Looking back on the inaugural year of The Craftsman Bungalow, I thought it would be fun to countdown our Top 5 most popular articles from 2012. This year I was able to travel quite a bit and visit architectural landmarks in many history-rich areas of the country like: Upstate New York, Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and right here in Oregon – and not surprisingly many of them made it into our Top 5…
So now without any further adieu, here are our Top 5 most popular articles from 2012, starting with #5…Enjoy!
#5: Tor House: The Handcrafted Stone Cottage of Poet Robinson Jeffers
Back In June, I wrote about our trip down the California Coast and the time we spent in Carmel taking in the sites and exploring the countless arts & crafts cottages in and around the oceanside artist community. The highlight of our time there was getting to take a tour of Tor House – the handcrafted stone cottage built by poet Robinson Jeffers. Special thanks to Tor House Foundation President Vince Huth for taking the time to give us a personal tour of this amazing home and property!
#4: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Magnificent Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, NY
This year I made several business trips to Buffalo, NY and each time I went I tried to take advantage of the many historic architectural sites that the area has to offer – whether it was a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home or the Arts & Crafts community of Roycroft in nearby East Aurora. The Darwin D. Martin House is one of the earliest and most dramatic examples of Wright’s newly evolved Prairie Style and is a precursor to one of Wright’s other high-profile prairie style designs, The Frederick C. Robie House built in Chicago in 1908.
#3: The Architectural Heritage Center’s Portland Kitchen Revival Tour 2012
In April, I took part in the Architectural Heritage Center’s 14th Annual Portland Kitchen Revival Tour. The tour showcased the efforts of Portland homeowners who have restored their home’s kitchens to back its original glory. The homes featured were professionally restored by local contractors who specialize in period-appropriate architecture and construction. In addition to the kitchens, all of the owners were generous enough to open their entire first floor to the tour, so everyone could gain some stylistic context of the house and appreciate the kitchen even more.
#2: The Ugly Hutch and the Beautiful Stairway That Was Hidden Behind It
When we bought our house back in late 2009, we envisioned tearing out the hideous dining room hutch and opening up the wall to expose the stairway behind it. The plan was to remove half of the wall along the line of the staircase and build a railing with balusters and a beefy antique salvaged newel post anchoring the bottom. After a little structural research (to confirm that it was not a load-bearing wall), that’s exactly what we did.
And the #1 most popular article from The Craftsman Bungalow in 2012 is…
1. A Pilgrimage to The Gamble House: One of Greene & Greene’s Ultimate Bungalows
Back in January, I had the good fortune of traveling to Los Angeles for business, and while there I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream – making a pilgrimage to one of the “Ultimate Bungalows”: The Gamble House in Pasadena, California. Designed in 1908 by the architectural firm of brothers Charles and Henry Greene, The Gamble House embodies the Greenes at the pinnacle of their creative prowess and has been referred to by many as one of the finest examples of Arts & Crafts architecture anywhere in the world.
So there you have it. This year’s been a lot of fun and I’m happy that so many of you have come along for the ride. I’ve got a lot of great articles in the pipeline for 2013, including visits to Greene & Greene homes in Berkeley (The Thorsen House), Pasadena (The Duncan-Irwin House) and Santa Barbara (The Nathan Bentz House), as well as recent trips to Hawaii, Charleston (South Carolina), and an update on how things are progressing with the restoration here at our home in Portland, Oregon.
So as always, stay tuned…and Happy New Year 2013!!
