A luxe cabin by 1/2 of Greene & Greene and a pristine craftsman “airplane” bungalow, both in Altadena

Altadena is chock full of great, and occasionally important, residential architecture. Unfortunately a lot of it is private and not viewable from the street – but the Rosenbloom clan did our best for Etan Does LA stops 24 & 25.

Etan Does LA #24: The Walter D. Valentine Cottage B

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 2017

This is a rare example of a solo work by Henry Greene, 1/2 of the famous Greene & Greene bros (Gamble House, Blacker House – see post #44, Thorsen House) who epitomized the craftsman movement in the early 20th century with their ultimate bungalows. The cottage was originally a humble cabin in the Wildwood Park community in NE Altadena, built in 1912. Greene enlarged it in the early ‘20s, used stone boulders from the Arroyo nearby, added wrought-iron fixtures & clinker-brick chimneys, the whole Craftsman 9! We weren’t able to access the cabin – so the above photo is as close as we could get, and I’ve also included an archival photo of the outside. (courtesy of Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD via Creative Commons license). PS: it last sold in 2020 for $1.27 million.

Recommended Reading

+See photos of the inside and outside of the cabin at Redfin

+Walter D. Valentine Cottage @ National Parks Services website

+More about Greene & Greene’s work in Altadena @ Altadena Historical Society website

Etan Does LA #25: The Keyes Bungalow

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1978

Got an obscured video of this unbelievably cool craftsman bungalow in the neighborhood, complete with stone pond, exceptional woodwork on the fence, and hanging-garden-of-Babylon vibes in the landscaping. This is a perfect example of an “airplane” style bungalow, named for the pitched roofline that covers the small second floor room (cockpit?) above the main house. The architect and builder are unknown; but we do know that the original owner Frank Keyes was an inventor, and that one of its residents was Jackson Gregory, a popular writer of western novels in the ‘20s and ‘30s.

Recommended Reading

+Keyes Bungalow @ NRHP website