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California Craftsman, Italian Revival, Bungalows on Hanchett Home Tour

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Realtors are well-known for “expanding” the boundaries of popular neighborhoods like San Jose’s Willow Glen and Rose Garden. But the residents of the distinctive Hanchett Park neighborhood, a largely unknown enclave of period California Craftsmen, Italian Revivals and Prairie-style homes, are tired, quite frankly, of being referred to as “the lower Rose Garden.”

Hanchett Park’s graceful streetscape design, including European-like traffic roundabouts and original entrance pillars, was designed in 1907 by John McLaren who designed Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The neighborhood is often referred to in a larger sense as the Shasta Hanchett neighborhood because Shasta Avenue is the main street that runs through it. But the historic name is Hanchett Residence Park and it is nestled between The Alameda and Park Avenue. Several of the Arts and Crafts homes in the neighborhood were once featured in American Bungalow Magazine.

Now, a grass roots group, calling itself the Hanchett Park Heritage Project, hopes to rebuild the historic gateway pillars with pergolas at key entrance points around the neighborhood, including Martin Avenue at The Alameda. They’re hosting their first home tour, featuring five historic houses, on May 30 to raise money for the project.

“Hanchett Park is one of only two residential parks in San Jose. The other is Palm Haven and no one has ever heard of us,” said Hillary Savage, a neighborhood resident who is helping plan the home tour. Residential parks were some of the first “subdivisions” at the turn of the last century that were planned with utility poles running at the back of the lots, decorative lighting and landscaping to “retain a park-like atmosphere.”

One of the most enthusiastic supporters of the project and the neighborhood is Larry Camuso, who has restored his 1926 Italian Revival home into a stunning showplace and earned it a city historical designation. The house, which was originally built as a one-story home in 1908 then radically remodeled in 1926 with a second-story and Palladian windows, echoes the Hollywood glamour and style of its day.

And Camuso, with his partner Kirk Wentland, is getting it ready for the tour. Camuso, 49, is long a fan of the classic “Sunset Boulevard,” where the Hollywood mansion is a much a character as stars Gloria Swanson and William Holden.

“I discovered that movie in my 20s and thought that was what I was all about,” Camuso said. “That whole period of time, the style, design, art and decoration, it created a vision for me.” In fact, the look of the upstairs master suite, including the custom-made water spout in the bathroom, came right out of an Art Deco movie set book. Interior designer Paul Rokovich brought the vision to reality throughout the house.

“I’m stuck in the 1920s living in this house,” said Camuso, who is semi-retired from his antique and collector car parts business. (The house was built with a detached three-car garage, including a repair “pit” in one of the bays. “Sold!”)

Like many homeowners in the neighborhood, Camuso embarked on a historically-correct renovation. Though the house was in good condition when he bought it in 1991, he began five years later to restore its original footprint and fixtures. And he marshaled the memories of one of its original inhabitants, Lucretia Martin Schlueter, who was raised there until 1954.

“By way of old pictures that Lucretia supplied, I was able to put it back the way it was,” he said. Camuso threw an 80th birthday party for the house in 2006, and invited Lucretia, who is in her 90s and lives in Carmel, as the guest of honor.

“The house had great bones, but was never fully realized as far as its aesthetic values.” He removed a bathroom and closet off the main entry hall and returned the space to its original purpose — a rear hallway that separates the living room from the study. He also replaced the replacement windows — in other words, any flat glass that had been installed to fix broken windows over the years was replaced with vintage wavy glass that Camuso tracked down at Anderson C&M Used Building Material on Montgomery Street near downtown San Jose. He had nearly every one reglazed.

“It’s like a shimmering show of wavy glass,” he said.

Along with Camuso’s home, several turn-of-the-century Craftsman bungalows will be on the tour, including one with original stone columns in front. Also on the tour is one of the first homes built in the subdivision, considered the model home of its day. The large, shingled house was designed by the well-known Wilson-McKenzie architecture firm, which designed many homes in Naglee Park near downtown.

Outside the downtown core of Victorians, “this was considered modern, in terms of 1908,” Savage said.

Preparation for the home tour has been a neighborhood preoccupation over the past two years, as several homeowners have hosted cocktail and garden parties to raise money among themselves for the event.

The city of San Jose’s Redevelopment Agency is helping with funding to build the first set of pillars at The Alameda and Martin that were removed in the 1960s, probably because of disrepair. But residents want to rebuild the pillars at other key entry points as well, including at Park and Tillman avenues, with an estimated cost of $40,000 each.

“We have to have a lot of home tours,” Savage said.

Tickets for the Saturday, May 30th tour, may be purchased for $25 the day of the tour at 1265 Sierra Avenue, or $21 in advance through hanchettpark.org.

(Story by Julia Prodis Sulek. Photos by Desiree Northend.)

Update:

This post is featured in the San Jose Mercury News Home and Garden section here.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Architecture, Art, Bedroom, Bungalow, Craftsman, Decorating, Featured in the San Jose Mercury News, Historic, Home and Garden, Home Decor, House Tours, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Remodel, San Jose | 3 Comments »

Portola Valley: Green and Sustainable House on a Hill

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Not much surprised Iris Harrell’s family when she left Virginia in her 20s to work as a history teacher on a Navajo Indian reservation, then toured the country for five years as a guitar player and singer in a pop and country band.

But when she put on a tool belt in her 30s and started doing carpentry, “they thought, ‘Have you lost your mind?’”

It all made perfect sense to Harrell, who is 62 now and CEO of her own Harrell Remodeling company based in Mountain View.

“If you can control a public school sixth period class on Friday afternoon and you can control drummers and other free-spirited, independent people and travel all over the country,” she said, “it’s pretty powerful training.”

For the past three decades, she’s been orchestrating designers, carpenters and subcontractors to create beautiful homes for people all over the Peninsula. She finally was able to focus on her own home in Portola Valley, which she shares with her partner of 30 years, Ann Benson. They completed a major remodel last year that is both universal — meaning it works for all ages and abilities — and it’s sustainable, meaning it’s “green” and has a roof with 54 solar panels. They built it as much for Benson’s 91-year-old mother as themselves. They installed an elevator as well as a bathroom vanity that lowers to wheelchair height.

The couple was first drawn to the area when they visited a friend in the Portola Valley Ranch subdivision, an early 1980s-era development of 200 homes nestled among hills, oaks and meadows. A nature corridors runs through the development, so wildlife is free to meander. That means all gardening is relegated to a fenced-in “community garden” near the pool and tennis courts. In 1992, the house that was built as the developer’s office — with 10 “bedrooms”, one-and-a-half bathrooms and no kitchen — came on the market. Harrell and Benson, seeing the potential, took it “as is”.

They did a temporary remodel back then to reconfigure the house to a four-bedroom, with a kitchen. But in July, they finished a substantial remodel, turning it into a showcase of modern green technology as well as comfortable, lifelong living. They started with a demolition party and invited Benson’s mother and her friends from their San Francisco senior citizens’ home. But many in wheelchairs and walkers couldn’t navigate the hillside house.

What a difference a remodel makes. They built a wooden ramp from the street level down to the front door, winding through oak trees along the way. They removed a wall in the entry hall and a closet in the living room to open the vista from the front door through the living room and out to the hillside views. To make the living room with 14-foot ceilings seem more intimate, they hung what they call “lighted quilts” from the ceiling. Made of glass that is stained in traditional quilt patterns, the floating piece of art is an homage to Benson’s love of quilting.

They reconfigured the kitchen to allow for “hers and hers” refrigerators and sinks. Since Benson is the main chef for the couple, her fridge stores all the fresh food for cooking. With Harrell’s fridge, on the other hand, “you take it out and eat it or put it in the microwave.”

The kitchen opens to a small eating area as well as an intimate sitting area that faces an energy-saving, gas fireplace, one of five in rooms throughout the house. They provide their main source of heat and turn them on only when they spend time in those rooms.

They also made “green” plans to cool the house, especially when the morning sun pours into the living room on hot summer mornings. They installed exterior “European Rolling Shutters” that not only descend at the push of a button, but flap shut.

The laundry room doubles as a kitchenette for the downstairs master bedroom. Except for towels, they hang up all their clothes to line dry across the long back wall. A heated counter top for folding dries the moisture from the air.

They installed a sauna in the master bath and curbless showers for the day when they might need wheelchairs themselves. The house has won several awards for universal and green design, including most recently the National Contractor of the Year Award from the National Remodelers Association (NARI) for Residential Universal Design.

This house, Harrell and Benson say, is their “forever house.”

When they completed the remodel last summer, including the ramp and elevator, Benson’s mother and her friends from the senior home returned for a “wrap” party. They all easily navigated the space.

(Photographs by Bill Enos. Harrell and Benson portrait by Desiree Northend.)

You might also enjoy these stories:
Los Altos Contemporary
Google Couple Goes Green
Greenest House in California

Update:

This post is featured in the San Jose Mercury News Home and Garden section here.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Architecture, Art, Bathroom, Bedroom, Dining Room, Family Room, Featured in the San Jose Mercury News, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, Lighting, Modern, Remodel, Woodside | 4 Comments »

Oakland Hills: Mid-Century Modern “Sky House” Restored

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Maybe it’s because Bennett Hall grew up in a mid-century Eichler tract home. Or maybe it’s because his wife, Helen, immediately felt the feng shui of the house. Or maybe it was the view.

But within five minutes of setting eyes on this 1960 modern house perched on an Oakland hillside with a wall of windows overlooking the San Francisco Bay, the couple knew they had to have it.

Cantilevered from the hillside on steel beams and concrete pillars, the house reminded Bennett of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water house that is perched over a waterfall. The Oakland hills house also had the feeling of floating in air (and also had its own waterfall). The Halls called it “Sky House,” and began a faithful restoration.

The house had been owned by the same family since it was built. They heard from neighbors it had been quite a party house, with music and laughter coming from the expansive deck. (Bennett found a full, unopened bottle of Crystal buried in the yard while relandscaping. One can only imagine how it got there. It will remain a mystery since the label rubbed off, leaving no proof of a date.)

One of the first projects for the Halls was restoring the huge waterfall next to the entrance. It had deteriorated into little more than a mud puddle against the house. Not only did it create a grand entrance from the outside, but it remained a focal point once inside the living room. With the waterfall to the left, the living room fireplace in the middle and the expansive deck to the right, the feng shui principle of water, fire and air lay before them in all its glory.

The original owners seemed to understand this ethos and carried the Asian influence throughout the house. Shoji screens pull out from within the walls to separate the dining room from the kitchen. The Halls leave the screens open most of the time so they can see from the kitchen sink over the dining room table and out to the expansive view.

And what a view it is: on even a hazy day they can see the Golden Gate and the high rises of downtown San Francisco. They overlook Oakland and Berkeley below and off to San Mateo to the south and Mount Tamalpais to the north.

The couple has spent the last two years reworking the landscape. They repoured the concrete switchback ramp leading from the street to the front door, decorating it with interesting textures and lines, as well as pieces of “found art”.

Bennett considers Sky House a piece of art in itself. They still have projects left to do and “we’d like to share the property as a way to preserve it.” The couple rents Sky House for special occasions and executive retreats.

You might also enjoy these stories:

Rose Garden Mid-Century Modern
Mid-Century Modern from California Ranch: A Town and Country Life
Los Altos Contemporary
Modern Cocktail Lounge Party

(Photos by Desiree Northend)

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Architecture, Art, Eichler, Garden, Home and Garden, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, San Francisco | No Comments »

Collecting Art: A Passionate Art Collector Turns Home into Gallery

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

David Sussman started his art collection 45 years ago. He was a student at Boston University and picked up a Miro print for $15. He’s come a long way from the east coast to San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood, where his home — inside and out — has become a gallery of local art. And with the help of a noted painter who challenged him along the way, he developed a more daring collection.

The house itself is a handsome, two-story Georgian built in the 1930s, with gray stucco and a red front door — a house that some might say lends itself to a traditional approach. But step inside, and you realize there is nothing predictable about it. Walk into the living room and a great white skull emanating spokes of graffiti stops you cold. An L.A. city street scene over the mantel pulls you into an edgy neighborhood. And filling the dining room wall hangs a figure of a contemplative, graying woman named Theta — a work that marked a turning point for him.

“Buying art is like buying ties,” said Sussman, a family lawyer. “If you buy just what you like right now, all the ties in your collection will look the same.”

Sussman began appreciating more challenging works when he met Katherine Levin Lau at an open studio event more than a decade ago. He was drawn to the large painting of Theta. He had favored abstract works before, but found himself drawn to this figure.

“He said it was unlike anything he owned,” said Levin Lau, a former San Jose State lecturer who shows her work internationally. Still, he bargained with her.

“I’ll give you 20 percent off,” she conceded.

“Let this be your lesson,” Sussman told her. “I would have paid full price.”

And so began a long friendship, from which both have learned and benefitted.

And they started together at the De Anza Flea Market in Cupertino, where more than 800 vendors show their wares the first Saturday of every month.

“The joy of going with her — you get to see how she saw everything,” he said. “Her eyes moved in ways yours didn’t. You realize you weren’t challenging your own eye.”

They started by collecting balls. That’s right. Just balls. Bocce balls, pool balls, ceramic balls.

“How about this one?” he would ask.

“No,” she would say. “You have to get balls that have integrity, David. They can’t be brand new, out of a decorator’s showcase. They have to be something real.”

Levin Lau made him a rubber band ball. He built a rectangular, plexiglass box for them and hangs it over a doorway.

As much as Levin Lau showed him how to look at things in new ways, Sussman always had his own strong sense of style.

“I love lines,” he said. “I love an Armani suit — not a lot of ruffles.”

And the artwork he was drawn to had a similar sensibility. Sussman became a regular at the annual auctions of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art — for 25 years running he bought at least one piece a year. And he also enjoyed the art sales of San Jose State University art students. He commissioned a whole set of ceramic plates from student Una Mjurka.

At one such art sale, he met art professor David Middlebrook and commissioned from him a double sculpture of bronze and stone for Sussman’s backyard, a piece that represents the organic versus the intellectual. It incorporates Sussman’s own thumb print.

Even his kitchen has a strong, artistic flair. With the help of Neal Bunce from Coyote Valley Cabinets –”whose attention to detail and quest for perfection made the project a success” — the space incorporates angled glass on the bar counter, with roughly textured granite counters.

“The point is,” Sussman said, “everything looks old quickly if you don’t press yourself to try something out of your range.”

It’s an attitude Levin Lau is thrilled to hear.

“He’s just a wonderful, enthusiastic, curious collector,” she said. “He loves to learn and explore. He truly loves his art.”

Update:
Katherine Levin Lau is showing her work at a mid-April exhibit at the San Jose architecture firm of Bill Gould. She may be contacted through him at www.bgdesign.com.
Coyote Valley Cabinets can be reached at (408) 561-0989.

Update 2:

This post is featured in the San Jose Mercury News Home and Garden section here.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Art, Decorating, Dining Room, Garden, Georgian, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, Modern, Painting, Rose Garden, San Jose, Wall Decor, Yard | No Comments »

California Daily Art: Landscape Paintings

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Artist Prakash Chandras paints the essence of California — every day. He gets up each morning, makes himself a big cup of tea and takes it to his studio above the garage in South San Jose. Then he paints for two or three hours of California landscapes before he moves on with his day. Each painting is a postcard size and a distinct image of California — a poppy, the Big Sur coastline, Coit Tower in San Francisco. He displays and sells them on his website at California Daily Art. He calls it a “visual vacation.”

He was inspired by a poet he heard on the radio one day talking about his daily writing inspiration on his short walks to work, whether it was a flower or a cloud. And Chadras, who teaches art at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, knew how such an exercise would not only be a creative one, but a good daily discipline.

“I wanted to push myself every day,” said Chadras, who earned a Masters in Fine Art in 1983 from San Jose State University. He also had developed a special painting technique he calls linearism, where he paints only with parallel lines. And each of those paintings takes upwards of six months. His postcard images gave him a daily sense of creativity and achievement. He sells them for about $100 each.

“I only paint the places I have seen and experienced,” said Chandras, who takes snapshots of his California travels and refers to them in the studio. “When I paint in the morning, I remember being there. In my mind, I’m indulging myself with all these memories.”

Posted in Art, Decorating, Home Decor, Julia, Landscape, Looki What I Found, Painting, San Jose, Wall Decor, Weblogs | 2 Comments »

Buy and Admire Local Art at the Campbell Art Walk

Friday, February 20th, 2009

One of the best things about writing for Lookiloos is coming across jaw dropping pieces of art. A beautiful landscape can transform a dark room and an interesting piece of modern art can inspire equally provocative dinner conversations. But where does a regular person buy art in the Silicon Valley?

The Downtown Campbell ArtWalk is a casual, “tour-on-your-own” style art walk. This is a great opportunity to visit with the artists and view their exciting new works in a friendly, casual atmosphere.

One could stroll along Campbell Avenue have a drink at the neighborhood Irish pub Katie Bloom’s, have dinner at the always satisfying Twist Bistro or have something decadent at Satura Cakes. Then on to some Art shopping or browsing. Pick up a map and brochure at any of the participating galleries, including Debbie Marie Arambula and Sonya Paz.

This Friday the Pacific Art Collective will be conducting a Live Community Canvas! Bring a friend or the family and help local artists paint a mural! PAC will be located on the corner of Third Street and East Campbell Avenue (by Sonoma Chicken Coop!).

Other artists will exhibiting their work include: Juror2 – Jenifer Kirsch exhibiting at Gelato Classico, Raku You – Keith Bunnell at The Olive Bar, Brooke Howie Fine Art exhibiting at Vintage & Vogue, Photojournalist Matt B. Simon at Lorraine Lawson Fine Arts and Abstract figurative artist Andre Trigueiro at Trailsloggers.

Best of all anyone can go home with new found art to decorate their home – from Fine art to Pop Art Magnets to artfully decorate wine decanters. It is sure to be a fun way to spend a Friday night.

Downtown Campbell Art Walk
E. Campbell Avenue streets
Campbell
408.378.5000

Posted in Art, Campbell, Looki What I Found, Sheila | 3 Comments »

Hand-painted Tiles for a Special Pirate or Princess

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Looking for something for that special pirate or princess? Need a personalized baby gift? Have I got a find for you. Jamie’s Painting and Design has adorable hand-painted decorative tiles. You can spell out your child’s name with the letter tiles, which run $13 each. You can also find a single plaques with the child’s name or adorable “birth certificate” displaying all the important information and these run $35 each. You can buy these at Lullaby Lane in San Bruno or order online direct from the artist Jamie Lentzner at www.jamiespnd.com.

Jaime’s Painting & Design
www.jamiespnd.com
650-372-0233

Posted in Art, Desiree, Home Decor, Looki What I Found, Shopping | 2 Comments »

Jill’s Living Room

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

Jill Arnone of San Jose talks about her art-filled living room. A nonprofit communications consultant and former City of San Jose Arts Commissioner, she shares her secrets on collecting local art and mixing both antiques and contemporary pieces throughout her home. Visit some of her favorite galleries, MACLA, Works Gallery and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.

Watch Jill describe her favorite space:

Posted in Art, Living Room, My Favorite Space | 2 Comments »

Rebecca Peragine: Prints to Brighten up a Rainy Day

Friday, January 30th, 2009

One of my favorite things about writing for Lookiloos is finding inspiration from other blogs. I came across these beautiful prints from one of my favorite bloggers, Gabrielle, aka Design Mom.

She found these great prints by Rebecca Peragine over at print*pattern*paper.

I can see these pretty things brightening up my hallway on a rainy day, exuding sunshine and teasing me with what summer might bring. I may have to arm wrestle my daughter for the mermaid print.

Peragine is donating proceeds of sales to a non-profit, PEACE, in Isla Mujeres, Mexico and their important community work. So go on over and buy one or two to support a good cause and bring a little south of the border spunk to your home.

Posted in Art, Looki What I Found, Sheila | No Comments »

Love and Valentine’s Day Gifts: Rae Dunn Clay

Monday, January 26th, 2009

I was first introduced to Rae Dunn’s work through a very good friend. It was our monthly book club meeting and as a special “treat” Carolyn held a bag in her hand and asked each one of us to reach in and pull out one stone, a clay stone. I remember Carolyn saying “you get what you need most”. Each handmade ceramic stone had a different word stamped on the top. I vividly remember reaching into the bag and pulling my stone out. It said “peace”. Now as a mom of four boys, this is what I needed most. I was amazed that fate or the universe had given me peace. I treasure that stone. It has rested on my bookshelf in my entryway for years. Not a day goes by that I don’t stop and reflect. Peace.

Heart Stones - Love and Valentine's Day Gifts: Rae Dunn Clay

I check out Rae’s site often to see what is new. I think with Valentine’s Day not too far off it would be a perfect time to show you these rustic shaped hearts stamped with numbers. Oh how perfect to count the ways to love! And since we’re on the topic of love… I absolutely LOVE this ring bearer dish. This is one of the most unique things I’ve seen for a wedding. A great way to remember the a special day.

Ring Bearer Dish - Love and Valentine's Day Gifts: Rae Dunn Clay

In this fast-paced, got to have it now world we live in, Rae’s work centers us with its clean, organic lines. Rae Dunn’s art will always be a part of me.