In 1979, the Ecole Bilingue offered a self-guided house tour of 7 houses by John Hudson Thomas. There are detailed descriptions for the featured houses:
1. Kruse House, 564 Santa Clara Ave., 1914
2. Spring Mansion, 1960 San Antonio Road, 1912
3. Pratt-Verper House, 959 Indian Rock Ave., 1911
4. Pratt-Thomas House, 800 Shattuck Ave., 1911
5. Blum House, 1505 Hawthorne Terrace, 1926
6. Park House, 3115 Claremont Ave., 1914
7. Wintermute, 227 Tunnel Road, 1913
8. Ecole Bilingue, 1001/9 Heinz St., 1915
I've added a brief overview map and list of the houses in the document. I originally photocopied the 1979 tour from the BAHA archives.
To see the whole tour, check out the document on Scribd.com:
John Hudson Thomas Self Guided Tour (1979) of 7 Berkeley House
Many thanks to all the original contributors who wrote these descriptions.
I also created the tour in Google Maps. For those who are interested, you can find it here.
There's nothing particularly special about this house tour today (since the houses are not open as they were in 1979). But the descriptions are interesting and have occasional historical bits in them.
Coming soon - some self-guiding tours that focus on a particular theme or aspect of JHT's work - or works that are located in a specific neighborhood.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Kluegel House Offered in a Trustee’s Sale
Photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005
The Laura Belle Marsh Kluegel House (John Hudson Thomas, 1911) at 2669 Le Conte Avenue, Berkeley, is a designated City of Berkeley Landmark (see the full landmark application).
Currently in default, the building will go on the auction block this Friday, March 27, at 12:30 pm. The sale will take place at the Fallon Street entrance to the Alameda County Court House, 1225 Fallon Street, Oakland, CA.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Best Writing on JHT - Coming to the Web Soon!
To date, the person who has written the most about JHT is Thomas Gordon Smith, who wrote his master's thesis, while a student at U. C. Berkeley in the early 70s, on Thomas.
Thomas Gordon Smith later became the dean of the school of architecture at the University of Notre Dame and a noted architect specializing in the classical style.
I called him this week to see if he might allow his 1975 thesis to be published on the web, so it will be more available to researchers and fans - and he's agreed.
This is a great gift and we are all grateful for his contribution and granting access to this work.
Loring House
The fabulous Loring house, done in the Prairie School style, is on the National Historic Landmarks building list. Anyone have more info about the Loring House? Or know someone who does? Anyone know the owners?
Pratt Thomas House, 800 Shattuck, Berkeley (1911)
This entire hillside was bare and unpopulated when developer Pratt commissioned JHT to design three houses, that cascade down the hill, on Indian Rock Avenue, beginning with the top house across the street from Indian Rock Park. A more commanding site could not be imagined. With thrilling views down the street to the Marin Circle and vast views across the Bay in all directions, JHT, who'd had the pick of the litter when it comes to lots, had the choicest location at 800 Shattuck.
I've a sneaking suspicion he liked to look at his own work, and designed the two houses below 800 Shattuck - the Pratt-Verber House next door and the Pratt House adjacent to it - at 959-961 Indian Rock so that he could view them from his living room window.
I had a lovely visit with Dorcas Kowalski, owner of the Pratt-Thomas house. She gave me a tour of the property. It was thrilling to sit in what was once Thomas' house and look across the living room to see his other houses, just below.
It's sometimes called his honeymoon house for he moved here in 1911 with his new wife and lived here for two years. The master bedroom has matching his and her walk in closets, each with a window. In the middle, in the master bedroom, is a fireplace.
The Pratt Thomas house has a fireplace centered in a spacious inglenook with a wide arch framing the opening. Mr. Kowalski papered the inglenook ceiling with art works.
The Kowalskis have owned it since 1960.
I've a sneaking suspicion he liked to look at his own work, and designed the two houses below 800 Shattuck - the Pratt-Verber House next door and the Pratt House adjacent to it - at 959-961 Indian Rock so that he could view them from his living room window.
I had a lovely visit with Dorcas Kowalski, owner of the Pratt-Thomas house. She gave me a tour of the property. It was thrilling to sit in what was once Thomas' house and look across the living room to see his other houses, just below.
It's sometimes called his honeymoon house for he moved here in 1911 with his new wife and lived here for two years. The master bedroom has matching his and her walk in closets, each with a window. In the middle, in the master bedroom, is a fireplace.
The Pratt Thomas house has a fireplace centered in a spacious inglenook with a wide arch framing the opening. Mr. Kowalski papered the inglenook ceiling with art works.
The Kowalskis have owned it since 1960.
The Pratt Houses: Three In a Row
Here are the photos of the Pratt Thomas House series I took the other day.
You don't usually get to see them as a triplet, which is the way they were designed - i.e. to all go together. They function beautifully that way. All three are in his interpretation of the Viennese Secessionist style and are filled with incredible charm. The outside is a veritable symphony of mass, shapes and adornment. One can see motifs and structures he later uses in his grandest work Wintermute, built 2 years later in 1913.
You don't usually get to see them as a triplet, which is the way they were designed - i.e. to all go together. They function beautifully that way. All three are in his interpretation of the Viennese Secessionist style and are filled with incredible charm. The outside is a veritable symphony of mass, shapes and adornment. One can see motifs and structures he later uses in his grandest work Wintermute, built 2 years later in 1913.
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