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This year, American Bungalow will celebrate its 20th year of publication with a special gift for subscribers: The American Bungalow Poster 20th-Anniversary Series. "The Seasons," designed by noted Roycroft Renaissance Master Artisan Laura Wilder.

If you are a subscriber, each 2010 issue you receive will contain a seasonal
8" x 10" full-color, high quality fine art print suitable for framing.


Poster featured in the Spring Issue




Subscribe now and get your copy before time runs out!


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Modernism Decor Mixed with Arts and Crafts

We received these pictures of the Lorenze & Miriam Barney House soon to be featured on the bungalow tour scheduled in San Diego, March 21 from 10 am to 4 pm-this Sunday!

It's the first time we've have seem modernism decor used in a bungalow. We thought we'd share the photos.

The front of the house


The living room


The entry


The dining room


What are your thoughts?

Click here to learn more about San Diego's home tour

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SOHO's 2010 Historic Home Tour reveals the work of four of San Diego's most acclaimed architects.

One of Southern California's finest enclaves of historic Arts & Crafts homes, designed by Irving J. Gill and three other master architects, will be open for a rare public tour on March 21 from 10 am to 4 pm, Save Our Heritage Organisation has announced. Headquarters for the event will be the Marston House Museum & Gardens, 3525 Seventh Ave, a National Historic Landmark that SOHO manages for the city of San Diego.

Six of the stately residences that line a secluded block of Seventh Avenue next to Balboa Park were designed by Gill, William S. Hebbard, Frank Mead and Richard Requa for prominent citizens between 1904 and 1913. These large homes represent an English-influenced, transitional Arts & Crafts style in brick, Prairie style, Pueblo style and early Modernism.

"This tour includes some of the best preserved examples of these architects' interior and exterior architecture anywhere, and reflects San Diego's social history. Some landscape designs remain by Samuel Parsons, Jr. and John Nolen and we can see the influence of horticulturist Kate Sessions, 'the mother of Balboa Park,'" said Alana Coons, SOHO's director of events and education. "This is a very rare opportunity to view these special and important homes."

The interior décor of the residences ranges from Arts & Crafts period furnishings and paintings to contemporary furniture and art. One house is undergoing a thorough restoration Inside and out.

SOHO will also host a silent auction of art, architectural salvage, ephemera and more from 10 am to 3 pm on the grounds of the Marston House. Food service will be available in the formal gardens from 10 am to 4 pm. In addition, the Museum Shop in the property's charming Carriage House will hold a special sale on home furnishings, period décor, and architecture and do-it-yourself books from 10am to 5pm.

The homes on this year's popular annual SOHO tour reveal Gill's experimental early Modernism and Mead's fascination with the indigenous architecture of the American Southwest and North Africa. The privacy, architectural integrity and tree-shaded landscaping of this lovely cul-de-sac led some families to build more than one house on the street and, in several cases, to live there for generations.

Hebbard & Gill, San Diego's most prestigious architecture firm in the early 20th century, designed most of the residences open to tour goers, beginning with the Arts & Crafts-style mansion for George White Marston, a visionary civic leader, philanthropist and department store owner. He moved his family into the three-story, red brick and stucco home in 1905, when the street was still unpaved.




Also in 1905, Alice Lee, a socially prominent developer, hired Hebbard & Gill to design three homes arranged around a common central garden. She and her companion, Katherine Teats, shared one of the houses - which will be open during the tour - where they entertained President and Mrs. Teddy Roosevelt and Mrs. Grover Cleveland.





"The Alice Lee House has been in the same family for at least two generations and is in the early stages of forensic work and restoration, so tour goers get to see a work in progress and ask questions," said Coons. "This in-progress feature is something we try to offer every year that is unique to the SOHO Home Tour."

Lee rented out the side cottages, which were joined to the main house by a U-shaped pergola. Architectural historian Thomas S. Hines has written that these horizontal, hip-roofed structures represent "the best of Gill's California improvisations on [Frank Lloyd] Wright's Prairie themes."

Marston sold land directly north of the Marston House to his sister and brother-in-law, Lilla and Frederick Burnham, another civic leader who was a harbor commissioner, in 1906. They also hired Hebbard & Gill, with Gill as the lead designer, to design a large red brick house that broke with the English Arts & Crafts cottage style in favor of the Prairie Style. This home has been converted to offices, but still showcases original features such as the main staircase and windows that carefully frame views of nature.

Mead and Requa designed a stripped-down, geometric home inspired by pueblo architecture for Lorenze and Miriam Barney in 1913. Generous windows and French doors illuminate the richness of contrasting interior materials: redwood paneling, beech floors and a brick fireplace. It stands next to the house Lorenze's parents had commissioned two years earlier from Pacific Building Company, a San Diego design and construction firm staffed by some of Gill's former draftsmen.

The Home Tour begins at the Marston House Museum Shop which is housed in the original Carriage House, 3525 Seventh Avenue. Tickets are $30 in advance, $25 for SOHO members, and $35 the day of the tour. Contact SOHO at (619) 297-9327 or (619) 297-7511 or log onto www.sohosandiego.org for more information and to purchase tickets.

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From Our Friends at Riordan Mansion

We wanted to share the email we recieved from Anne Stewart O'Donnell regarding the closing of Arizona's Riordan Mansion scheduled for February 22. Very sad news.

All,

Deja vu -- it was just about this time last year that I wrote to you about funding cuts that would result in drastically-reduced hours and staffing at the 1904 Riordan Mansion, an Arizona State Park in Flagstaff. Those cuts DID come about, but at least the mansion remained open.

This year the news is much worse. Arizona legislators have now slashed the Parks budget further. THE RIORDAN MANSION WILL CLOSE ON FEBRUARY 22. In all, by June 3rd, only a third of the State Parks will still be operating. There's also a very real danger that the entire AZ State Parks system (which includes wilderness areas and historic sites) will be DISMANTLED COMPLETELY by the end of 2010.

In that event, sites would likely be sold to private concessionaires, who might or might not have a concern for historical accuracy and good preservation practices, for responsibly maintaining the sites as part of our local, regional and national heritage, etc. The presentation of the stories told by these sites cold well be "dumbed down." Wilderness lands or historically significant areas could be compromised by the building of hotels or developed in other invasive ways.

What happens in the next month is crucial--and not just for Arizona.
While Arizona would be the first state in the nation to shut down its park system, State Parks sources tell me that Idaho and Montana may well follow suit if Arizona sets the precedent.

Concerning the Riordan in particular: Even a temporary closure means the risk of deterioration, vandalism, or looting. If the closure lasts more than a year (which is likely), then the mansion reverts to the family, which has already stated that it does not have the resources to keep it up. So the components of this remarkable time capsule, which includes family records and belongings as well valuable A&C antiques (all still in their original architectural setting), may be dispersed. What would happen to the house and grounds? No one knows at this point.

The Arizona economy is in trouble, but to jettison the Parks would be a false economy. The following is from the Arizona State Parks home
page: "According to research by Northern Arizona University, Arizona State Parks attract, when open, 2.3 million visitors annually. Those visitors produce $266 million of direct and indirect economic impact in Arizona, PLUS $22.7 million in STATE and LOCAL TAXES. Arizona State University's Morrison Institute on Public Policy has provided an analysis estimating that it costs $32 to $34 million to operate our state parks - about 1/10th of their economic contribution - and none of the operating funds come from Arizona state general fund taxes."

SO WHAT CAN WE DO???

-- As soon as possible, please write to the state legislators listed at the end of this email, expressing your concern for the Riordan Mansion and other Parks. For instance, let the lawmakers know that heritage travel is important to you and that sites like these draw you to places like Arizona as a tourist.

-- Spread the word.

-- Make a donation to the AZ State Parks Foundation, the non-profit partner and advocacy group for the State Parks, to help them fight to keep the Parks open:
https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/ArizonaStateParksFoundation/OnlineRegistration.html

-- If you're a journalist, contact Ellen Bilbrey at (602) 542-1996 or
(602) 228-8518. She's the information officer for the Arizona State Parks and can give you all the details you need.

Many thanks!
Anne

Anne Stewart O'Donnell
4813 Guilford Road
College Park, MD 20740
571-201-1709

SOME WEBSITES:

--Riordan Mansion: http://azstateparks.com/Parks/RIMA/index.html

--AZ State Parks home page: http://azstateparks.com/

--AZ State Parks Foundation home page: http://arizonastateparksfoundation.org/

--Press release on park closures: azstateparks.com/press/2010/PR_01-15-10.html

--Writeup on closures from the National Trust for Historic Preservation:
www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2010/todays-news/arizona-to-close-state-parks.html


AZ STATE LEGISLATORS TO CONTACT:

Representative Tom Chabin
Arizona House of Representatives
1700 W. Washington, Room 318
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone Number: (602) 926-5160
Fax Number: (602) 417-3002
tchabin@azleg.gov

Representative Christopher Deschene
Arizona House of Representatives
1700 W. Washington, Room 325
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone Number: (602) 926-5862
Fax Number: (602) 417-3102
cdeschene@azleg.gov

Senator Albert Hale
Arizona State Senate
1700 W. Washington, Room 313
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone Number: (602) 926-4323
Fax Number: (602) 417-3160
ahale@azleg.gov

The Honorable Jan Brewer
Governor of Arizona
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Toll Free 1-800-253-0883
Fax (602) 542-1381 Read more

Great Wallpaper Ideas

We'd thought we'd share some photos that include great use of Wallpaper.

Hope you enjoy them.
















Hope everyone is having a great start to the new year!

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20th-Anniversary Gift for all Subscribers

In 2010, American Bungalow will celebrate its 20th year of publication with a special gift for subscribers: The American Bungalow Poster 20th-Anniversary Series. "The Seasons," designed by noted Roycroft Renaissance Master Artisan Laura Wilder.

If you are a subscriber, each 2010 issue you receive will contain a seasonal 8" x 10" full-color, high quality fine art print suitable for framing.




More information can be found here.

Read more

Great New Gift Idea!

Last minute gift idea!


New in our online store - you may now purchase gift certificates in amounts of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. The certificates are good for all items in our store (books, back issues, plaque and subscriptions). This is especially useful in case you're not sure which back issues that special someone is missing - and you can even tell us the delivery date!









Purchase your gift certificate here

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