A tour of "The Last Ultimate Bungalow"

[archmolding]

For the Greene & Greene fans out there...My Article on the "Thorsen House" has been published on THISisCarpentry.com

http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2011/...thorsen-house/

A Huge Thank you to Gary Katz, for all the help and the work done you have done to make this article turn out great. It was a real pleasure getting to tour this house with you. Thanks again!

[Dick Seibert]

Jesse:

Thanks for that article, it's nice to see a young carpenter interested in the quality of design and craftsmanship of the past, next Saturday they are giving an award to a bungalow in Pleasanton that has been kept original, or at least where they've tried to restore to the original stripping out modern appliances, flooring etc.

Since then, Don and Noel Anger have lived in the California bungalow-style home, preserving its original flooring, renovating the kitchen to look like one from 1921 and even keeping the wallpaper close to the initial style.

"We both like history," said Noel Anger, a former math teacher. "We found it interesting and we wanted to maintain it. We liked the way it looked."

For precisely that reason, the Pleasanton Heritage Association will present its Architectural Heritage Award to the Angers on May 21.¹

Across the Freeway in Dublin they are tearing down 150 units of housing that didn't make 30 years, I was out there yesterday to see the fiberglass and plastic sticking up through the piles of rubble. Now they are going to replace it with 378 more units of junk that probably won't make the 30 years that the first development of low cost housing made.

Arroyo Vista was built in 1982, but talk of redeveloping it began in 1993 after residents complained about problems with the plumbing, windows and roofs. The city decided to redevelop the land after costs to renovate were deemed too high.²

¹ http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_1...costatimes.com
² http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_1...costatimes.com

[archmolding]

Im working RIGHT down the street from that house in pleasanton!!! Ill have to check it out. I drive past it daily and see the tennis court. Thats too funny. Thanks for posting this.

[texastutt]

I said it on TiC but thanks... YOU are headed to take up Gary's mantel! good work

[vwdave]

Great job Jessie. When I saw Gary at JLC I was asking about you. I've learned so much between Gary and you looking at your pictures and posts. We need some more updates on your home and jobs.
Thanks for the awesome tour

[Tom Bainbridge]

what is the thorsen house style called?

it is stunning

i would call it "arts and crafts" but my dates are off by 50 years

"mission" is wrong as well

[philthegreek]

I said it on TiC but thanks... YOU are headed to take up Gary's mantel! good work

Maybe his overmantel and entablature as well, lol. ;-)

Thanks for a great tour guys

Phil

[trailertrimm]

awesome article. had a blast reading and watching

[Ohiobuilder]

Nice article, I really liked the videos.

Well done.

[archmolding]

Thank you all for the comments! Its comments like these that make it worth all the effort it takes to put together articles like these.

Tom,

The Thorsen house as well as the Gamble, Blacker and Pratt houses make up the 4 "Ultimate bungalows" that the Greenes did. The style of architecture is "American Arts & Crafts"

Today we understand thier style simply as "Greene & Greene" or when a new home is being built in thier style its a "Greene & Greene Revival" Here are some pictures of a contemporary G&G Revival house that was built here locally last year.
https://picasaweb.google.com/archmol...eInspiredHome#

The Greenes were fluent in many styles...but these bungalows are what put them on the architectural map . They have designed and built MANY projects. Well over 100 projects, from commercial properties to simple remodels. In that time period a lot of the work was in that California bunglow style.
Here are some pictures of the "John T Greene house" I hunted down and drove to sacramento to go see.
https://picasaweb.google.com/archmol...eeneHouse1915#

[Dick Seibert]

Jesse:

What a fantastic reproduction of a Greene and Greene, if it's local can we have the address to drive by? Was it an architect or a contractor who designed it? I can't imagine the time someone spent standing over the stone masons to get that level of reproduction and quality, to say nothing of standing over the carpenters. Just Wow!

[BrainFrost]

Thanks Jesse and Gary. Great article.

Attached are a couple shots of the DL James house on the south end of Carmel. Took them in January. The property's vegetation makes it difficult to get a clear shot - and for those who want to see it at all you might want to get there sooner than later. The current owner has just planted another row of trees along the entire length of the stone wall that isolates the property from the highway and parking pull-out on the southern end. It won't be long and they will be totally shielded from gawkers like me!

Be careful walking in that area - the locals drive like maniacs and it's a good place to get smucked.

[BrainFrost]

oops - the pics will not upload - resized them to 1024/768 even. WTF?

[Tom Bainbridge]

archmoulding

i said stunning, i meant STUNNING

work like that is the dogs danglies

edit. if i could work that good

............. id kill to work that good

i look at keith mathewson............. i know he can do it

[archmolding]

[QUOTE=BrainFrost;604762]Thanks Jesse and Gary. Great article.

Attached are a couple shots of the DL James house on the south end of Carmel. QUOTE]

Glad you enjoyed!

Here is a link for the DL James house:
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildi...mes_House.html


Also for more pictures of the Thorsen house here are the pictures I took while over shooting Gary.
https://picasaweb.google.com/archmol...eInBerkeleyCA#