Albert, Righter, and Tittmann -- Modern Traditionalists

Last Thursday night my friend Dan Cooper, who the leader of the free world calls when he needs an historically accurate carpet for a certain famous bedroom, invited me to accompany him to his book launch at the Tavern Club in Boston.  The book is New Classic American Houses: The Architecture of Albert, Righter & Tittmann and while Dan is a fantastic writer, it is really the photographs that are the stars of this book.  I met the architects Albert, Righter and Tittmann, who were lovely and gracious, but I left wondering if they intentionally ordered their names so as to spell AR&T (how perfect) and what's up with architects and bow-ties?  Their "Modern Traditional" designs hearken back to the days of McKim, Mead & White and I sure Wm Morris would agree with Robert Stern's very Morris-sounding sentiment in the foreward to this book: “What a pleasure it is to have an architecture so beautifully naturalized—to site, to purpose, and to tradition.”  Here are my favorite AR&T houses/interiors......

A wooden wonder......

This one reminds me of the traditional architecture of the Gaeltacht of western Ireland....

Shouldn't everybody have a porch with a fireplace?.....

The Checkerboard House....

The Guest Cottage.....the yellow sashes are inspired....

America Recycles Day - Nov. 15th

http://www.nrc-recycle.org/americarecycles.aspx

In praise of push buttons -- electrical, part 1

above:  single-pole switch, single-pole dimmer, three-way switch

 

 Almost any house built before the 1940's had push-button switches, typically with a mother-of-pearl accent on the button.  About twenty years ago Classic Accents started reproducing these switches (to meet modern electrical codes) and shortly after that I started putting them back in my-old-house (now three houses later...).  The company's customer service is excellent and they recently replaced one of my switches at no cost even though I had bought it years earlier.   They offer a large array of plate styles but I typically order the forged antique brass (or is it the aged brass?  I never can remember).  It is very easy to change a switch (look for directions on the internet)---just don't forget to turn off the electricity!!!

The Houses of McKim, Mead & White

The Gamble House post reminded me of the book The Houses of McKim, Mead & Whiteby Samuel G. White that I've had for over a decade and often go to for ideas and inspiration.  Over the last few years I've slowly had all the shingles on the first floor of my house replaced.  The addition of the shingle diamond over front steps and the geometric motif on a bump-out on the southern wall were both inspired by houses in this book.  The 16 diamond shingles were cut from regular shingles.

Birds of a feather....

A New and Native Beauty, Gamble House

 

 

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston recently hosted an exhibition of the works of Greene and Greene, the architects and brothers whose careers culminated with the construction of "Ultimate Bungalows" (the exhibit can be found on-line here).  The most famous of these uber-bungalows is Gamble House in Pasadena, California.  "Drawing on the skills of outstanding craftsmen, as well as their own polytechnic training, formal architectural education, and natural artistic sensibilities, Greene and Greene created legendary living environments that were both beautiful and functional."   In 1901, Charles Greene honeymooned with Alice White in her native England.   Did they study the works of William Morris? 

My favorite piece in the exhibit is the breakfast table Charles made for Alice as an engagement gift.  I was inspired by the romantic gesture and the table's rustic simplicity.  The table used stock moldings and oak boards no different from those found in the flooring aisle at Home Depot.  In fact, it looked just like a minature "floor".  While looking for the a better picture I discovered that the table was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2004.   I wonder how much it went for?  Does anyone have an artnet subscription?

Darrell Peart of Seattle is an insanely talented carpenter dedicated to keeping the artistic legacy of Greene and Greene alive.

Morris the Preservationist & South Beach

 

 

I spent the weekend in South Beach, Miami, an urban area that was designated a U. S. Historic District in 1979 in an effort to preserve its distinctive and crumbling Art Deco architecture.  Nearly a century earlier Wm Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877, the precursor of all modern preservation organizations and still a vital force in Great Britain.  You can go to their web site and read Morris's founding (and still guiding) manifesto for the organization.  Here is an excerpt:

It is for all these buildings, therefore, of all times and styles, that we plead, and call upon those who have to deal with them, to put Protection in the place of Restoration, to stave off decay by daily care, to prop a perilous wall or mend a leaky roof by such means as are obviously meant for support or covering, and show no pretence of other art, and otherwise to resist all tampering with either the fabric or ornament of the building as it stands; if it has become inconvenient for its present use, to raise another building rather than alter or enlarge the old one; in fine to treat our ancient buildings as monuments of a bygone art, created by bygone manners, that modern art cannot meddle with without destroying.

A Morris and Co. cushion design

"Flowerpot", a Morris design embroidered by his daughter May in the 1880's that can be viewed at the V+A Museum in London.   This design was sold in the Morris and Co. shop both as a kit and ready-made.  Today Erhman Tapestry is the only company I know where you can find such beautiful DIY embroidery kits.  Beth Erhman's "Flowering Gardens of the Silk Road" series, based on 19th century Uzbekistan hangings, is stunning.

My circular saw needs a new blade...

 

 

Should I buy the ripping, cross-cutting, or combo blade?   I found artist Dan Funderburgh's site while writing an earlier post.  Function and beauty....WM would love it.

more stained glass.....

I love stained glass and can't figure out why the stained glass that shows up in front doors and other places today is usually so cheesy looking.  A few years ago my friend Deb easily talked me into taking a stained glass class with her at the Eliot School, a fantastic place in Jamaica Plain that offers classes in Fine Arts and Crafts.  This is the window i made for my guest bathroom.  Supplies were obtained at a shop in Brookline called Stained Glass Works.  The process was surprisingly easy with relatively modest equipment needs (soldering iron, glass cutter, and a few specialized hand tools).  In fact, Old House Journal has a great article this month (on web here) on how to repair stained glass---just skip first three steps and it is a how-to-make-a-stained glass window article.

Life imitates Art, or Art imitates Life?

Prosperpine, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874, modeled by Jane Burden

Yesterday's post reminded me of a book I read in the mid-90s called Pre-Raphaelites in Love by Gay Daly.  This book was such an eye-opener.  Both the front and back inside covers of my copy are filled with notes about who loved whom, who was married to whom, who lusted after whom, etc.  It was fascinating reading.   William Morris's personal life was no exception.  Morris fell in love with a stablehand's daughter named Jane Burden, who had been discovered by, and modeled for, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and one of Morris's best friends.  Morris and Jane married but for many years Jane carried on an affair with Rossetti, with Rossetti even living in their home with them for a number of years.  All very unvictorian I would say.

This painting "The Tree of Forgiveness" by Edward Burne-Jones is on the hardcover edition of Daly's book.  The original is at the Lady Lever Gallery in Liverpool, England.  From their web site:

"After the conquest of Troy, Demophoön stayed at the Thracian court where Phyllis, the king’s daughter, fell in love with him. They agreed to marry but he had first to return to Attica. He delayed there so long that Phyllis doubted he would ever return and killed herself. The gods turned her into an almond tree which here the penitent Demophoön is embracing, to find the tree suddenly blossoming and Phyllis reappearing to him.  As so often with Burne-Jones, violent sexual passions — love, betrayal, remorse and forgiveness — are visualised within the context of myth and within an abstract linear design of great sophistication. This greatly enhances the expressive power of the story’s climax."

While Burne-Jones carried on a passionate affair with his greek model Maria Zambaco, his wife Georgiana found solace in the company of family friend William Morris.  It is speculated that they too may have had an affair.

Sex and drugs and paints and easels....

Wow! Imagine my excitement upon discovering that the BBC has a new mini-series on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood called Desperate Romantics (see also here).  I've already ordered the bookfrom Amazon and can't wait till the DVD comes across the pond.

Third big weekend with deck

Still not done but far enough along to envision the first cocktail party.  I made a  key strategic move last week and hired a contractor to shingle the corner posts.  This past weekend, way too much time was spent dicking around with the stair stringers, some of which were slightly different even though they are all "factory-cut".  The silver lining of this cloud?.....an excuse to buy a belt sander :-)

William Morris meets Adams Family mansion....

Happy Halloween!  I love this wallpaper called Elysian Fields from Flavor Paper......."paradise waits in these immortal fields of bliss."  It is completely in the William Morris style with intertwining flowers and winged creatures (of course WM typically used birds)---here it is bats and carnivorous plants.  I'm trying to think of where I would use this paper---it would have to be a guest bathroom, maybe over dark charcoal beadboard wainscoating.  Plus, at $150 a roll, you'd go broke doing a real size room.   I can't believe the designer Dan Funderburgh was not  thinking about Morris when he designed this paper.  His web site describes his work as "a repudiation of the fabricated schism between art and decoration".  WM would approve.

Flavor Paper also sells another paper they call "Kabloom" that is a copy of J. H. Dearle's famous paper "Seaweed" (1901) in cool modern colorways.   be still my heart.....