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Architectural and design topics focusing on historic restoration and landmark homes of the early 20th century, from the perspective of an Arts & Crafts, Craftsman and Bungalow Home Enthusiast.
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Bernard Maybeck's Boke House: American Bungalow Article

Bernard Maybeck’s Boke House: American Bungalow Article

The Fall 2014 issue of American Bungalow magazine is out now, and my article about the restoration of the Bernard Maybeck-designed George H. Boke House (below) can be found on page 28.  There are actually two articles about the house...
Peek Inside: A Grand 1910 Swiss Chalet Craftsman Home Fully Restored

Peek Inside: A Grand 1910 Swiss Chalet Craftsman Home Fully Restored

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,...
Hearst Castle: The Enchanted 1920's Spanish Revival Estate of Publishing Magnate William Randolph Hearst

Hearst Castle: The Enchanted 1920’s Spanish Revival Estate of Publishing Magnate William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was a wealthy businessman who inherited a family fortune as a young man and expanded it into a vast newspaper and magazine publishing empire during his adult life.  In 1919, he inherited his family’s 250,000 acre retreat...
Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park, Illinois Designs: The First Decade 1889-1899

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park, Illinois Designs: The First Decade 1889-1899

This article is Part One of a two part series highlighting the homes that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in Oak Park, Illinois during the years 1889-1899.  Part Two focuses on his transition to the Prairie Style and the Oak Park...
The Craftsman Spotlight: Michael Stinnett And The Antique Piano Shop

The Craftsman Spotlight: Michael Stinnett And The Antique Piano Shop

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...
Bungalow Flashback: Finding and Restoring Our Dream Home

Bungalow Flashback: Finding and Restoring Our Dream Home

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...
Photo Essay: Asheville, NC And Its Abundance of Arts & Crafts Homes

Photo Essay: Asheville, NC And Its Abundance of Arts & Crafts Homes

While Asheville, North Carolina has been home to the National Arts & Crafts Conference for over 30 years, it’s been a destination for those seeking solace in its picturesque setting and holistic laid back vibe for long before that.  Once...
Photo Essay: Beach Bungalows (and Memories) on the Jersey Shore

Photo Essay: Beach Bungalows (and Memories) on the Jersey Shore

As far back as I can remember, my family has been vacationing on a beautifully quaint barrier island in New Jersey known as Long Beach Island, or simply LBI.  After spending a week or two there just about every summer...
Recent Articles From The Craftsman Bungalow
Greene & Greene's William T. Bolton House: A Journey of Restoration Through The Years

Greene & Greene’s William T. Bolton House: A Journey of Restoration Through The Years

The William T. Bolton House in Pasadena, California is a prime example of Charles and Henry Greene’s early emerging California Arts & Crafts aesthetic.  Taking its name from the prominent physician who commissioned it in 1906, the home predates Greene & Greene’s larger commissions – including the Gamble and Blacker houses – and introduces several more...
Photo Essay: San Diego's Historic Mission Hills

Photo Essay: San Diego’s Historic Mission Hills

The Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego, California has long been a bastion of early 20th century homes, with nearly all of era’s requisite architectural styles well-represented.  From compact single-story bungalows to expansive Spanish haciendas – and everything in between – Mission Hills exhibits the same architectural prowess today as it did when it was...
Photo Essay: Santa Barbara's Bungalow Haven and Amazing County Court House

Photo Essay: Santa Barbara’s Bungalow Haven and Amazing County Court House

With its rich history and sunny Mediterranean climate, Santa Barbara has been an immensely popular destination since being settled by Spanish Missionaries in the late 1700’s.  Following its annexation by the United States in 1846 after the Mexican-American War, Santa Barbara quickly expanded.  Through the mid and late 1800’s, the city was home to countless...
The Craftsman Bungalow Featured in Issue #75 of American Bungalow!

The Craftsman Bungalow Featured in Issue #75 of American Bungalow!

I couldn’t be happier to share the news that our home is featured in the Family Album section of the Fall 2012 issue of American Bungalow! Those of you who are familiar with the magazine will recognize the Family Album section, where readers submit pictures of their home with a short blurb about the story...
Frank Lloyd Wright Designed One Home In Oregon: The Gordon House

Frank Lloyd Wright Designed One Home In Oregon: The Gordon House

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...
A Legacy of Craftsmanship: The South Falls Lodge at Silver Falls State Park

A Legacy of Craftsmanship: The South Falls Lodge at Silver Falls State Park

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...
Lake Placid Lodge: The Arts & Crafts Jewel of the Adirondacks

Lake Placid Lodge: The Arts & Crafts Jewel of the Adirondacks

The Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York have long been recognized for their rugged wilderness and unspoiled natural wonder.  There’s a peaceful sense of timelessness here – a feeling of quiet isolation that hearkens back to those early rustic days when frontiersmen settled here and built their cabins from the fabric of the land itself. ...
Peek Inside: A Tropical Oasis Thrives At A Classic Portland Foursquare

Peek Inside: A Tropical Oasis Thrives At A Classic Portland Foursquare

Perhaps it was serendipitous that a internationally recognized horticulturist would end up living in a home that once belonged to a descendant of John Olmsted, the prominent landscape architect who designed countless parks and public spaces across the country.  But that’s exactly what happened.  First moving to the property as a renter in 1995, Sean...
The Craftsman Spotlight: JW Art Pottery, Handmade Pottery In The Arts & Crafts Style

The Craftsman Spotlight: JW Art Pottery, Handmade Pottery In The Arts & Crafts Style

One of the fathers of the Arts & Crafts Movement in America, Elbert Hubbard, was once quoted as saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  For Jacquie Walton of JW Art Pottery in Portland, Oregon, her lemon was an untimely job layoff that provided an opportunity for her to make lemonade using a skill...
Origins of the Arts & Crafts Movement in America: The Roycroft Campus

Origins of the Arts & Crafts Movement in America: The Roycroft Campus

This week I traveled to Western New York State for business and while there I was able to spend some time in the Arts & Crafts artisan community of “Roycroft” in East Aurora, just outside of Buffalo.  The Roycroft Campus was founded in the late-1890’s by Elbert Hubbard, who along with Gustav Stickley, is considered...
The Annual Grove Park Inn National Arts & Crafts Conference in Asheville, NC

The Annual Grove Park Inn National Arts & Crafts Conference in Asheville, NC

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...
The Harmony of  A Craftsman: American Bungalow Cover Article

The Harmony of A Craftsman: American Bungalow Cover Article

The Spring 2015 issue of American Bungalow magazine has just come out, and an article that I co-wrote made the cover!  The article, written in conjunction with Southern California-based writer Laszlo Remenyi, is about a truly unique recording studio (below and at left) built by film composer, record producer, and self-proclaimed ‘reformed rock musician,’ Richard...
The Handcrafted "Blue Ribbon Hall" at Milwaukee's Historic Pabst Brewery

The Handcrafted “Blue Ribbon Hall” at Milwaukee’s Historic Pabst Brewery

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...
The Lodge at Torrey Pines: An Architectural Homage to Greene & Greene

The Lodge at Torrey Pines: An Architectural Homage to Greene & Greene

If you haven’t had the opportunity to see an authentic Greene & Greene-designed home up close, then a visit to The Lodge at Torrey Pines might be the next best thing.  Taking its design cues from two of the Greenes’ most iconic “ultimate bungalows,” The Blacker House (1907) and The Gamble House (1908), both in Pasadena, the...
Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park, Illinois Designs: The Prairie Period 1900-1913

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park, Illinois Designs: The Prairie Period 1900-1913

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...
Untold LA: A Project of Passion By Photographer & Producer Jett Loe

Untold LA: A Project of Passion By Photographer & Producer Jett Loe

Not long ago I got a message on the TCB Facebook page from accomplished photographer and producer Jett Loe about an interesting project that he was undertaking.  The project he described, called Untold LA, is a photo-documentary about the history-rich and once prominent Los Angeles neighborhood of West Adams and its collection of countless Craftsman,...
The Arts & Crafts Cottages of Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula

The Arts & Crafts Cottages of Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula

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...
A Few Words About The Craftsman Bungalow

A Few Words About The Craftsman Bungalow

Welcome to The Craftsman Bungalow!  My goal for this site is for it to become a resource for people who love old homes – and more specifically – Arts & Crafts, Craftsman, and Bungalow home enthusiasts.  Hopefully along the way, I’ll learn some things, you’ll learn some things, and knowledge, experience, and inspiration about living...
Timberline Lodge: The Quintessential American Alpine Lodge, Part One

Timberline Lodge: The Quintessential American Alpine Lodge, Part One

Somewhere near the intersection of rustic charm and stately elegance is a place where natural beauty and cooperative humanity walk hand-in-hand.  Nestled a few thousand feet beneath the rugged 11,249 foot peak of Oregon’s Mount Hood, the iconic Timberline Lodge has been welcoming weary hikers, giddy newly-weds – and everything in between – for over...
The Portland Architectural Heritage Center’s 16th Annual Kitchen Revival Tour

The Portland Architectural Heritage Center’s 16th Annual Kitchen Revival Tour

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...
Photo Essay: Tropical Bungalows of the Aloha State

Photo Essay: Tropical Bungalows of the Aloha State

As you may recall, on a recent business trip to Hawaii I stayed at a lovely family-run bed & breakfast rather than one of the impersonal mega hotels in Waikiki.  While staying there, I got into a routine of taking a walk around the neighborhood every day and was blown away by the concentration of...
My Collection of Arts & Crafts Furnishings Found on Craigslist

My Collection of Arts & Crafts Furnishings Found on Craigslist

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...
A Pilgrimage to The Gamble House: "The Ultimate Bungalow", Part II: The Interior

A Pilgrimage to The Gamble House: “The Ultimate Bungalow”, Part II: The Interior

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...
Bungalow Flashback: Finding and Restoring Our Dream Home

Bungalow Flashback: Finding and Restoring Our Dream Home

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...
Peek Inside: A Grand 1910 Bay Area Residence, Once Home to CA Supreme Court Justice

Peek Inside: A Grand 1910 Bay Area Residence, Once Home to CA Supreme Court Justice

This post is part of our “Peek Inside” series where we showcase Arts & Crafts homes from across the country that have been listed for sale, or were recently sold.  Some may be fixers that are just begging to be restored, others may be fully restored and move-in ready, and still others may be somewhere...
Photo Essay: Westwood Park, A Vast Bungalow Enclave in Victorian San Francisco

Photo Essay: Westwood Park, A Vast Bungalow Enclave in Victorian San Francisco

San Francisco is well known for its abundance of elegant Victorian architecture, but tucked away among the tens of thousands of Victorians, there exists a small enclave full of hundreds of charming bungalows.  Westwood Park, located just south of Mount Davidson, was originally a grove of tall eucalyptus trees – part of an old Mexican...
The Craftsman Spotlight: American Bungalow

The Craftsman Spotlight: American Bungalow

The Craftsman Spotlight is an ongoing series where artists, businesses, and craftspeople are featured.  We’re thrilled to spotlight American Bungalow, in this first installment of the series! If you’re reading this article right now – and are a fan of bungalows – there’s a pretty good chance that you’re familiar with American Bungalow magazine.  Founded by...
The Sagamore Hotel, Part I: The History Of The Iconic Resort On New York’s Lake George

The Sagamore Hotel, Part I: The History Of The Iconic Resort On New York’s Lake George

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...
Timberline Lodge: The Quintessential American Alpine Lodge, Part Two

Timberline Lodge: The Quintessential American Alpine Lodge, Part Two

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...
The Craftsman Spotlight: Asheville Tileworks

The Craftsman Spotlight: Asheville Tileworks

Diana Gillispie’s eye for design and acute attention to detail has made her a fixture in the Asheville, North Carolina art scene for more than three decades.  Having first moved to the area in 1978, she became one of the pioneering artists of Asheville’s River District when she started a small pottery studio with a...