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Bungalow Features

When Less is More 18
By Douglas J. Forsyth
At Buffalo’s Darwin D. Martin House complex,
now a National Historic Landmark, visitors
admire the grandeur of the main house but
imagine themselves living in the lovely
Gardener’s Cottage or the Barton House,
a “small and nearly perfect jewel.”

In Nature’s Embrace,
A Home as a Way of Life 44
By David Mathias
Life on a Porterville, Calif., ranch inspired Henry
Greene to design this iconic California ranch
home that has sustained the Richardson clan for
five generations.

At Home with Modernity 64
By John Luke
In 2003, Arts and Crafts collector Beth Cathers
opened her home to share her furniture collection
with American Bungalow. Here, she reminisces
about how this beautiful furniture connects her
with the world even after she has passed it on.

Fire on the River 76
By Edward S. Friedman
The author takes us back to turn-of-the-20thcentury
Pittsburgh, illuminating the then-burgeoning
artistic culture. He also examines the
work of three of the region’s important artists
who found as much beauty in steel mills as in
the rugged hills of Western Pennsylvania.

SHOW US WHAT YOU’VE DONE
The “Bungalow Guy” Builds a New
Portland Bungalow 90
For this modern interpretation of a classic American
bungalow, the biggest challenge was finding
a suitable lot. The rest came easily.

A Moveable Feast 98
By Stacy Luecker
Following the guidance and recipes found in
a hundred-year-old cookbook, seven friends in
Fort Worth, Texas take turns recreating a year’s
worth of Sunday dinners, fittingly hosted in their
historic bungalow homes.

Departments and
Craftsman Resources

A Letter from the Publisher 1

Open House: Letters to the Editor 8
Subscribers share native gardening resources,
lament a larcenous houseguest, suggest improved
caption readability, And ask for help with a quest
for a frameable William Morris quote.

Family Album 14
From coast to coast, readers share their
pride in their bungalows.

Perspective on Antiques 36
With David Rudd
A colorfully painted table rescued after years
on a front porch in upstate New York turns
out to be one of Gustav Stickley’s rarest forms.

New & Noteworthy 40
A selection of Arts and Crafts–inspired
amenities for today’s bungalow lifestyle.

ARTS AND CRAFTS PROFILE
Bungalow Bob’s Pet Designs 96
Master woodworker and animal lover Bob
Schroeder makes elegant Arts and Craftsinspired
pet furniture that appeals to the
aesthetic tastes of bungalow enthusiasts
across the country.

BOOKS
Detroit City is the Place to Be: 106
The Afterlife of a Metropolis
By Mark Binelli
Reviewed by John Luke

FROM OUR FRIENDS
Reprieve 109
By Sedonia Sipes

Directory of Advertisers 110

The post 77 Table of Contents appeared first on American Bungalow Magazine.

IN HER PREFACE to the 1988 book Treasures of the American Arts and Crafts Movement 1890–1920, the noted Arts and Crafts collector, scholar and dealer Beth Cathers asked, “What does it mean to be at home in the 20th century?” The onset of industrialization in Europe and America around the turn of that fateful century had called into question long-held traditional values that had signified the sense of place, the rootedness, of being at home in the world.
One spiritual and philosophical response to this disruption had been to adopt the nihilistic belief that man was, in the end, spiritually homeless. There was, however, an alternative response, Cathers wrote, that instead “held open the possibility for man to be at home in the world in a truly modern way.” Out of this alternative, she argued, emerged the complex, contradictory but ultimately affirmative Arts and Crafts movement in England and America. In America, especially, the movement fostered the design, production and furnishing of homes that, through their beauty and authenticity, embodied rootedness, evoking a sense of being truly at home, even in a new time.

“I believe this is even more surely the case today, since the postwar revival of the Arts and Crafts idea in the 1970s, than it was a hundred years ago,” she says. “In the early 1900s life was speeding up, of course, from the pace of the 19th century. But today the pace of our lives is so accelerated that the temptation to become disengaged is even stronger. For me, that makes the appeal, the necessity, of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts furniture, ceramics, glass and metalwork even more compelling.”

Arc of a Career
Cathers, who casually refers to herself as “an old English teacher,” first found her way into art and architecture in the 1960s through her reading of English history and literature, which eventually led her to William Morris and the English Arts and Crafts movement, then back home across the Atlantic to the movement’s American stirrings and their expression in the Shingle Style and Prairie School. Meanwhile, her husband, David, had discovered and immersed himself in Gustav Stickley’s magazine The Craftsman, beginning what would become for him a profound and productive engagement with Stickley’s life and work.

“We were also beginning to buy early examples of Gus’s work wherever we could find them,” Beth says.

“Stickley, of course, unlike Morris in England, who hated machinery, embraced it as a boon in the production of art. He realized that machines enabled him to produce structural forms in wood precisely, efficiently and at reduced cost without compromising the integrity of a piece of furniture. That left him and his workers freer to concentrate on surfaces and finishes, which were not so amenable to machine production. (For David and me, finishes and markings became the distinguishing features in evaluating and cataloging Stickley pieces.) This combination of machine and hand work resulted in furniture that, while affordable only by the wealthy in the early years, appealed to Stickley’s democratic aspirations.

“We were just kids, and this all felt very much like being in the basement, discovering something at once old and new that we were falling in love with.”
“Then Bob [Robert Judson] Clark mounted his 1972 Princeton exhibition, ‘The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1876–1916,’ and everything changed. Interest in Arts and Crafts artifacts began to rise, and I started operating a little gallery out of our house. That led to a small shop, from which I later, as the revival gathered momentum in the late 1970s, joined the Jordon-Volpe Gallery, which had just opened on West Broadway in Manhattan.

“As anyone who lived through that era knows, a tremendous spike in the market for Arts and Crafts furnishings began to take shape in the late ’70s. Celebrity collectors soon arrived on the scene. Over the next few years, galleries opened and closed, dealers went in and out of business, relationships shifted. David and I divorced, amicably. Eventually the West Broadway gallery closed, and I went on with my life.”

In 1988, Beth and Nicholas Dembrosky married and opened another New York gallery, Cathers & Dembrosky on Madison Avenue, which went on to became one of the country’s leading Arts and Crafts dealerships. After Dembrosky died, in 2000, Robert Kaplan joined Beth as a partner. Eventually, as the retail market for high-end Arts and Crafts material continued to soften, the dealership closed shop and began to deal privately.

Today, as independent consultants, she and Kaplan deal with select collectors and decorators who are concerned with, in her words, “only the finest examples” of Arts and Crafts furniture, lighting and ceramics. Increasingly, these examples have included works by Charles Rohlfs, Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene & Greene, as well as Stickley.

Home, Hearth and Heart
Throughout her career as a collector, historian and dealer, Beth has consistently lived among those “finest examples” that have the most meaning for her. The photographs that accompany this article are of furnishings she began acquiring in the 1970s. At the time the photographs were taken, in 2003, they were in a postwar Neocolonial home in New Jersey. Both the home and the furnishings have since been sold, and in part for that reason, seeing the photographs recently for the first time was a powerful emotional experience.
“My furniture is my true home,” she says. “It’s not about the house. I don’t truly live with a house, and never have. I live, and have lived, with beautiful furniture. It’s my heart, my hearth, my home—what is closest to me and connects me with the world, even after I have passed it on.”

She relates a tale surrounding a 1901 Charles Rohlfs rocking chair that appears on page 45 of Treasures of the Arts and Crafts Movement, courtesy of the Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, in Pittsburgh.

“I had learned in 1986 that the chair was for sale, and agreed to meet the seller on a sidewalk in Upper New York State to look at it. I had to borrow $7,000 to buy it. I love Rohlfs, and I loved living with that chair while I had it. I loved having it appear in the book. One day not long after the book came out, the man who had sold it to me called to touch base, to say how pleased he was to see where it had ended up.

“I loved that, too.”

We are grateful to David Rudd for assistance in developing this article.

The post At Home With Modernity appeared first on American Bungalow Magazine.

Milwaukee, Wis., Joe Cerreto and Jon Krueger

We thought we wanted a nice modern townhouse until walking into this beautiful 1906 home. I was always afraid of an older home until I actually sat down and took in the timeless craftsmanship. Fortunately for us, our realtor knew we’d want it before we did. Thankfully much of the house has been lovingly preserved; the original four-door icebox remains intact including the drain into the cellar. We plan to spend much of the Wisconsin winter at the library and historical center researching the history of our house.

Alameda, Calif., Bill and Patty McNamara

Alameda is filled with Victorians and Craftsman bungalows. Ours, built in 1911, is considered very unique, and has been featured on two home tours sponsored by the Alameda Historical Society. Its nickname is the “House of Many Gables” due to its additions. The interior has many of the charms of yesteryear, including the original hardwood floors, leaded-glass breakfront and built-in nooks. Unfortunately, four original stained-glass windows were removed by the previous owners, but it’s been lovingly restored and decorated room by room.

Sherrill, N.Y., Patricia Hoffman

My home, designed in 1918 by Charles R. Ingraham of Hendrickson & Ingraham of Oneida, N.Y. was constructed in 1920. I purchased the five-bedroom two-bath home in 2005. The kitchen had already been remodeled and since living here I remodeled both bathrooms to conform to the Craftsman style. The original woodwork, built-ins, hardwood floors and windows thankfully remain. One of the most delightful features is a brick Rumford fireplace that, true to its design, has an incredible draw and actually throws heat into the room.

Kirkwood, Mo., Sheila and Dennis Thompson

We are very proud of our 1927 bungalow, designed by Swiss architect Franz Herding. It is one of the original homes built where the Osage Indians were once settled. Our home, which we’ve lived in for ten years, has great bones. The walls are made of a very thick plaster/horsehair lath. The architectural details are plentiful. We have done mostly cosmetic work to bring it back to its roots. The radiators are still in use, which are so cozy during the winter months. We love our bungalow home.

Green City, Mo., Britainy and Duane Heller

In 2008, we purchased our house, which was built in 1923. We’ve been searching for information ever since. I’ve found similar antique home plans, but ours is always different in a significant way. It’s a three-bedroom house, two down and one up, but it easily could have been intended as a five-bedroom house. The addition of two walls upstairs would add a hallway and two more bedrooms. A large upstairs room spans the house; each side has a window and a walk-in-closet, leading us to think it was originally meant to be a five-bedroom home.

Coatsville, Pa., Eric Collins

I’ve lived in my 1928 stone bungalow for 15 years, during which time I steadily restored the interior with help from my son Ethan, including exposing the stone chimney above the fireplace. Finally, I’ve finished the restoration of the exterior. I removed the plastic shutters, then added an eave-vent and brackets on the dormer. I also built a cedar window box and repainted the siding and front porch. I planted a garden in the front yard to improve the view from the living room and porch. I’m very happy with the results—the neighbors love it.

Portland, Ore., Joshua Salinger and Carolyn Fine

We purchased our 1925 Craftsman bungalow in 2006. Charmed by the little details—the fireplace, wide baseboards, crown molding and built-in bookshelves—we saw an opportunity to correct some mistakes made in the 1960s and restore artistic dignity to the house. My husband is a designer/builder, and our house has been his labor of love. Mortise-and-tenon-jointed fir beams and floating shelves, concrete countertops, and stone tile bring in elements of the outdoors. Living in a wonderful neighborhood at the base of Mt. Tabor is the cherry on top.

Grand Rapids, Mich., Mike and Deb Hoag

After looking at many homes over six years, we discovered our 1920s bungalow in 2004. Windows in groups of five circle the house, allowing natural light to flood every room. When we bought it, white carpet covered red-oak floors. With the carpet gone and the colors changed, much of the character was restored. We were happily surprised when we heard from more than one guest, “It’s peaceful here.” Every day we are filled with a sense of peace and satisfaction living in this wonderful home.

The post Issue 77 Family Album appeared first on American Bungalow Magazine.

A Home as a Way of Life
Life on a Porterville, Calif., ranch inspired Henry Greene to design this iconic California ranch home that has sustained the Richardson clan for five generations.

At Home with Modernity
In 2003, Arts and Crafts collector Beth Cathers
opened her home to share her furniture collection with American Bungalow. Here, she reminisces about how this beautiful furniture connects her with the world even after she has passed it on. Click Here For Full Article.

Fire on the River
The author takes us back to turn-of-the-20th century Pittsburgh, illuminating the then-burgeoning artistic culture. He also examines the work of three of the region’s important artists who found as much beauty in steel mills as in the rugged hills of Western Pennsylvania.

Also included (for subscriber copies) is the first print in our four-part lithographic panorama by Jan Schmuckal. Subscribe or renew your subscription today to receive this year’s exclusive. Check back soon as more updates from this issue are added to the site.

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Splendour of Ended Day

Our subscriber bonus has an interesting twist in 2013; an evocative landscape panorama in four parts. In each 2013 issue, subscribers will receive a high-quality lithographic print of the oil paintings Jan has created exclusively for American Bungalow subscribers. Each image stands on its own as a unique artwork. Hang them together and they are united into one continuous, magnificent scene; a contemplative place filled with soothing light and shadow that invites you to stay for the sunset.

This offer is exclusively for American Bungalow subscribers—you won’t find these frame-worthy prints on the newsstand. You still have time to subscribe—the first 2013 issue is due out in February.

To subscribe now, click here

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Q.

Nice find—it’s rare that a piece of Stickley shows up at an estate sale in California. This nursing rocker was manufactured by the L.&J.G. Stickley Co. in Fayetteville, N.Y., from quarter-sawn American white oak. This piece has been known as a nursing rocker, sewing rocker or slipper rocker (the low seat-to-floor height made it easier to fasten the buttons or ties on ladies’ shoes).

From the photos you sent, the piece seems in very good condition, and still retains its original decal shop mark introduced in 1912. I’m also impressed with the condition of the spring seat. The leather appears original. On finds with original leather, I usually advise that a second seat be made and the original safely stored. A word of warning; the leather may look great now, but it is quite fragile and with use will break down. Because it is a small rocker, I would assume it will not get heavy use, so you could choose to leave the original seat in place and sit with care. Original upholstery does enhance the value of antique furniture, but if the condition detracts from the piece or renders it unusable, storing the original and replacing with new is appropriate.

As for wood care, I would stay away from oil products, as they can lift the original finish. If you would like to add some richness and depth to the color, try a good quality paste wax. The point of paste wax is to add a protective coating and preserve the delicate original finish. This allows the paste wax to take the wear, not the finish. Add more wax when needed. The new application will remove the old wax coating, leaving a new layer of protective wax.
Congratulations on your great find.

Q. I acquired a pair of Stickley tables shortly after I moved into my Los Angeles airplane bungalow in 1988. Although they are clearly marked Stickley, they don’t appear very Arts and Crafts. But the Stickley logo is stamped on the underside of the shelf. Are these really Stickley? Are they considered Arts and Crafts? Any idea when they were made? What kind of wood is it?
Mark DeMan
Los Angeles, Calif.

Over the years I have been involved with Art and Crafts, I have observed many emotions experienced by collectors who find the name “Stickley” on a piece of furniture, including excitement, confusion and disappointment. The answer to your question is somewhat complicated. To clarify, I turned to my good friend Mike Danial, historian at Stickley, Audi and Company:

“This end table, made of mahogany solids and veneer with leather tooled tops, was made in Grand Rapids, Mich., at the factory of Albert Stickley. However, this is not a Stickley table.

Your table was made between 1940–1966, many years after the heyday of the Arts and Crafts Movement brought Stickley mission oak furniture to prominence. Albert had died in 1928; his Grand Rapids factory was purchased in the late 1940s by the Western Table Company of Selma, Ala., the company who designed and built your tables.

Western Table Company was prohibited from using the name Stickley, as they’d purchased the factory, not the name. However, many pieces had already been sold and continued to be branded with the Stickley name, as yours was, even as late as the 1960s.

As you might imagine, there really is no active collector interest in this particular line of furniture because Albert Stickley did not design these tables nor are they considered to be Stickley in the collector’s view.
-Mike Danial

Q. I purchased this Stickley rocking chair with a rope foundation and would like to determine the age. I cannot find a time line on the older works he did, but I believe due to the rope foundation it is pre-1910. I could not find a shop mark on it anywhere. If this truly is Stickley, I want to reupholster the cushion correctly and need to know correct colors and dimensions. Would replacing the rope affect the value?
Walt Parke
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

You are correct in assuming rope or cord was used as a foundation in Gustav Stickley’s earlier pieces. You could probably narrow it down a bit further and say 1900 to 1905, however there are always exceptions.

It’s easier to determine approximate age through the shop mark (on this chair, I would typically look under the arm first), but just because there is no shop mark doesn’t mean it’s not authentic. There are many good Stickley pieces out there without shop marks. On this particular chair, the shop mark would have been a decal, which could easily have come off sometime over the years, perhaps during refinishing. But we know this is Stickley because it matches the catalog image in design and dimension. This was a model that was introduced in the “Chips” catalog in 1901and offered for quite a few years. It started as either a rope or cane foundation and was changed to a spring seat probably somewhere between 1905 and 1910.

Replacing the rope appears to be necessary, but will not affect the value. I found two Stickley catalog images to give you an idea of how this chair was upholstered. The first example (top of page, rocker on left) was leather with lacing, heavy in texture, possibly bison; the second (above) would have been a softer sewn cow hide. Colors were usually in the medium-to-dark, warm brown range, but I have seen a deep green used as well. Nice find—have fun with the restoration.

The post 76 Perspectives on Antiques appeared first on American Bungalow Magazine.

Newton, Mass., Jean Greenberg

Newton, Mass., Nancy and Tim Greenberg
We bought this interesting house in 2011—we call it English Arts and Crafts. It was built in 1914 as a parsonage for the Swedenborgian church. It has beautiful woodwork, built-in shelves and wonderful fireplaces. We have a five-year plan to restore it; this year, we replaced all electrical and heating and installed A/C. Next year, we’ll paint and re-shingle. In year three we’ll take on the third floor, year four, the kitchen, and year five, the second-floor bathrooms. Our goal is for our home to be worthy of the Newton Historic Homes Tour, held every spring.

Walla Walla, Wash., Larry Love and Mary Wilen
We purchased our 1918 Craftsman bungalow in 2005. Located on a tree-lined street near Whitman College, it was built for professor Walter Crosby Eells, grandson of Whitman’s founder. Our home has five bedrooms plus a den with a bath on each floor. The dining room has its original red fir wainscoting and box-beam ceilings as do the living room and main floor bedroom. Original oak floors remain as well. We restored the kitchen and baths to an appropriate period look. Most of our windows still have their original “wavy” glass.

West Fork, Ark., Kay and Charlie Rossetti
In spite of its dilapidated condition, we bought this little 1896 Victorian in 2009, but we really wanted a bungalow. Some features lent themselves to Mission style: nine-foot ceilings, open rafter tails, gable ends with large overhangs, and a steep roof to add to the attic area. We took on the renovation of this “creepy old house” in a tangle of trees; now at last we have our bungalow.

Stanwood, Wash., Donald and Mary Schultz
We are the third owners of this 1917 Craftsman, built for Stanwood’s banker, C.R. Amundsen, and designed by Judd Yoho of Seattle’s Craftsman Bungalow Company. Mr. Yoho would take the train from Seattle to inspect the weekly progress. The home has six bedrooms and a bath on each of the four floors. Little had been done to the home when we purchased it 20-plus years ago. We updated the kitchen, refinished the natural woodwork, and finished the third floor. The home is situated on a ¾-acre lot with many of the original trees and shrubs.

Newberg, Ore., Alison and Matthew Murray
Our 1920 Craftsman, in the heart of Oregon wine country, is also within walking distance of the grocery store, bank, theater, restaurants and tasting rooms. The original pocket doors, built-in cabinets and box ceilings are intact. The generous size allows us both to work from home, each with our own workspace. The previous owners have shared some of the house’s rich history with us, including this photo with our house in the background.

San Antonio, Tex., Jim Crain
Upon retiring, I returned to my roots in San Antonio in search of a home in Mahncke Park. One of the city’s bungalow neighborhoods, an effort is now underway to designate it as a Historic District. I found this 1948 Spanish stucco home nestled among the Craftsmans. I fell for the earthy hardwood floors, adobe and white interior walls and Mexican tile floor. Colorful Spanish tiles, installed by the previous owner in the kitchen backsplash, were purchased from the estate of O’Neil Ford, San Antonio’s more revered preservationist architect.

Idyllwild, Calif., Robin and Sarah Oates
Our mountain community is known for spectacular scenery, hiking and solitude. The prevailing architecture is chalet, modified A-frame and lodge-style homes. In 2007 we built this Craftsman home, attempting to adapt Arts and Crafts features to the mountain setting among pine, cedar and oak. This home features exposed rafter tails, gable-end knee bracing, a mahogany front door, vertical-grain Douglas fir, handmade tile, cherry cabinets, period-style lighting and stained-glass windows. It also features a wonderful view of a dramatic granite outcropping called Lily Rock.

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BUNGALOW FEATURES

BUNGALOW KITCHENS
A Place of Our Own 20
BY KATHLEEN DONOHUE
Whether an intact period kitchen, a 70′s
remuddle made right or a tasteful expansion to accommodate a growing family, these kitchens charmingly reflect the personalities of their owners.

A House on the Pacific Rim 44
BY ROBERT WINTER
The author remembers the Heineman brothers, a pair of “rank amateurs” who built some of Pasadena’s loveliest homes, including a meticulously restored Arts and Crafts masterpiece- the James Allen Freeman house.

Hood Canal Bungalow 60
BY ALAN HEROLD
A Northwest couple with differences in style
and taste find common ground in building
their dream house on an idyllic fjord of
Puget Sound.

JUST THE TICKET FOR A WORLD TRAVELER
A Craftsman Home 72
BY TONI DEVEREAUX
Taking a leap of faith with a worldwide
home-exchange program, the author
discovers the delights of trading places with
homeowners from Copenhagen to Istanbul.

Bungalow Love 86
BY SAMUEL L. SCHEIB
Not long ago, drug dealers were more at
home than families in this Southern Georgia neighborhood that once welcomed Gilded Age vacationers. Today, thoughtful restoration
is bringing back its former charm.

Some Beauty of Line,
in Lovely Clothes 100
BY JOHN LUKE
Celebrating a purely American style (and the
surprising French obsession that drove a
flood of ìGibson Girlî shirtwaist exports to Paris), a seductive exhibition debuts at the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms.

DEPARTMENTS AND
CRAFTSMAN RESOURCES

A Letter from the Publisher 1

Open House: Letters to the Editor 8
A subscriber falls in love with a lamp, praise
for native gardening, a quest for a 90-year-old door hinge, and a revisit to the neighborhood of a renowned Detroit architect.

Family Album 14
From coast to coast, readers share their
pride in their bungalows.

Perspective on Antiques 36
WITH DAVID RUDD
A tale of three Stickleys: a lucky estate sale
find, a Stickley table that isnít, and the proper approach to replace a seatís rope foundation.

New & Noteworthy 40
A selection of Arts and Crafts inspired
amenities for todayís bungalow lifestyle.

ARTS AND CRAFTS PROFILE
Fedde Furniture 96
A Pasadena icon now celebrating its 75th
year, Fedde Furniture is a family business in
every sense of the word, with a deep
commitment to giving back.

FROM OUR FRIENDS
Trophy Room 109
BY LINDA RAVEN

Directory of Advertisers 110

The post 76 Table of Contents appeared first on American Bungalow Magazine.

Hood Canal Bungalow
A Northwest couple with differences in style taste find common ground in building their dream house on an idyllic fjord of Puget Sound.
Bonus Gallery Here

A House on the Pacific Rim
The author remembers the Heineman brothers, a pair of “rank amateurs” who built some of Pasadena’s loveliest homes, including a
meticulously restored Arts and Crafts masterpiece- the James Allen Freeman house. Bonus gallery can be found here

Some Beauty of Line, in Lovely Clothes
Celebrating a purely American style (and the
surprising French obsession that drove a
flood of “Gibson Girl” shirtwaist exports to Paris),
a seductive exhibition debuts at the Stickley Museum
at Craftsman Farms.

Click here to view the rest of this issue’s content or  subscribe/renew your subscription.

The post Issue 76 on Newsstands Now appeared first on American Bungalow Magazine.