If you love old houses:

If you are in Central New York on Friday evening (June 8th) and love old houses, I will be lecturing about the interior design work of J. L. Silsbee and his relationship with the city of Syracuse.  I've never spoken to folks in Syrcause about my Silsbee obsession and I am guessing that most folks are clueless about his work and how indelible the marks he made on that city are.  The lecture is at the historic Barnes-Hiscock Mansion.  It is a one of a kind home with spectacular interiors and a very rich history.  The reception starts at 6 and the presentation at 7.

Pleasant Homes Arts & Crafts Home Tour

This year is shaping up to be a great tour for our annual Pleasant Home fundraiser.  Registration is now open for an interior house tour of six Arts & Crafts beauties in the OP.  In addition, tours of George Maher's Pleasant Home as well as his James Hall Taylor House (Unity Church) will also be included as part of the admission price.

Yours truly will be at the Taylor House  (pictured above) in the morning helping to point out some of Maher's design genius there.  To register, call Pleasant Home at 708 383 2654 or download a registration form here and fax, e-mail or drop it off.

Piercefield Historic House Tour

As part of a tour sponsored by the Onondaga Historical Association, I had the pleasure to visit several structures in the Piercefield neighborhood, near Syracuse, NY. Piercefield is an enclave of homes located in Solvay.  The area was first developed by Solvay Process founder Frederick Hazard and was part of his "gentleman's farm" known as Upland Farms.  Upland Farms consisted of a massive mansion designed by J. L. Silsbee and numerous outbuildings, stables, and other farm and entertainment structures designed by architects, Merrick & Randall.  The remarkable mansion is long gone, demolished after it was sold by the Hazard's in 1939.  All of the structures in the area seemed to have been designed with the mansion in mind as they all share an English Tudor and Arts & Crafts aesthetic.

In the early 1900's, Edward Pierce developed a portion of the Upland Farms estate for his own home and gardens.  The remainder of the property was subdivided by designs of F. L. Omsted & Sons and additional substantial homes were built for Hazard family members and Solvay Process managers.  

The Pierce Mansion, Henry Wilkinson, architect.

Pierce's mansion (above) and two of the Pierce Estate outbuildings are pictured below.  The mansion was designed by Henry Wilkenson, an architect and former draftsman of Craftsman Homes for Gustav Stickley.

The Pierce Barn, an out building from the Pierce Estate.

The Pierce Carriage House, an out building from the Pierce Estate.

The Upland Farms tennis courts and gymnasium.

Detail of the gymnasium porch.

Some of the Remnants of Hazard's Estate, Upland Farm, include the tennis courts and gymnasium, a gardener's cottage, stables and caretaker's cottages. All were designed to resemble an English farm.

The Upland Farm gardner's cottage.

The Upland Farm stables.

A groundskeeper's cottage at Upland Farms.

Save the Date for Pleasant Home's Annual Arts & Crafts Home Tour

2nd Annual Bungalow Blog Tour

Hello and welcome to the second annual Bungalow Blog Tour.  On last year's tour we gave you a sort of overview of the entire house.  Not much has changed since then but I thought it would be nice for you to get a closer look at some of the (few but nice) details in the Tiny Bungalow and showcase some of our love for natural wood.  The bungalow looks very Craftsman on the outside, with it's stucco and wood trim but on the inside, the decor is a little surprising.  It has beamed ceilings and trim but the trim is fairly complex and the ceiling beams made up of a series of built-up wood pieces, not the typical "simple and straightforward" woodwork seen in most Craftsman bungalows. 

If we ever got around to our dream of fixing up our dining room, it would eventually look like this:

A surprise on the inside of the Tiny Bungalow is some of the detailing.  Ionic capitals on the columns at the buffet and art glass doors that have a distinct Prairie look complete the "Transitional" appearance of the interior.  The built-in is one of the features that sold us on the house.

We've taken a lot of our "decorating", and I use the term loosely, ideas from the existing woodwork and detailing and from our personal love of natural woods.  Most of our furniture was purchased through Craigslist or from friends or found in garage sales or alleys.  All of it is wood though and fits in nicely with the home.  

One piece that we always get asked about is our "built-in" in the living room.  It is from a Bucktown bungalow, here in Chicago.  They had stripped the bungalow of all of its details and these beauties were sitting  in the basement.  We got them at an estate sale and put them together as a single book case.  Another nice find, to the left of the bookcase (not the upholstered one) is our "dollar chair" purchased from a flea market in West Virginia.  Yes, it cost a dollar.   

Well, since we only have two main rooms, that pretty much concludes the tour.  Hope you enjoyed it.   We hope to see you again next year and hope to have some new projects to show you.

The next home on the tour is The Bungalow Chronicles.
The previous home on the tour was Stucco House.

If You're Into Old Homes and in Central New York

I came across a pretty great tour on the internet.  Having grown up in Syracuse and being a big fan of architect Joseph Silsbee, I couldn't help but spread the news.

Next month, on June 4th and 5th, the Barnes Foundation is holding a reception and tour to benefit the restoration of the Barnes Hiscock Mansion.  The mansion is one of the oldest surviving homes on what used to be Syracuse's Millionaire's Row.  It was built for George and Rebecca Barnes and the place is brimming with history.

In 1878 and 1882, George and Rebecca hired Silsbee to design additions and renovations to the home.  For more info on those, you can check out my other blog: Searching for Silsbee.  The place is spectacular and this is a rare chance to see the interiors.

The tour also features garden tours of six homes. It looks like a great way to spend the day for a great cause. For more information about the tour and reception, click here.    

Beautiful Bungalows 2009!!!

It’s that time of year again: time to gear yourself up for some unadulterated bungalow ogling. Saturday, October 3rd is Pleasant Home Foundation's Annual (okay, “sort-of annual”, since we didn’t do it last year) Beautiful Bungalows tour.

This is a fantastic opportunity to check out some great architecture, furnishings, collections and restoration work at some of Oak Park’s finest bungalows. This year’s tour will not fail to impress as we have a great selection of bungalows.

The tour is in the OP, and starts at 10:00 and goes to 3:00. Tour starts with registration at Pleasant Home. Registration begins at 9:00. Admission to the event also includes a great guided tour of George Maher's remarkable Pleasant Home. The tour costs 35 bucks if you register in advance by calling (708) 383 2654.  It is $40 on the day of the tour.
Hope to see you there.

Calling All Bungalows

Pleasant Home Foundation Plans Beautiful Bungalow Tour in Oak Park

Since 2005, Pleasant Home Foundation has, as its annual fundraiser, held a tour featuring remarkable bungalows in Oak Park and River Forest. After a one year hiatus, they are resuming the tour again this year and hopes to tour six homes in the area just west of Columbus Park.

Oak Park has no shortage of home tours as homes by prominent architects are graciously opened by their owners for touring of a wide range of folks from architecture buffs to curious onlookers. The Beautiful Bungalows tour is distinct in that it typically features modest homes with sometimes surprising interior décor and remarkable Arts & Crafts collections.

The tour was inspired by the popularity of this housing type as the house for the average person. Pleasant Home’s architect, George Maher, also had a modest bungalow where his family vacationed in Southwest Michigan. The low profile of these homes, their dark woods, and fine craftsmanship are all aspects found in much of Maher’s work and can be seen on a grander scale at historic Pleasant Home.
The hunt is on for homes that fit the bill for this year’s tour as volunteers are scouring the neighborhood roughly bound by Austin Avenue to the east, Oak Park Avenue to the west, the Expressway to the south, and South Boulevard to the north. Do you want to help in the search? If you have a home that is a bungalow, has good craftsmanship and character, is in good condition, has excellent Arts & Crafts collections, or any combination of these, drop an e-mail to: beautifulbungalows @ gmail.com. If you don’t know of a home but would still like to help out as a volunteer at Pleasant Home or as a docent on the day of the Beautiful Bungalows tour, please call (708) 383 2654.

The Bungalow Blog Tour

Hi everyone, welcome to the 1st (annual) Bungalow Blog Tour. If you came here from one of the other Bungalow Blogs, then you already know the drill. If not, then you should know, this tour was initiated by Stucco House because she was lamenting the fact that the Twin Cities Bungalow Tour was not going to be happening this year. The tour started there and then continued to Bungalow '23 or Foxcroft (all awesome bungalows). If you came from Bungalow '23, this might be your third stop on the tour.

Anyway, welcome to the Tiny Bungalow. It got it's name because, obviously, it is tiny. We're extremely creative, that way. There is a whopping 860 square feet of living space in this 1914 beauty and we use every inch of it. It was built by builder/developer Raymond Hancock along with almost 30 others on the street. Ours has the distinction of being the smallest.


We've done quite a bit of work on the yard. We were tired of the 100 year old yews in the front so we decided to take them out and replace them with something a little more native. Yep, that is a giant barrel in the front of the house. No, it is not for moonshine or anything illicit like that, it just collects rain from the roof that we use for gardening.

C'mon inside. There's no need to take off your shoes. Just wipe off the dog poop as best you can and stay with the group - I wouldn't want anyone to get lost or to stray off, get lost, or wander and consume any of our fizzy lifting drinks. We had the ceiling in that room cleaned before the tour and I don't want to have to do it again anytime soon.


This is the front porch. The stunning lighting display was put up about two weeks ago and the furniture was made by yours truly. In my off time, I like to make things.
This is it, the money shot: the living room and dining room is one big open room and we haven't done shit to it since we've moved in (except for ripping some bad vinyl wall coverings off the wall). The furniture is a mish-mosh of old stuff we've collected over the years. The dining room table is actually Stickley. We have a soft-spot in our hearts for their furniture. Partly because of the great style and craftsmanship but mostly because I grew up in CNY and it reminds me of "home". The built-in is original as are the stunning beamed ceilings. One of these days, we'll clean up the wood and put some paint on the walls in here.The next room on the tour is the bedroom. We actually have done some work in here. Believe it or not, it used to be entirely white and had no natural woodwork. It took about a year to complete (actually, it's still not officially done but calling it "done" keeps me sane). The next room is the small bedroom, my daughter's room. This was the "yellow room" when we moved in. We've toned it down a bit with some new paint and decor. Finally, here's our basement. When we moved in, it was a complete mess. We've tried to brighten it up a bit. It is pretty much our family roomOkay, everyone has to put on this blindfold now as we walk through the kitchen and out into the back yard. Be careful not to trip over the back step. This is our back yard. I like to garden so it is usually filled with lots of flowers and bunnies. Feel free to hang out and have a mojito if you'd like. When you muster up the energy, you should go down the street and check out Humphrey House. I am not sure if they are ready for the tour but they always have something going on down there. Oh, and grab a sledgehammer before you go - they've been known to put their guests to work immediately.

Feel free to check out the rest of this blog to see what other stuff we are up to. There are links to all sorts of awesome bungalows to the right as well. Finally, if you haven't had enough of bungalows, the OP will be having it's semi-annual bungalow tour, Beautiful Bungalows, this fall. Come back for it because we have some real beauties on tap.

Its never too early to start planning

We didn't do it last year (I am not sure what happened, maybe we just had a collective mental breakdown or something) but Beautiful Bungalows, an incredible tour of bungalows in the OP is back. I am not chairing the event this year but I am working on the house selection committee and this year is shaping up to just as good, maybe better, than previous years. We always have a great selection of bungalows of every style and what better place to check out some sick architecture than in the OP. To see photos from previous years, click the tag "Beautiful Bungalows" below.

This is the major fundraising event for Pleasant Home Foundation and it is a great tour. If you are into bungalows, Arts & Crafts decor, Stickley furniture, or anything to do with old homes, this is a must-see event and well worth a weekend trip to Chicagoland. Hope to see you there.

A Great House Tour

If you are a fan of The Prairie School, Arts & Crafts Architecture, or if you just love old homes, this is an event you can't miss. On June 21st, Pleasant Home Foundation is sponsoring a tour of Historic Hutchinson Street in Chicago.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the street, it stretches just a few short blocks off of Lake Shore Drive and is dotted with some of the finest homes in Chicago. They were built around the turn of the century and many were designed by renowned Prairie School Architect George Washington Maher.
These homes feature impressive monumental exteriors with unique Prairie Style detailing characteristic of Maher's work. Their interiors are filled with original carved woodwork, art glass, tile and metal work, designed with harmonizing motifs derived from nature like poppies, thistles, and wisteria.

It has been about 8 years since these homes were last open to the public so this is a rare occurrence and a unique opportunity. There are currently 6 homes scheduled to be open and there may be more. In addition to the interior tours (one of them given by yours truly), the event also features a guided walking tour of the entire street, a Chicago Landmark District, by some of the most knowledgeable architects and architectural historians in the area.

This is the primary fundraiser this year for Pleasant Home Foundation, whose mission is to educate about Maher and restore Historic Pleasant Home, a National Landmark designed by the architect and located in Oak Park, Illinois. Tours will be scheduled at one of 2 times: 10:00am or 1:00pm. Tickets are $50.00 and $40.00 for Pleasant Home Foundation Members. Space is limited and this event will most likely sell out. Call Pleasant Home to make reservations by phone: (708) 383 2654. They will also soon be uploading a printable PDF to their website for registration.

The Foundation can use your support and you will not be disappointed by the homes on the tour.