Pasadena

#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

March 24, 2024
Architecture
The bungalow court is a style of multi-family housing that places multiple small dwellings around a central courtyard or walkway. This style of housing flourished in LA between 1910 & 1930, especially in Pasadena, but many of them have been demolished. Here are six of the 30 remaining Pasadena courts on the National Register.
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#191: Gartz Court (Pasadena)

#191: Gartz Court (Pasadena)

March 1, 2024
Architecture
Built in 1911, Gartz Court is the second oldest bungalow court in Pasadena, and the oldest one still in its original configuration. Gartz stands apart from Pasadena's many surviving courts for its architectural pedigree, its 1/2 craftsman 1/2 Tudor style and its surprising preservation history.
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#186: Rose Bowl (Pasadena)

#186: Rose Bowl (Pasadena)

December 31, 2023
Architecture
For over a century, the Rose Bowl in Pasadenahas played host to some of college football's most-watched games (plus: the world's biggest flea market!). And while it's earned its place in sports lore many times over, the Rose Bowl also has a fascinating, evolving history as a work of architecture.
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#183: House at 1360 Lida Street (Pasadena)

#183: House at 1360 Lida Street (Pasadena)

December 6, 2023
Architecture
The well-preserved Victorian house at 1360 Lida Street is one of the few 19th century remnants in Linda Vista, Pasadena's wealthiest neighborhood. It was built in 1888 at a critical juncture for the neighborhood, as it was transforming from sleepy rural farmland to an exclusive bedroom community of entrepreneurs and working professionals.
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#180: Bowen Court (Pasadena)

#180: Bowen Court (Pasadena)

November 15, 2023
Architecture
Bowen Court (1911), designed by Arthur & Alfred Heineman, is the oldest bungalow court in Pasadena still standing in its original location. It's also the quintessence of the style: 23 craftsman cottages, each one with its distinctive quirks, all centered around a wide walkway with nary a car in site.
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#146: Bungalow Court at 940-948 N. Raymond Avenue (Pasadena)

#146: Bungalow Court at 940-948 N. Raymond Avenue (Pasadena)

April 4, 2023
Architecture
Back around 1910 - 1930, Pasadena was a laboratory for the bungalow court: a type of multi-family housing that placed a group of small dwellings around a central courtyard, with a driveway leading down to a garage in the back. This here court is one of 28 Pasadena bungalow courts listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's a fine example of the Spanish colonial revival style applied to the bungalow court genre. Plus its architect has a very silly last name.
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#143: Louise C. Bentz House (Pasadena – Greene & Greene)

#143: Louise C. Bentz House (Pasadena – Greene & Greene)

March 17, 2023
Architecture
This house is a minor marvel from the craftsman starchitects Charles & Henry Greene. It was commissioned in 1906 by Asian art importer John C. Bentz, one of the developers of the fashionable Prospect Park Tract in Pasadena. The house was the very first built on the tract, and it set a sky high quality standard for the neighborhood. It's also a great example of how Greene & Greene could work with more modest budgets and still showcase their architectural mastery.
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#132: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Millard House (Pasadena)

#132: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Millard House (Pasadena)

December 28, 2022
Architecture
The Millard House (aka "La Miniatura") was the first of Frank Lloyd Wright's four textile block homes in Los Angeles. It marked a radical new phase in Wright's architecture, an attempt to democratize housing by ennobling the humble concrete block as a building material. It was also a remarkable integration of site and building that still stuns a century later.
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