Recent Articles From The Craftsman Bungalow
Frank Lloyd Wright designed well over 1,000 homes and buildings throughout his illustrious career, but only one of those structures was built in the State of Oregon: The Gordon House. Commissioned by Conrad and Evelyn Gordon, the 88-year-old Wright designed the home in his Usonian style in 1957 for the couple’s sprawling farmland acreage that...
Situated on its own island on the shores of pristine Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains of Eastern New York, The Sagamore Hotel has been welcoming guests from near and far for over 130 years. But what many of those guests may not know, is that the luxurious historic hotel that sits on the property...
This past week we traveled cross-country to spend Thanksgiving with family, friends and neighbors in the rural New Jersey town I grew up in. One of the many highlights of the week (in addition to celebrating my parents’ birthdays and their anniversary) was to spend some quality time with Carol Wilbur who lives in the...
After completing the restoration of our first home, we knew that at some point in the not-too-distant future, we would be starting a family. With that in mind, we quickly came to the realization that while our home had served us very well for the previous 5 years, a growing family would need more room...
In July 1906, Charles and Henry Greene presented their original design to Frank W. Hawks for a home that he had commissioned the brothers to design for his property on Arroyo Terrace, a quiet and artistic enclave in Pasadena, California. While visionary in its scope, and for reasons still not entirely known today, Hawks chose not...
On a recent business trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, I opted to stay at a hotel that’s steeped in history and in a little less than two years will celebrate its 100th year in operation. The Claremont Hotel, located on the border of Berkeley and Oakland, is one of the most picturesque hotels...
Those of you who are fans of J.R.R. Tolkein and his work may recognize some of the images below from the Lord of the Rings films and most recently, The Hobbit. Tolkien grew up in rural Western England around the turn of the last century, and his writings were heavily influenced by the romantic prose...
Each February, the eyes of the Arts & Crafts community are focused on Asheville, North Carolina, and the upcoming 2020 edition marks the 33rd year of the National Arts & Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn. “It’s been a perfect match,” explains founder and author Bruce Johnson, himself an Arts & Crafts collector and...
This article is the continuation of Timberline Lodge: The Quintessential American Alpine Lodge, Part One, in which I explored the lodge’s genesis and its historically fast construction which took place over the course of 15 months in 1936-37. Now I’ll take you inside this storied lodge on a personal tour through its hallowed halls… As...
This April, the Architectural Heritage Center in Portland hosted its 15th Annual Kitchen Revival Tour. Last year was the first time I attended the tour, and I was hooked after the very first home I visited. This year’s tour was just as good and featured noteworthy kitchens of several early 1900’s bungalows. All of the...
The bungalow that we’re currently restoring is actually the second bungalow restoration that we’ve undertaken. Our first was a 1927 English Cottage style bungalow, also in Portland. Below is a picture of the finished kitchen… The house was in overall good condition, and while the kitchen was functional, it was rather tired looking and in need...
From the late 1800’s until the mid-1940’s, Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the largest brewer in America, and at times, the world. Originally established in 1844 as the Best Brewery – named after its founder, Jacob Best – the name changed to Pabst in 1889 when Best’s son-in-law, Frederick Pabst, became majority stockholder in...
When I packed up my car and headed West to Portland, Oregon in November of 2000, I had no idea how that decision would impact the rest of my life. Like our pioneering forefathers who took a similar leap of faith – I didn’t know what I’d encounter, who I’d meet, or if I’d ever...
UPDATE: You voted and the results are in! In a closely contested race, “A Resurrection in New Orleans: Restored Bungalows of the 9th Ward” emerged as YOUR favorite article of 2013. Thank you to everyone who voted! As I did last year, I thought it would be fun to countdown our Top 5...
In light of the two recent great deals I’ve found on Craigslist (the oak desk and the Stickley nightstand), I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you some of the other Arts & Crafts items I’ve acquired through the site. It’s no secret that it can be very expensive to furnish your bungalow home...
Some time ago, we took a trip down the California Coast during which we explored some of the countless arts & crafts cottages in and around the oceanside artist community of Carmel. The highlight of our time there was getting to take a tour of Tor House – the handcrafted stone cottage of poet Robinson...
Most people don’t typically associate pianos with the Arts & Crafts Movement, and for good reason. Established piano makers of the late 1800s didn’t really see the Movement coming, and by the time they did, it wasn’t economical for them to go through the rigors and cost of designing and marketing this “new” style of...
When Sandy Evans and her husband Richard Herbold purchased this handsome 1915 bungalow in Delmar, New York, it was about to turn 100 years old. But on the inside, its previous owners had tried to re-imagine its interior as a contemporary, industrial space that more resembled a post-modern office building than a cozy, century-old residence. ...
This article is Part Two of a two part series highlighting the homes that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in Oak Park, Illinois during the years 1900 to 1913. Part One focused on his transition to the Prairie Style and the Oak Park homes he designed from 1889-1899. During the years of 1889 to 1899, Frank Lloyd...
This year the Architectural Heritage Center expanded their Annual Kitchen Revival Tour beyond just kitchens to showcase entire homes, and re-named the tour the Portland Old House Revival Tour. I’ve covered this tour for the past three years, and now in its 16th year overall, the tour never disappoints. In case you missed it, here...
A couple weeks ago my wife and I traveled down to attend a friend’s wedding in Cayucos, California – a quaint little beach town about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. When we started looking at flights a few months back, we realized that in order to get to Cayucos from Portland, we’d have...
Whenever I’m out-and-about and see a sign saying there’s an estate sale going on nearby, I almost always do a drive-by to check out the house and take a peek inside. A few weeks ago, that same scenario played out, and when I pulled up to the house where the sale was (below), my jaw...
After we finally closed on the house, we were eager to get started tearing things up. At the top of our list was to peel back the carpets and see what the floors underneath looked like… How it looked before we did anything… Carpets come up and wood paneling comes down… Once we got the...
In my previous post, A Pilgrimage to The Gamble House: Part I, I walked you through the many breathtaking vantage points that abound on the exterior of The Gamble House. While the exterior of the house is spectacular – with its incongruity often highlighted and celebrated – it is gracefully contrasted by the interior’s rigorous...
This article is a continuation of The Sagamore Hotel, Part I: The History Of The Iconic Resort On New York’s Lake George, which covered the hotel’s first 30 years (1883-1914). This article picks up from there and takes you through the 20th Century and right up to today… The Sagamore II, prior to the 1914...
The Architectural Heritage Center’s Portland Kitchen Revival Tour is one of my favorite days of the year, and 16th annual edition was again full of beautiful homes, whose kitchen – and in most cases much more – have been impeccably restored to reflect the home’s original period design. This is my third year covering the...
The Winter 2014 edition of American Bungalow magazine is out now, and I’m excited to have contributed three articles to the issue. The first is a feature article titled “A Family Bond: Craftsmanship Is In The Blood” (found on pages 78-89) about the home of Austin and Laura Whipple, owners of Scout Books, a custom-printed...
Last weekend my brother was in town visiting from the East Coast and we braved the rain and headed down to Silver Falls State Park located about an hour and a half south of Portland near the town of Sublimity, Oregon. Designated as a Recreational Demonstration Area by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, the...
Charles & Henry Greene were prolific architects who pioneered the Arts & Crafts Movement in California at the turn of the 20th century. Not long ago, my wife and I traveled down to Los Angeles to take part in a rare tour of six privately-owned Greene & Greene homes in Pasadena’s Park Place neighborhood, just...
I was fortunate to recently travel to Hawaii for business and while looking for a place to stay – away from the hustle and bustle of tourist-packed Waikiki – I was thrilled when I came across the beautiful Manoa Valley Inn. Originally built in 1915 by an Iowa lumber baron named Milton Moore, the house...
From Our Bungalow To Yours: Wishing You Happy Holidays From The Craftsman Bungalow!
Dec 10, 2020
Peek Inside: A Grand 1910 Bay Area Residence, Once Home to CA Supreme Court Justice
Jul 27, 2020
Peek Inside: An Unbuilt 1906 Greene & Greene Designed Home Listed For Sale
Apr 30, 2020
The Craftsman Spotlight: Arts & Crafts Lighting And Furnishings By Brett Johnson From Craftsmen Studio
Oct 18, 2019
Serendipity In A University Town: American Bungalow Issue 96 Article
Jul 20, 2018