in oak bookcases and works just fine on cold winter nights.
Pasadena, Calif., Rupert Ouano
What started out in 2002 as a quest for the most affordable Craftsman bungalow in Pasadena ended up as a painstaking but revealing remodel. The remodeling turned out to be the education of a budding historian as he searched for clues to the beginnings of the house and its courtyard complex and the inspiration for its design and structure.
Jacksonville, Fla., Jeff and JoLee Gardner
Our 1916 bungalow is in the Springfield neighborhood, the largest residential National Register district in Florida. It was constructed by a local builder for a French-Canadian immigrant couple who lived here for 33 years. Before we bought it in 2006, it—like the neighborhood. which Southern Living magazine rated as the Number 1 Best Historic Comeback Neighborhood in the South in 2010—had gone through many downturns and upswings. But it has retained its original interior and exterior details.
Brevard, N.C., J.Williamson
We bought our 1935 Arts and Crafts home in 2006 and have since restored it. It has four bedrooms and two baths, a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, and a kitchen and a small den. The house has typical Arts and Crafts molding and hardwood floors. We have enjoyed the complete renovation of this fine house.
San Diego, Calif., Frank and Lauren Becker Downey
We are the proud sixth owners and guardians of the historically design ated Laura A. Tyler House, built in 1913 in what is now Golden Hills, gust up the hill from downtown. We love our side-gabled Craftsman bungalow with its original fir floors, wide front porch. 10-foot ceilings, built-in cabnets, original windows and other fabulous architectural details, including a quirky one: the man who had the house built was a stove maker, and although the house has a chimney, it never had a fireplace.
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Butteville, Ore., Patrick Leavy and Jean Ann Quinn
We built this home in 2003 on a 200-acre hop farm that has been in our family for almost 100 years. The exterior is a reproduction of an early 1900s kit house. People think that the house has been here forever, or that we moved an old house from another location. It features Douglas fir flooring, subway wall tile and hexagonal floor tile in the bathroom, linoleum in the kitchen, a Craftsman-style fireplace and wood windows and doors.

Burlington, Vt., Martha Dallas and Lucy Gluck
Our story-and-a-half story home is one of two known bungalows in the neighborhood. The original owner was a carpenter, and we wonder if he built it. Our house has wood casement windows, an arch between the living room and dining room, unpainted wood doors and trim and the original tub and toilet. The kitchen had been updated and extended into the dining room area. We have begun research on the home’s history and aim to do more.

Framingham, Mass., Christa Harnisch
The 940-square-foot Craftsman bungalow that I have lived in for the past nine years was built in 1927. It is a small, cozy two-bedroom house with a built-in china cabinet in the dining room. I recently had wall-to-wall carpeting pulled up and the beautiful oak floors refinished. I like to call the spacious front porch my “summer home.” From the time I first saw the house I was hooked: it was love at first sight!

McKinney, Texas, Ruth Ehret
My home was built in 1916 and is on a prestigious street in our historic district. The siding and windows are original, and it has 9 1/2′ ceilings, 9″ floorboards and an unusual milk-and-ice delivery door in the butler’s pantry. It’s a very comfortable home with two bedrooms, a sunroom, living and dining rooms, a pleasant kitchen and ’20s-style bathroom. I’ve enjoyed eight happy years here.

Portland, Ore., David and Trish Carter
We discovered a beautiful wooded lot next to a creek just minutes from Portland and crafted our dream of a modern American bungalow. The front porch ceiling is tongue-and-groove cedar, and windows, door moldings, columns and staircase banisters are clear-grain hemlock. Most of our lighting fixtures are period reproductions. We used an “Earth Advantage” builder so our home incorporates many energy-saving features. The most important feature, of course, is how much it feels like home - warm and cozy.

South Pasadena, Calif., Jack and Marian Sunabe
Built in 1921, this house had had only two previous owners before we bought it in 2003. Original light fixtures, white oak floors, built-in cabinets and a Batchelder tile fireplace were all intact. The leaded and beveled glass in the front door is said to depict a crown, perhaps representing “Crown City,” the nickname for Pasadena. The deep front porch with its swing and the light-filled side porch are our favorite places to relax.

Canyon, Texas, Bill Green
My bungalow was constructed in 1906 as a typical late-Victorian house with a T-shaped floor plan. After a fire in 1931, the second owner added two rooms to make the house square, lowered the walls and windows, bricked the exterior and laid oak flooring on top of the original long leaf pine floors. In 1988 another owner extensively renovated the interior and, unfortunately, painted the brick. I love it just the way it is, but someday hope to restore some lost features.

So. Portland, Me., Bonnie McClintock
I bought my 1920s bungalow in 2000 after renting it for three years. My vision was to restore it to its original charm. Improvements include a new roof, rebuilt chimney and major restoration to the front porch. The fun part was choosing authentic colors for the exterior paint. It’s very gratifying to get compliments from my neighbors. I thank your wonderful magazine for its inspiration and knowledge in helping me complete my vision.

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Richmond, VA., Jeremy Rowan
In spite of a decade of neglect, this 1937 Spanish Mission style-stucco bungalow was a diamond in the rough. Built to last entirely from concrete, the house has a Spanish arcade of graceful arches topped by a terra-cotta roof. The interior features additional arches, linoleum tiles, built-ins throughout and stucco walls. The windows and Craftsman doors are handsomely tripped with Douglas fir. We’ve enhanced original features and replaced ones damaged or removed — period light fixtures, tile work, kitchen and bath fixtures, stained glass — and created a new eat-in booth in the kitchen. At Christmas we finished our glassed-in side porch, now a playroom for our new baby boy.

Pasadena, Calif., Timothy Roberts & Caroline Smith
Our 1920 Craftsman home had good “bones,” but the interior was hideous. Every room had been wallpapered in Victorian farmhouse style and the kitchen was virtually gutted. We are working to return the house to the condition that it was when new. Eliminating the paint from the woodwork is revealing the beautiful grain of the curly pine of the built-ins and moldings. New kitchen cabinets match the other built-ins. A ceramic artist’s custom Batchelder-style fireplace replaces the damaged original salt-and-pepper brick. It is a long, slow process, but we are enjoying every step that returns our home to its gracious original state.

Salem, Ore., Kathy Schutt and Steve Oulman
We are 10 years into our five-year restoration plan for our 1920 bungalow — and loving every day. We believe we have a kit house, but haven’t yet determined the original manufacturer. we stripped the entire exterior by hand, replainted with a more period color scheme and replaced the lawn with xeriscaping and an organic garden. We’ve restored original woodwork and “fixed” a previous kitchen remodel. Like all projects there have been surprises, but non like finding an English-language Latvian newspaper crumpled inside basement walls. It’s been an adventure!

West Jefferson, N.C., Bill and Ginny Tobiassen
Built in 1908 by prolific local architect Emil Schacht, our home has been described as a large Craftsman-stule bungalow, although it may not neatly fit this classification. It features river rock fireplaces with Rookwood tile, old-growth fir paneling in the library and dining room (with box beam ceilings), mahogany paneling in the living room, many built-ins and window seats, oak floors with mahogany inlays and fir floors. It is located on a beautiful expansive lot with towering mature maples, conifers and beech trees — an urban getaway. Currently we are removing paint from interior woodwork and hanging beautiful Arts and Crafts wallpaper. A continuing labor of love!

Wyoming, Mich., Dan and Jennifer Smith
Our American Foursquare home is located on the upper westside of Helena, an area with many fine bungalows and older homes. We discovered our house was built in 1915 during renovations to our dining room, when we removed a piece of wall trip signed and dated by one of the builders. Our home has large rooms, maple floors, leaded glass windows, an abundance of dark fir trip and a beautiful pair of built-in quartersawn oak china hutches. Since buying the home in 1999, we’ve spent many hours learning about Craftsman homes and renovating, furnishing and landscaping our house.

Petaluma, Calif., Steve and Judy Collins
Our 2,700-square-foot Craftsman-style home was built in 1921 on what was then a chicken ranch. Thankfully, when we bought it in 1980 it had not been butchered with add-ons. After repairs, upgrades and converting a bedroom into a second full bath, we tackled baring the previously painted Douglas fir woodwork. In 1996 our home was featured locally as a Heritage Home. Recently we built a matching detached garage and upgraded the living room fireplace with Batchelder tiles. We are only the second family on record to own this property and it is our hope that it will stay in our family for generations.

Bellevue, Pa., Theresa Gallick
My two-story bungalow just outside Pittsburgh shows Swiss Chalet influences, with diamond-paned original windows throughout and decorative balconies on the second floor. Built in 1913, the house features six tiled fireplaces, many built-ins, an inglenook and an impressive box-beam ceiling. Unfortunately, when I purchased the home in 2000, the kitchen and bathroom were ghastly, but ideas from American Bungalow inspired revamping of the kitchen. This year’s projects focused on the home’s exterior and gardens. I hope to tackle the ’60s bathroom next year.

Holland, Mich., Ron and Deb Kooistra
In the two years we spent planning and building a new home we referred to your magazine many times. In an Arts and Crafts home plan book we found the bungalow design to fit our budget and our lot — we wanted our home to be very different than the “cookie cutters” in our area. Everything from our windows and hardwood floors to paint colors and wood interior doors to our replica fireplace was picked for their Arts and Crafts look. Our beautiful bungalow looks small outside but has five bedrooms, four baths and 3,800 square feet inside.

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Woodbury Heights, N.J., Mark Romano and Anne Belko
Our 1915 bungalow is one of the earliest homes in our neighborhood. Before we purchased it three years ago, the roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems had already been upgraded, allowing us to concentrate on cosmetics. So far we’ve restored the oak stairway, pine millwork and five-panel fir doors. Our painter helped us select the exterior colors using the Sherwin Williams Preservation Palette. We especially enjoy the enclosed porch with its frosted fan-light windows. The magazine is a great source for ideas and inspiration!

Oak Park, Ill., Jean Forbes and William Steed
Our 1908 house has to be the smallest one on the block. We refinished the oak and ponderosa-pine woodwork and had a new oak door made in the style of the house. We believe that the owner of the brownstone next door sold off the land on the north side of his property to Ernest Hemingway’s family. Most one-story homes here have had another story slapped on; I just can’t do it. The contractors will all have to wait until I’m carried out of here in an urn!

Hewlett, N.Y., Naomi Mirsky
I think my bungalow may be an Aladdin home. One enters into the living room, where there is a fireplace with small brown-and-rust tiles. The dining room includes a parlor extension, and there are five bedrooms — two downstairs and three in the top floor, which was an unfinished attic originally. It was built to sell for $8,000, but I believe sold for much less because of a poor market at the time. There have only been two owners so far, us and the Weindorf family.

Lakewood, Ohio, Laura Hammel
History gleaned from the family who lived here for 55 years, and from real estate records, tells us that the home was built in 1907; we are only the third owners. Not much was done to ruin the interior, with its mahogany woodwork, beadboard, octagonal tile, coved and beamed ceilings, fumed oak wainscoting and fruit cellar. In fact, we still have working gas lights and a two-story carriage house in the same architectural style. We hope to have as many years here as the people who lovingly cared for it for the past century.

Grayslake, Ill., Jeff and Tracy Goldberg
Our new 3,000-square-foot house was designed in the Prairie School style with elements of Arts and Crafts throughout the interior and exterior. It is a wonderful home to live in, and a perfect backdrop for our growing collection of Arts and Crafts furniture, artwork and pottery. The house is part of a conservation community, Prairie Crossing, north of Chicago that has large, open prairie spaces, a working organic farm and miles of trails. Come visit us at prairiecrossing.com.

Benicia, Calif., Timothy Heney
My 1913 bungalow — which I bought in the mid-’70s — appears much larger from the street than it really is. It seems to be three stories, but, in fact, only the middle level is habitable. The attic above is unusable, while the basement was meant for storage only. The two-bedroom, one-bath floor plan is original, but many alterations have been made over the years. I recently restored the kitchen, as well as the fireplace in the living room. The vibrant exterior colors complement the Italianate garden in the rear.

Reno, Nev., Steve Ellison
When looking around to relocate our portrait photography business, we were delighted to stumble upon this 1930 bungalow. At the time it was being used as an office for an attorney, who had done extensive interior restoration. We adopted the Arts and Crafts theme in the studio, as well as in the way we present our business to the community. Our favorite features are the period fireplace and the wonderful covered porch, which we use as a portrait setting on rainy days.

Pasadena, Calif., Steve Bowie and Julie Anne Swayze
Our 1909 three-bedroom, two-bath bungalow is located in the Historic Highlands neighborhood of Pasadena. This was the 12th home we viewed with our Realtor in the course of a Saturday. After walking through the front door, we knew this was the home for us. We will never move again!

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by Michelle Gringeri-Brown

Robert Magilligan came down from the Bay Area for a birthday party and bought a house. A brown shingled two-story Craftsman on a luxuriously wide street of similarly impressive homes, he believes his house was designed by Greene and Greene.

“Although I wasn’t looking for a home at that time, when I saw a For Sale sign in front, I decided without hesitation that this was the only place I could live in Southern California,” he says. “Oaklawn was a magnificent turn-of-the-century neighborhood that had been mostly preserved, and it still retained its unique character. I bought the house with the interior sight unseen.” Never mind that that interior was 3,800 square feet and Magilligan, a soon-to-be-retired single accountant, already owned a condo in San Francisco, a second home in Marin and a converted schoolhouse in Napa. He sold them all, moved down to South Pasadena and became smitten with all things Greene and Greene.

It was an established fact that brothers Henry and Charles Greene had designed the South Pasadena subdivision’s layout, entry portals, border fence, and a few years later, a footbridge and waiting station. Neighborhood legend had it that four of the Arts and Crafts houses were unattributed Greene and Greenes. But Magilligan wanted to know more, and began researching the history of his neighbors’ homes. This led to a year of talking with professional and amateur historians, and digging through various archives in search of the Greene and Greene connection he grew to be certain was there. Ultimately, he compiled an illustrated 45-page document on his findings, which he hopes will prompt architectural scholars to delve even deeper

In 1904 Charles and Henry Greene began working with the South Pasadena Realty and Investment Company to develop an existing orange grove into a “Suburb de Luxe,” as a 1907 brochure trumpeted. The street was 75′ wide to accommodate an impressive old oak, and the architects designed two distinctive cobblestone portals to frame the tree from the development’s entrance. Cobblestone-and-clinker-brick seating surrounded the tree, which was intended as a neighborhood meeting place.

Magilligan found a 1905 Pasadena Tournament of Roses publication touting the charms of Oaklawn in an ad, with a Charles Greene article, “California Home Making,” just a few pages prior. Greene’s illustrations accompanied the feature text, and included a painting of an entrance portal just like the ones that lead into Oaklawn.

“Charles Greene wrote, ‘Under the foothills is a beautiful spot, overlooking the valley to the south, a quiet nook just above a grove of wide and spreading live oaks. North are the sloping vineyards and the mountains rising high above.’ This is a description of Oaklawn,” Magilligan says with conviction.

The Greenes were not commissioned to design the first four houses in the development, all of which were impressive, costly homes. But they were hired to build a bridge from the promontory of the neighborhood down to Fair Oaks Avenue, perhaps in an effort to make the location more appealing to middle-class buyers who would need to commute to work.

The bridge spanned two railroad tracks on the east side of the Oaklawn development, and connected the homes to Fair Oaks’ streetcar service and the adjacent Raymond Hotel and its golf course. The design that was selected was modern and built from a relatively new product: reinforced concrete. It included a cobblestone waiting station with a tile roof on the Fair Oaks end. Soon after it was finished in 1906, the bridge developed cracks and the railroads insisted that an additional pillar be installed, much to the architects’ chagrin.

“I first began researching the Greenes in 1954,” says Randall Makinson, director emeritus of the Gamble House, “and shortly thereafter met some of the Greene family, including Henry’s daughter, Isabelle. One of the first stories she and her husband told me was that the saddest thing in Henry’s life was the bridge. He took such great pride in it, and for the extra column to have to go in, that just crushed him, she said. Every time I saw her over the next 30 to 40 years, that story would get retold. Henry just talked about it all of his life.

“There is a photo from the family that shows sandbags on the bridge and the tests that were done proving that it was sound,” Makinson says. “The Greenes believed in it, yet the railroads controlled everything, and they had to yield to the railroads’ wishes. It was the third reinforced-concrete bridge in the U.S., the second in California and the first designed by an architect. They had every reason to be very proud.

“The Greenes showed the world that concrete could be a graceful construction material. The increasing spans — the first is small, the next larger, and so on — are a beautiful sculptural composition,” he says.

The bridge stood with its extra support for 90-plus years, then in 2002, the city of South Pasadena undertook a restoration of the structure. “When it came time to restore the bridge for a coming Metroline project, the city had the vision and the courage to have it checked by engineers and to form a committee to see to the accurate restoration,” Makinson, a member of the committee, comments.

“They replaced the missing back and seat in the waiting station — which someone had previously decided should become a gateway into the small park that adjoins it. I’ve noticed that people are sitting there now, waiting for the bus, which was its original intent and function. And interestingly, the contractors who removed the extra column found that there was an inch of separation between the added column and the bridge; it never was being held up by it.”

The Oaklawn bridge committee had to consider things like the grit of the sand in the original concrete, as well as the color and texture — all to make sure that the repaired sections matched perfectly. The ingredients for the paving on top of the bridge went through the same process. “Everybody, from the contractors on down, listened carefully to the committee’s suggestions,” Makinson says. “When missing segments of the railing had to be put in, they went to the extreme to get the planks that made up the concrete forms to be the same size and go in the same direction as when the bridge was built.”

Wrought-iron lighting fixtures for both ends of the bridge were designed by the Greenes but never installed. The drawings for the four lanterns that were intended for the obelisk on the Fair Oaks side were found recently by Edward Bosley, director of the Gamble House.

“I uncovered the drawing of the unexecuted light fixture from among the Oaklawn drawings at Columbia University’s Avery Library,” Bosley says. “It is not a Craftsman design to be sure, but is nonetheless simple, dignified and wholly appropriate to the base on which it was meant to be affixed. The obelisk base itself is more forward-looking and unabashedly modern than the Greenes’ typical work, but so is the bridge, as it should be, especially when we consider that it is one of the very first reinforced concrete bridges in the United States.”

With the removal of the offending support, the bridge looks much as it did in 1906. “The Greene family is delighted with the renovation,” Makinson reports. “They said, ‘Grandpa would finally be happy!’”

In 1907 a financial downturn caused various sections of Oaklawn to be sold to other developers, including G.W. Stimson, who had found that to “maximize profits, it was best to sell a lot with a home constructed on it,” according to Magilligan’s manuscript. “At this time, the construction process was difficult … and financing was not available to individuals constructing residences. However, a completed home and lot could be readily financed with a mortgage. Alternatively, a buyer wanting to construct his own home was more inclined to purchase a lot if plans were included.”

Magilligan believes that Stimson hired the Greene and Greene firm to design six homes on Oaklawn in an attempt to bolster sales and present the public with architect-designed houses that would justify the high-priced lots. It is established that the Greenes did take on the interior design of one of the earlier spec houses, and Magilligan sees numerous similarities between its interior and those of the unattributed homes.

The six houses were considered moderately priced, ranging between $5,000 and $12,000. Each was different from the others and designed for its specific location. Magilligan’s research concludes that Stimson was required to use Peter Hall as the contractor, the same builder who constructed the gateways and fences surrounding Oaklawn, and that the Greenes’ involvement was over once the plans for “Oaklawn Series I—VI” were drawn.

Bob Magilligan spent considerable time and effort taking his own home’s interior back to its period roots. His painter matched the original colors in the living and dining rooms, while he chose an appropriate but new-to-the-house green for the library. The Port Orford cedar wainscoting and trim in the dining room is painted with ivory enamel, an original finish specified in several of the homes

Magilligan’s house was built in 1909 for a cost of $9,500. It has art glass in its front door and in the swinging door to the kitchen, as well as leaded- and stained-glass light fixtures and sconces in the living room. The library’s fireplace has a carved inscription on the mantel: “Who Loves a Book Will Never Lack a Friend.”

His background as an accountant perhaps predisposes Magilligan to see the numerical patterns in various rooms: groups of three or four or five elements, repeated in molding details, window placement, art-glass designs and the like. Even if his amateur historical research isn’t borne out by the academics, Magilligan is sure his home is an architectural gem. “I always thought this house was going to be much simpler than the ornate Victorians I lived in before. But Craftsman houses are like a painting: when you start to examine them closely, you see that every brush stroke or detail is important and relates to the others.”

A zealous activist in his neighborhood, Magilligan preaches the Arts and Crafts doctrine and the talents of Charles and Henry Greene to all of his fellow homeowners, encouraging them to bring their homes back to period style. He is also working to fund the replanting of the street oak tree that either died or was removed after a traffic fatality — depending upon which neighborhood legend one believes. But whether they treasure their homes for their historical architecture, or simply find them comfortably livable houses, the residents of Oaklawn typically stay put 20, 30, 40 years or more.

“Everybody knows everybody here,” Magilligan says. “When I lived in Pacific Heights [San Francisco], it was 10 years before I met my neighbors. Here there are retirees and families, and the kids have the run of the street. We throw parties for each new owner whenever one of the homes sells. It’s still a wonderful place 100 years after the Greenes designed it.”

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BY DONALD COVINGTON

 

David and Isabel - Married in 1902 in Monrovia, California

This is the story of one man’s rise and fall, buffeted by the turns of economic fortune during his lifetime and nourished by an architectural style that would sweep through America’s cities.

The California Craftsman style was created in part by famous architects, and popularized by carpenters and independent developers. The elements of the style were used to achieve a form of home building which approached the status of folk art. It was a builder’s art form, a style that celebrated an aesthetic based upon the logic of forming a simple, forthright structure using natural materials. And, it was nurtured by the hands-on labor of many, many common craftsmen and builders.

One of those who created Craftsman homes in Southern California and as far north as central Oregon, in the years between 1900 and 1930, was David Owen Dryden. Born in 1877 on a ranch in the redwood forest of Sonoma County, Calif., Dryden later moved with his family to a farm on the southern Oregon coast. In his youth, he apprenticed with relatives in the lumbering and building trades, on the Pacific Coast, where he acquired firsthand a knowledge of wood structure, and sensitivity to the rustic quality of vernacular architecture and natural materials.

In the mid-1890s, at the age of 18, David Dryden moved with a sister and brother-in-law to the small orchard community of Monrovia, Calif., in the San Gabriel Valley, a few miles east of Pasadena. In that small foothills community, in 1902, David met and married Isabel Rockwood. Together, David and Isabel launched a career of home building and decorating. David created structures in the typical builder’s bungalow style of the day. Isabel collaborated with him on functional planning and chose colors and other enhancements of interior elements. As gardens were considered to be integral parts of the whole plan, Isabel chose plants and supervised the placement of landscape elements.

In Los Angeles, David worked odd jobs, including that of a Tram Conuctor on the Boyle Heights Line, Before becoming a carpenter in the thriving home building industry in the community of Monrovia

In their early years in Monrovia, the Drydens purchased building sites, completed structures and moved into them for the finishing phase. While David worked on a new house, Isabel turned a recently completed one into a functioning and artfully decorated home. As their reputation for creating handsome, stylish bungalows grew, they were constantly on the move from completed home to new structure. One year they moved eight times.

David Dryden’s aesthetics gradually evolved from the ubiquitous bungalow of the early 1 900s to the more romantic “chalet” style, made popular throughout the San Gabriel Valley by the Greene brothers and their contemporaries. The Craftsman style that emerged in the first decade of the century turned the builder’s craft into an expressive art form, and often, as in Dryden’s case, made the house carpenter a folk artist.

By 1911, after a decade of developing his craft and mastering the new style, Dryden moved from Monrovia to San Diego where a building boom had begun in preparation for the 1915-16 Panama- California Exposition celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal. It was in the new suburbs of Point Loma, Mission Hills and North Park that the mature phase of Dryden’s Craftsman style developed.

Dryden’s San Diego houses affirm the harmony of shelter and earth through the combination of natural materials and structure, expressing the concepts of the Craftsman movement. Deep eaves supported by a variety of brackets and beams are capped by broad, low-pitched roof lines. The roof structure hovers above walls of redwood shingle and board siding, which occasionally rest on foundations veneered in river-worn boulders and cobbles.

The simple, direct forms of Dryden’s houses take on a dynamic character through the contrast of solids with the open structure of pergolas and port-cocheres. The picturesque effect is always present in the exteriors and is achieved by extruded elements such as stairways, window bays, inglenooks, balconies and sun porches. Shadows patterned by open structure and textured surfaces that evoke the natural character of the material add to those effects.

Interiors of the houses contain extensive wood paneling and cabinets with leaded art glass and glazed ceramic tile. Built-in buffets, china closets and bookcases in quarter-sawn oak or red gum are typical. The open plan is achieved by wide arches between major rooms or by double, sliding pocket doors and French doors. The integration of interior and exterior space is created by continuous lines of casement windows for maximum light and ventilation.

David Dryden built 60 Bungalows in the Suburbs of San Diego Between 1911 and 1919

These houses, built in the years of the Exposition in San Diego, brought status and wealth to David Dryden who progressed from the role of a carpenter to that of an independent building contractor, supervising a crew of artisans and craftsmen. By the spring of 1915, at the peak of the San Diego building boom, Dryden’s mature Craftsman style had reached its zenith.

Dryden’s clientele steadily increased during 1916-17. His work flourished and he became known as a builder of Craftsman style houses and bungalows for the affluent new middle-class professionals and retired industrialists who, eager to escape urban congestion and colder Eastern climes, were eager to live in a genteel, semirural villa — surrounde d by orchards, gardens and lawns, a short tram ride away from the merc antile and commercial establishments of the urban center.

Creative by nature, David enjoyed the role of designer and director of construction; but he was impatient with record keeping and preferred to pay receipts from pocket cash. His lack of prudence in business affairs was matched by a disdain for money in general. Dryden’s descendants recall his throwing money away, literally, over the cliffs into the surf below.

Interior of a Classic Redwood Board and Shingle Tradition of the Craftsman Style

His lack of respect for currency, however, did not extend to the luxuries that wealth could obtain. His obsession for quality in construction also extended to other material possessions. He admired fine tailoring and fast motorcars. He was a traveler as well, and spent many summers exploring the Pacific Coast by steamer and automobile, from the Mexican border to the rivers of Oregon.

And there was a gentler side, that David Dryden revealed in the poems he wrote for his grandchildren and in rhymed notes to his mother-in-law. Letters to his wife indicated a sentimental man of tender demeanor, and one with great admiration for the beauties of the natural environment. It was this more sensitive side of his nature that suffered most from the humiliating experience which followed the failure of his once robust career.

With the entrance of the United States into World War I in 1917, real estate and building businesses took a sudden nose dive. Shortages of man-power and materials made house construction a difficult and expensive venture. A national influenza epidemic also helped depress the economy. Dryden found it hard to gain enough commissions to ensure payment for the many high interest loans to which he was committed. With the need to cope with the ebbing tide of fortune that had once brought him wealth and security, Dryden apparently succumbed to questionable business practices and, eventually, to alcohol abuse.

A rash of liens and lawsuits for unpaid bills mounted against Dryden and, in the late winter of 1918-19, the Drydens left San Diego. Isabel and the children remained in the Los Angeles area while David returned to Oregon to recover emotionally and financially from the personal catastrophe which had devastated his life and career. He moved north to the Umpqua River where he worked with some success as a carpenter building houses and barns for $5.50 a day, a decent wage at the time.

By the winter of 1920-21, with new resolve and somewhat financially recovered, David and Isabel returned to San Diego where they began anew to acquire land for construction. The Craftsman style that had been popular the first two decades of the century had lost its appeal in the postwar years, however, and Dryden gradually shifted from the frame bungalow to the more modish stucco and tile “hacienda.” The Spanish Revival style, initiated by the seductive charms of’ the lath and plaster palaces of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and reinforced by Hollywood films, spread across the new suburbs of the 1920s, not only in San Diego but throughout California.

In the summer of 1925, the Drydens moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where David gained a second small fortune continuing to build stucco bungalows in the popular Mediterranean style. Dryden’s masterpieces, however, remain the romantic Craftsman villas and bungalows that he created in the years before World War I.

It is a tribute to the quality of his craft that most of David Dryden’s houses from his early career in San Diego are well-cared for today. Many of them, having survived modernizat ion and change, grace the old suburb and neighborhoods north of Balboa Park, echoing the serene lifestyle of a distant era.

While vacationing in Northern California during the summer of 1946, David Owen Dryden died on the picturesque Pacific coast that nourished his early aesthetic awareness.

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