Category: Art

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I Could Live There

But I’d have to do something about walking through one bedroom to get to another.

architecturaldetective – Designed for Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Stephenson, today’s home is yet another Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury-designed French Norman Revival style home located near the intersection of San Pasqual Street and S San Marino Avenue. The home, like the other Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury-designed French Norman Revival style homes around it, were built by the firm of Thomas & Stephenson, hinting that this may have been the home one of the builders built as his the personal residence for himself and his family. ⁠
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From the street, the home recalls a long and lean Norman farmhouse, with it’s small enclosed forecourt creating a charming entrance garden. Once inside, we are welcomed into a small foyer that allows us access to the home’s H-shaped floor plan, which is anchored by a central living room. From the living room, we can progress into the small study or dining room and its attached service spaces, including a pantry, kitchen laundry room, and staff bedroom suite. ⁠
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The private family wing includes four bedrooms and two bathrooms with staircase access to the attic above. With its expansive single floor design, the Stephenson residence is one of my favorite Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury commissions as it begins to braid together Spanish Colonial and early Ranch style design elements with the easily malleable French Norman Revival style to create a distinctive commission that would help spread the style across the Southland. ⁠
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Located at 2005 San Pasqual Street, the home is extant, yet a substantial remodel in the early 2000s effectively doubled the homes square footage by adding a second story and an entry tower, obscuring Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury’s original design. ⁠The home last sold for $3,550,000 in 2015.
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Project: Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Stephenson, 1926⁠
Architect: Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury⁠
Location: Pasadena, California⁠
Source: Architectural Digest, Google Maps, MLS⁠

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Only 4 Million? I Could Live There…For A Hot Second! 🤣

@architecturaldetective: On the Market: Former Sunday School, Rectory, and Art Club transformed into a Single Family Home in LA’s Windsor Village Historic District.⁠
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Constructed in 1922, today’s home has enjoyed a long and illustrious life as a staple of the Mid Wilshire neighborhood community, first serving as the Sunday school and rectory for the Wilshire United Methodist Church before being purchased by the Ruskin Art Club in 1926 to serve as their club house. While under the stewardship of the Ruskin Art Club, ⁠the residence would host arts programming for their membership and “support writers, artists, musicians, architects, and thinkers who espouse Ruskin’s values in Southern California” before selling the property in 2014.⁠
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Following the property’s sale, the club house would be reimagined as a single family home by architect Scott Lander. Originally designed by architect Frank Meline, the residence combines the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles, serving as an excellent example of the transition from the earlier Mission Revival to the Spanish Colonial Revival style.⁠
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The home is built around a central courtyard, with the interior spaces including a large living room, sunroom, dining room, and a thoughtfully remodeled kitchen. In addition to these public spaces, the home includes 4 bedrooms and baths and a total of three fireplaces, with two boasting Batchelder tiles.⁠
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800 S Plymouth Boulevard, a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 3,421 square foot home located on a 15,033 square foot lot, is listed for $3,995,000⁠.⁠

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I Could Live There

I rather like this one.

This is one plan I’ve seen where the Maid’s Room actually makes sense. Downstairs, I’d move the wall between the Maid’s Room and the Dining Room about a foot further into the Dining Room, adding a little extra space to the Maid’s Room because that 8-foot dimension is a very tight fit.. With it’s own semi-private entrance, that room could serve today as an in-home office or a bedroom for a (trusted) teenager or young adult returned home. I’d also punch a doorway between that back porch and the Dining Room and ditch the basement/stairs and tuck a half bath under the stairs.

Upstairs, there’s more than enough room for two full bathrooms, even if both aren’t en-suites. There’s no need for a single Jack-and-Jill bathroom to be shared between the two bedrooms..

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Speaking Of Scouring Through Photos and AI Image Generation…

I was looking through all my old menz photos to locate this picture:

Back in 2001, it spoke to me for a variety of reasons. I liked it; I liked it a lot. So in a fit of creativity in 2001, I painted it and called it, A Man Who Knows His Place.

For shits-n-giggles, the other day, I uploaded the image of the painting to ChatGPT and instructed, “make it photorealistic.”

I would say it did an eerily accurate reproduction of the original photo.

And while I cannot for the life of me locate the original photo that inspired the next painting I did…

Probably my favorite piece from that whole period.

I do like what ChatGPT did to it with similar instructions:

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You Could Probably Fit Four Of These Inside The Footprint Of A Modern House

With only a few minor updates, this could be a very livable house for a single person or couple in 2026.

I mean honestly, who needs this:

And that’s only the FIRST floor!

And yup…the entire top floorplan would fit inside the Great Room/Kitchen of the bottom plan. SMDH.

WHO NEEDS THIS?!

I case you’re wondering where I’m culling these monstrosities, it’s from reddit.com/r/floorplan.

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Fabulous 50s

I don’t like the idea of having to take my laundry outside to get it into the wash on the top plan. I’d have put a door directly from inside the house, closed off the one to the carport, and ditched that room’s “storage” designation. I also would’ve made it a double carport with storage on the outside edge that runs the length of the carport.

I understand the design philosophy behind the lower plan, but it seems that entry hallway is a tremendous waste of space.

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This Was Called A “Cottage”

Convert the Dressing Room to a walk-in closet. Close off the existing closet in that bedroom and turn it into a half bath accessible from the hallway. Alternately, move the Bathroom to the Dressing Room space, turn the existing Bathroom into a walk-in closet. Seal off the existing Bedroom closet into a half bath with a door to the hall. Any number of options on the First Floor.

Upstairs Maid’s Room could be a great home office or Guest Bedroom. Likewise, the existing “Work Room” would make an excellent entertainment room—or in the vernacular—a “Man Cave.”

Overall, this is one of the favorites I’ve seen recently.

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