Award-winning Alameda Queen Anne

Alameda A.W. Pattiani Queen Anne with its ROBA-designed façade restoration

This recently completed project in Alameda, CA  by Rynerson + O'Brien Architecture has just been awarded an Alameda Architectural Preservation Award.

Here is more about this fantastic house and what was done to revive it:

"This building is one of several remaining A.W. Pattiani houses in Alameda and Berkeley.  The house had been significantly altered by additions and expansions on its west and north elevations, by the removal of original ornament and by the application of wood shingles over original wood siding and previously ornamented surfaces. The west addition included a wraparound porch where none previously existed, covered by a squat, glass-roofed pergola supported on classical style columns.  The result of the cumulative changes was a house that was no longer recognizable as an A.W. Pattiani Queen Anne.

Queen Anne house façade before (left) and after restoration

"The current owners wanted to restore the character of A.W. Pattiani’s original design as well as specific Pattiani signature ornamental details to the property. They also needed to address serious water intrusion problems and the ensuing damage that had developed on the wraparound porch. It was not practical for the owners to consider giving up the previous addition and porch, but both additions were inconsistent with the original design and created massing challenges to restoring the main facade.

Pattiani-inspired details

"The solution to this dilemma was to restore the original portion of the structure as closely as possible based on existing Pattiani examples and historical photos, and to rebuild the deteriorated wraparound porch using a vocabulary more compatible with the original house.  This included adding a cupola that effectively conceals the awkward western addition while adding new ornament and massing in proportion to the original façade."  - Steve Rynerson

The house now sports original-style ornament and  a beautiful covered wraparound porch with many of the "gingerbread" details that A.W. Pattiani was known for. 

Interior of the new covered porch

Restoration and ornamental carpentry by Guild member Skeeter Jones / Clearheart Design.  Fellow Guild member Lynne Rutter collaborated with the owners to design the color scheme, adding a robin's egg blue/green ceiling to help showcase the covered porch. 

Interior of the porch under the new cupola

Exterior Painting and gilding by Olson's Painting, Alameda, CA.
Photos in this post by Steve Rynerson
more details at the Rynerson O'Brien blog.

Hamilton Grange: Historic Floorcloths recreated by Gracewood Design

Guild members Gwen Jones and Ken Forcier of Gracewood Design have recently completed a project for the Hamilton Grange, the historic home of Alexander Hamilton,  which will reopen to the public in September 2011.
This is the most significant National Parks Services site in New York City. The house has been moved into Manhattan's St. Nicholas Park and undergone a five-year restoration. 

The Hamilton Grange in Saint Nicholas Park, New York City

Original details of the house such as the marvelous side porches have been restored to their 1802 form. These are accessed from a trio of floor level windows that can be walked through from the living room and dining room, which abut each porch. Another exceptional original detail is that the inside of the doors that access the living room and dining room from the entry halls are mirrored, reflecting the views outside the porches. In 1802, in the home’s original location, this view was the Harlem River on one side and the East River on the other. 
Gracewood Design was awarded the contract to make three floorcloths for the Grange - for the front and back entry hall and a side hall. The pattern is based on floorcloth remnant from the archive of the project’s architects and and is a version of a pattern from John Carwitham’s 1739 publication, “Various Kinds of Floor Decorations.” 

detail of the floorcloth pattern

Gwen stenciling the floorcloth

The floorcloth was made in Gracewood's studio in Portland, Oregon, oversized, so it could be installed on site wall to wall and trimmed to fit perfectly.

The floorcloth in production at Gracewood's studio

Installation was done on site covering the original floorboards.

Back Entry Hall floor

To the extent possible, the original floorboards were used, and their position maintained. The floor, as no doubt it was originally, is somewhat uneven and pitched.
Heavy grade canvas (#4 cotton duck, weighing 24 ounces per square yard) was used  as the underlayment for the floorcloths. The canvas was laid in place and then stapled around the edges of the floor, and the excess was cut away. This was a somewhat tricky job, due to the fluting on the trim and the angles of the arrowhead end of the entry halls.

Heavy canvas underlayment  in place

Ken likes a clean site!

In order to fit the floorcloths, a template was painstakingly constructed of each hall. The template was then placed on the rectangular floorcloth and the floorcloth was cut to exactly match the template.

Template being made for the back entry

Ken in the Front Entry after installation

installed side hall- staircase view

Congratulations to Gracewood Design for another amazing and unusual historic installation!
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You can read more about this project and the fabrication and installation details details at the Gracewood Design website.

"Island Creatures" at the Alameda West End Library

mural detail: blue heron

The West End Library of Alameda was designed by architect Carl Werner and built in 1936 as a Public Work Administration (PWA) project.  The recent restoration included funding for a public art commission.

In competition with over 100 artists, Debey Zito and Terry Schmitt,  the creative forces behind Debey Zito Fine Furniture and Design, were chosen to create artwork for a  4’ x 28’ wall above the circulation desk.  

Debey designed a frieze mural incorporating Terry’s carvings devoted to the wildlife of Alameda Island. With over 20 miles of shoreline, the citizens of Alameda are never far from the creatures they share their island with.

The completed mural at the Alameda West End Library

The mural is carved in black walnut and polychromed to compliment the stained oak original to the library.  The artwork is “framed” with an arch, tapered posts and waves. Leopard sharks and surf fish swim in the bay, crab and shorebirds on the sand, hills and water and least terns fly under the bridge. 

The bunny frieze was created using a combination of carving, cast plaster, and faux finishing

For the children’s section of the Library, Debey and Terry enlisted ornamental plasterer and fellow guild member Lorna Kollmeyer, to cast a 21 foot long plaster frieze of romping rabbits and  monarch butterflies, after their original carved wood model. The plaster work was then faux finished to match the wood carvings. Flanking this frieze, four be-speckled hares carved in wood, are relaxing and reading books.

mural detail: native grasses

The work was unveiled to the public on April 14th 2011

The Alameda West End Library is located at 788 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda, California.

photos in this post by Nathanael Bennett Photography

click on images to view larger.

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.