Guild Members win Prestigeous Palladio Award

Congratulations!! to Steve Rynerson and Paul Duchsherer for winning the prestigious Palladio Award for Residential Restoration, for their collaborative work on the restoration of the McDonald Mansion in Santa Rosa.
This project included the work of many guild members and you can see more images of the progress of this restoration here.

McDonald Mansion- The formal interiors at Mableton

Here are some more amazing images form the newly restored McDonald Mansion or Mableton, in Santa Rosa, California.

Have a seat and savor this fantastic period interior!

Main Entry Hall

The project was spearheaded by Steve Rynerson of Rynseron & O'Brien Architecture.    The interiors in particular feature the work of many Artistic License members, including  Paul Duchscherer as interior designer/historic design consultant; huge amounts of wallpaper by Bradbury and Bradbury; leaded art glass by Reflections Studios and Theodore Ellison; and faux finishes by George Shadow.

The Main Hall design sets the tone for the surrounding public spaces, with its bold structure of Eastlake-style mahogany woodwork, and a striking assemblage of Aesthetic Movement wallpaper patterns. 

The Library

The Library has 16 foot ceiling and a suspended glass-floored, period-style cast iron and steel catwalk to access the upper bookcases. Detailed in the Eastlake taste, the mahogany mantel features fifteen vintage Minton tiles.

Neo-Grec style wallpapers enliven the panels of the beamed and coffered ceiling.

Gentlemens Parlor

The Gothic Revival style Gentlemens’ Parlor features an unusual oak wainscot design adapted from a period example by English architect William Burges.  The wallpaper adapts an 1880s pattern by William Morris that was first commissioned for St. James’ Palace in London. The coffered ceiling treatment is grained to match the room’s oak woodwork. Seen through the wide pocket doors, the fireplace end of the Main Hall is overhung by two (of four) matching bracket chandeliers that were custom made for this project.

 

Turkish Parlor

Reviving a period tradition of exotically decorated retreats that were often called “smoking rooms”, the Turkish Parlor for Mableton, conceived in the Moorish Revival-style, here takes the form of a domed octagonal pavilion. Comprised of stacked, rotated, and corbelled octagons of graduating sizes, the dome rests on a delicate, ebonized oak framework of pierced screens, horseshoe arches, and slender columns.
 

Note the way mirrors are used in the Turkish Parlor

The Ladies' Parlor

Mableton’s Ladies’ Parlor has a feminine, French-Revival style. The previously flat sixteen-foot ceiling has been reconfigured into a room-wide barrel vault, and embellished with a Neo-classical style wallpaper treatment. Glazed and gilded painted finishes on the Louis XVI-style woodwork complement the panelized wallpaper insets, with mirrors used to amplify the light and views.

The Map Room

Mableton’s Map Room is a newly-created mezzanine-level room accessed via the Library’s spiral stair and catwalk.  As the name implies, the room houses the owners’ collection of antique maps, and the cartographic theme is reinforced by a stained glass compass rose window designed and fabricated  by Theodore Ellison Designs.  The neo-grec wallpaper scheme of the Library expands into the three-part ceiling and panelized walls of the Map Room which doubles as a private study.

Main Stair Hall

The design of the Main Stair Hall interprets the Anglo-Japanese mode of Aesthetic Movement taste, with repeating fan motifs and linear outlines adapted from Mableton’s intact, original staircase railing.

At the stair landing is a matching suite of Japanesque leaded art glass windows custom designed for this project.

Dining Room

Mableton’s Dining Room is an elongated octagon in plan with a double-coved, ribbed ceiling, and shares the Main Hall’s “Stick/Eastlake” design aesthetic.  Dark mahogany millwork frames wall, frieze and ceiling areas filled with gold and metallic accented wallpapers inspired by the Victorian avant-garde designs of Christopher Dresser.   A dining set comfortably seats  fourteen and is composed of antique and reproduction chairs as well as a table custom built to the geometry of the room.

Master Sitting Room

Mableton’s Master Sitting Room is part of a suite of rooms that also includes the Master Bedroom and Master Bath that occupies one of two new wings built at the rear of Mableton’s main floor. The Master Sitting Room’s interior includes a gently vaulted ceiling whose form is echoed in the arched opening that frames the south-facing bay window.  

Custom embroidered curtain detail in the master sitting room made by Dianne Ayres.

  

Read more details about this stunning project at  Rynerson & O'Brien's blog.

All Photographs in this post by MarkCitret.

Textile Studio & Friends

Textile Studio and Friends - a pop-up shop opens in Rockridge!

 

Guild member Dianne Ayres of Arts & Crafts Period Textiles has opened a pop-up shop at 5550 College Ave. in Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. 

Textile Studio & Friends at 5550 College Ave

The shop features a antiques and contemporary works, mostly Arts & Crafts style, alongside Dianne's famous hand-crafted textiles, antiquarian books and ephemera as well as contemporary books, including a complete selection of books by Jane Powell.  Other Artistic License members whose work  is featured in the shop include Theodore Ellison, Jana Olsen, and Debey Zito.  

Textile Studio & Friends at 5550 College Ave, Oakland

Visit Textile Studio & Friends at 5550 College Avenue, Oakland through the end of the 2012.

Tulips at Sunset

"Tulips at Sunset" is a beautiful new piece by Ted Ellison of Theodore Ellison Designs.   The layered window piece incorporates glass made in collaboration with Evan Chambers of Pavonine Glass in Pasadena,  as well as glass painted and fired at the TED studio.   Says Ted: "It's a technique that's used in European cathedrals, but I'm using the Tiffany off-shoot version where there is a painted/shaded layer, a modulating color / texture layer and a overall color layer. Each cell is between 1 - 4 layers thick."
The painstaking process certainly pays off,  with a soft, luminous color and the elegant lead lines that are the signature of Ted Ellison's work. 

Tiffany's legacy in the Bay Area

Glass artist Ted Ellison recently guided guild members on a tour around the Bay Area that featured the range of work produced by Tiffany Studios. Here are some of the highlights of that tour.

Tiffany Studios art glass window at St. Peters Chapel, Mare Island.

When Louis Comfort Tiffany began making leaded glass windows, he wanted to break from the European tradition of painted glass, a fine example of which was featured in the first stop of this tour. The rest of the day was spent visiting installations that featured technical advances in glass production, inspired design and innovative fabrication techniques that would redefine the art of stained glass.

Painted glass windows by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, at St Lukes Church, San Francisco

 St. Lukes Episcopal Church, San Francisco

Designed in 1909 by Benjamin Geer McDougall (who also designed Oakland's Cathedral Building, the first gothic revival skyscraper west of the Mississippi in 1914), this Gothic Revival Church is filled primarily with the work of London's Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Featuring installations both intimate and monumental, this is a prime example of the influence William Morris had on leaded glass of the period. The high quality of the painted decorative details can be viewed at eye level in the windows that line the outer walls of the chapel.

Detail of Tiffany mosaic mural, Lake Merrit Methodist Church, Oakland

Lake Merritt Methodist Church, Oakland

In addition to leaded glass windows, Tiffany Studios created mosaics for architectural installations and decorative objects. In 1922, three large mosaic panels were commissioned for First United Methodist in Los Angeles, and transplanted to Oakland in 1990. Each panel, measuring 17' x 8', displays the full variety of iridescent, mirrored, textured, and colored opalescent glass manufactured by Tiffany.

Detail of layered glass landscape panel by Tiffany Studios, Grand Lake Theater, Oakland

Grand Lake Theater, Oakland
Allen Michaan opened the Grand Lake Theater to share the large landscape panel and mosaic panel in the lobby. The landscape is a notable example of the plating technique frequently employed by Tiffany Studios, where multiple layers of glass are layered together to modulate color and suggest depth of field.

Three of the exquisite Tiffany windows in St. Peter' Chapel, Mare Island

St. Peters Chapel, Mare Island
The Chapel was built in 1901 and is home of the largest collection of Tiffany windows in the western United States. An astounding display of fine design and excellent craftsmanship, these windows represent the height of the Studio's output in an accessible and up-close environment. Each window features inspired color choices and employs an array of techniques (including painting, staining, acid etching and plating) to achieve the effects Tiffany sought. A must see for anyone interested in craft, art or composition.

Artistic License would like to recognize the stewardship of these sites, and thank those who graciously opened these spaces to us.
- Ted Ellison


photos by Ted Ellison
click on images to view larger

AL members featured in Old House Interiors

Cover Story!

Check out the December 2008 issue of Old House Interiors on newstands now, which features the work of a number of Artistic License artisans.

In this cover illustration the art glass windows by Theodore Ellison, fireplace tilework designed by Paul Duchscherer, tiles made by Diane Winters, tilework installed by Riley Doty.
Elsewhere in this same house are built-ins and furniture designed and built by Debey Zito, and interior painting by Robert Dufort of Magic Brush.

Bruce Aidell's Ultimate Craftsman

Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle Magazine features an article by Jane Powell about Bruce Aidell's Craftsman-style wine country home, designed in the manner of a Greene and Greene "ultimate bungalow" by Emeryville architect Greg Klein of John Malick and Associates.

Leaded Glass door detail, via www.jmalick.com

This marvelous house displays some amazing leaded glass work by current guild President Ted Ellison.
Bravo Mr. Aidell for this splendid effort, and to everyone who worked on this incredible house.

Read the article by Jane Powell here.
More about Charles Greene and Henry Greene here.