David B. Gamble House, Pasadena California

Date added: January 15, 2025

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The Gamble House is the finest surviving example of the work of Greene and Greene and is one of the outstanding examples of the California Bungalow style. It is also one of the nation's finest representations of the American Craftsman Movement. The house was commissioned as a summer house by David Gamble of the Proctor and Gamble Soap Company in Cincinnati, Ohio.

As leading exponents of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Greene brothers played a leading role in establishing southern California, (notably Pasadena), as a center for this new direction in American architecture. Contemporary with Frank Lloyd Wright, their finest houses done before World War I, were created when Wright was building his "Prairie Houses." Both the Greene brothers and Wright reacted to the lack of order in the cluttered Victorian interiors of the late 19^th century and although there is a faint historicism in their work, it was a far cry from what Grant Manson called the Age of the Aspidistra with its pack rat interior. Randell Mackinson has written:

" … the Greenes were captivated by turn of the century orientalism, by the loveliness of an Italian garden, by an English country home, or by the architecture of the Swiss Alps is quite clear in the articulated structure of their Arts and Crafts period. What is not so well known was their respect and admiration for the work of the Franciscan Fathers so beautifully expressed in the silhouettes of the California missions. This influence is evident in the Greenes' work before and after the years in which they worked primarily with wood. In their early work the Mission style appeared boldly in their designs, and was again expressed in their gunite and stone houses almost two decades later. Charles put it this way in 1905: "The old art of California--that of the mission fathers--is old enough to be romantic and mysterious enough too. Study it and you will find a deeper meaning than books tell of, or sun-dried bricks and plaster show. Then too, those old monks came from a climate not unlike this. They built after their own fashion, and their knowledge of climate and habits of life were bred in the bone. Therefore, giving heed to these necessary and effective qualities there is good and just reason why we should study their works … Simple as it is, and rude, it has something that money cannot buy or skill conciliate. It runs in every line, turns in every arch, and hangs like an incense in the dim cathedral light."

The major influences which clearly affected them were the Orient, the early Craftsman philosophies and their own training in manual arts.

"The Greenes were not concerned with academic analysis of the derivation of their work. They simply sought the forms and materials which they deemed appropriate to each particular task, and if necessary, they were not self-conscious about adapting principles found in other cultures. But in doing so, they interpreted these principles in a way that is only California. The simplicity of their philosophy was best expressed by Henry Greene in "The Craftsman" magazine (August 1912): "The whole construction (was) carefully thought out and there is a reason for every detail. The idea was to eliminate everything unnecessary, to make the whole as direct and simple as possible, but always with the beautiful in mind as the final goal."

In spite of the deep interest in Japan, generated probably by the Japanese Pavilion (Ho-o-den) at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, neither of the Greenes visited the Orient, unlike F.L. Wright. This may account for the refinement and personal quality in their work. It should also be noted that Greene papers contain references to Gustave Stickley's articles in "The Craftsman" (1901-1903), and the series Will Bradley wrote for 'The Ladies Home Journal" in 1901 which showed furniture designed by the architect for his own structures. Stickley in his New York State studios had established an artisans guild that was similar to William Morris' own enterprise in England. In 1903, articles appeared in "The Craftsman" by Harvey Ellis, which may have directly influenced the brothers in developing the theories that the house and its interiors are one and the site and landscape are also part of a total ensemble. By 1903, a vocabulary appeared: cobble stone foundations, open courtyards, broad gabled roofs, timber work with joints fastened with wooden pegs, or metal straps with oak wedges, sleeping porches open to the air, horizontal casement windows and massive front doors with decorative Tiffany panels. The outdoor walks, fences and lanterns were carefully designed.

"The real substance of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America was craftsmanship. In pursuing this, American artists were no less vigorous than their counterparts in England or on the Continent. Among architects, few became as totally devoted to craftsmanship as Greene and Greene. Their work was an extraordinary combination of Charles Greene's vivid imagination and sculptural hand with his brother Henry's strong sense of order and system which brought a disciplined unity and simplicity to the many elements of their designs. If superb craftsmanship and design possessing a distinct style are the criteria for high quality, then surely the Greenes were unmatched.

Throughout the Greenes' work....was a continuity of spirit and a fresh, overpowering oneness which was often regarded as an American domestic style all its own. The remarks of Ralph Adams Cram in 1913 are as relevant today as when they were written. Referring to the Greenes, Maybeck and their California contemporaries, he says: "Where it (California architecture) comes from, heaven alone knows, but we are glad it arrived, for it gives a new zest to life, a new object for admiration. There are things in it Japanese; things that are Scandinavian; things that hint at Sikkim, Bhutan, and the fastness of Tibet, and yet it all hangs together, it is beautiful, it is contemporary, and for some reason or other it seems to fit California. Structurally it is a blessing; only too often the exigencies of our assumed precedents lead us into the wide and easy road of structural duplicity, but in this sort of thing there is only an honesty that is sometimes almost brazen. It is a wooden style built woodenly, and it has the force and the integrity of Japanese architecture."

In 1966, the Gamble house was presented by the heirs of Cecil and Louise Gamble to the City of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the University of Southern California as the Greene and Greene Library.

Building Description

The Gamble House is placed on a landscaped site approximately 240 feet by 240 feet facing East. The original contract for construction was $50,400, the adjacent garage for $3,500, the contractor was Peter Hall.

The three-story wooden frame structure is covered with shingle siding (36" cedar shakes dipped in Cabot's Creosote base stain, painted olive green). The walls are shaded by long, overhanging eaves with exposed rafter construction under an overlapping gable roof with integrally designed gutter and rolled edge, the roof is Malthoid. Framing is heavy timber post and beam with an occasional wood truss. Foundations are of brick and gunite and three brick chimneys have cast concrete caps with gunite finish.

The wood construction is pegged and doweled and the doors and windows often are fitted with Tiffany glass panels--the entry doors contain a decorative landscape. There is a full basement including laundry, coal bin, storage, heating plant and a dark room. The first floor contains a living room, dining room, a den, kitchen, pantry, cold room, entry hall, a guest bedroom, as well as four baths. The entry space is continuous through the center of the plan out to-the rear terrace--the multiple terraces are surfaced with handmade red mission tile. The second floor is divided by a central hall that separates the master bedroom and children's bedroom from the family guest bedroom, maid's quarters and maiden aunt's bedroom. On the third floor there was a billiard room now used as the Greene and Greene Memorial Library. The floors throughout are oak hardwood and the walls are generally lath and plaster. Paneling in the handsome entry is Burma Teakwood and San Domingo Mahogany in the dining room. Many of the doors are of Port Orford Cedar or Teak Mahogany. Of special note are the three great sleeping porches on the second level projecting over two large brick and terra cotta tiled terraces.

All of the interior details were given special attention---the furniture, hardware, lighting fixtures, designed and handwoven carpets, draperies, etc. as well as, metal structural straps, light switch plates, door hardware, fireplace fixtures and andirons.

Randell Makinson describes the house; "the spacious, open interior areas are largely paneled with fine woods. Fixtures and furniture were designed by the architects as part of the total scheme.

The Gamble House "will be somewhat Japanese in feeling," reported the local newspaper when plans were announced, "though it cannot be said to conform to the Japanese style … The best of everything is to be used." The resulting structure remains today the most complete and best preserved of the architects' work. It was their intention to use the structural woodwork of the house, inside and out, as expressive elements of the composition and design. Thus the rounded and tapered beams that support the overhanging eaves and porches constitute a decorative pattern that adds immediate distinction to the exterior, a pattern that, as the day passes, casts changing shadows across the hand-split cedar shingles of the walls. Within, the rectangular pegs covering brass screws that clinch the joinery form a pattern of their own. Hand-finished teak, mahogany, quartered oak, cedar, and other attractive woods were used for the paneling and trim of the interior. The stained-glass panels of the front entrance depict gnarled oak trees such as grow in the Pasadena area. Louis Comfort Tiffany provided some of the glass that, with other imported and locally made elements, was then assembled in a western studio by a method the Greenes developed especially for their work … lanterns of Tiffany glass set in mahogany or plated metal frames and enclosing incandescent lights (a relatively novel utility) were hung from beams and ceilings by leather straps. Special carpets were woven following drawings by Charles Greene. The entire structure and its furnishings represent a rare and highly successful example of integrated design"

He wrote further of the exterior design; "the broad, sweeping gable roofs kept the hot drying rays of the sun from the wall of the building … the ridge of the roof lifts gently as in Oriental designs, and the timberwork became more bold. Joints were openly expressed, often fastened together with wooden pegs or metal straps with oak wedges. These elements were integrated into the overall scheme and contributed a rich texture throughout. Beam supports and wooden brackets revealed a hint of the Japanese as did much of the open detail of railings, fences and porch structure. Posts often rested upon stones or brick in typical Greek fashion to keep the water on the hand-made tile terraces from rotting the wood. Chimney stacks reflect the character of the stone lanterns admired by the Greenes. Outside spaces became as important as interiors, and great attention was paid to the incorporation of pergola and trellis structures which spanned the spaces between house and garden and were sometimes built to resemble "torii" structures. On the exterior, broad-capped metal lanterns hung from beams or eaves, lighting the terraces softly in the evening and reflecting in the quiet pools filled with golden carp and water lilies. Numerous lanterns of wood and Tiffany stained glass, suspended by leather straps, provided lighting for the interiors and blended harmoniously with the soft velvet finish of the paneled walls and timbered ceilings."