Tag: House Tours

Australia’s Green Architect

Jackie Craven 0 Comment Australia, Discover: Famous Architects ,
Modern house with asymmetrical roof arched like butterfly wings. Photo by Anthony Browell

Australia is famous for breathtaking architecture like the Sydney Opera House, but travel beyond the urban centers and you’ll find the kinder, gentler design of Glenn Murcutt. The Pulitzer-Prize-winning architect is fond of quoting the Aboriginal proverb: “Touch the earth lightly.”

Shown above: The Magney House, Bingie Point, New South Wales, Australia. Photo by Anthony Browell from ‘The Architecture of Glenn Murcutt’ and ‘Thinking Drawing / Working Drawing’ published by TOTO, Japan, 2008, courtesy of the Architecture Foundation Australia

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The Influential Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Jackie Craven 0 Comment Discover: Famous Architects ,
Bedroom Furniture by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Although born on June 7, 1868, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh may have influenced the style of your own home. He’s even been called “the European counterpart of Frank Lloyd Wright.”

Like Wright, Mackintosh designed more than houses. He’s especially known for his furniture.

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh Profile

Chairs by Famous Architects 

Gustav Stickley Builds Utopia

Jackie Craven 0 Comment USA: New Jersey ,
Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms

In the early part of the 20th century, Arts & Crafts furniture-maker Gustav Stickley had a radical vision for a boy’s school on a farm in northern New Jersey. He bought land in Morris Plains, NJ, about 35 miles from New York City to build a home for his family and to establish his Utopian school.

In 1908, Stickley told readers of The Craftsman magazine “…for the first time I am applying to my own house, and working out in practical detail, all the theories which so far I have applied only to the houses of other people.”

Stickley’s home is now a museum open for tours. Plan to stay a couple hours so you can stroll the grounds.

Learn about Craftsman Farms and Stickley Museum >

Tour the Eames House

Jackie Craven 0 Comment USA: California ,
The Eames House

As soldiers returned from World War II, Art and Architecture magazine challenged architects to design modern, affordable “case study” homes using inexpensive and practical materials and techniques developed during the war.

More than two dozen prominent architects and designers took the challenge, including the husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames. Experimenting with modern materials, the couple designed Case Study House #8 to meet their needs as working artists.

Ray and Charles Eames moved into their Case Study house in  December 1949 and lived there for the remainder of their lives. Today, the grounds are open to tourists, and interior tours can also be arranged.

You will find Case Study House #8 at 203 Chautauqua Boulevard in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

Learn about Charles and Ray Eames >>

See the USA with Elvis

Jackie Craven 0 Comment USA ,
Shotgun house in Tupelo, Mississippi

You don’t have to be an Elvis Presley fan to enjoy visiting the rock star’s haunts. From Graceland Mansion in Memphis,Tennessee to his mid-century modern Honeymoon Hideaway in Palm Springs, California, an “Elvis tour” will take you to some grand (some might say ostentatious) homes, with stops at humble structures like this Mississippi shotgun style house where Elvis was born.