Pasadena Heritage

The annual Craftsman Weekend celebration organized by the preservation group Pasadena Heritage has some fresh offerings this year, including a tour of a Swiss chalet-style home in Altadena and a stroll through a neighborhood with Victorian and Craftsman homes in Glendora. The three-day event opens Oct. 19 and will include lectures, workshops and bus and walking tours. The highlight is the Craftsman House Tour, composed of five privately owned homes designed between 1911 and 1916, including the 1912 Lemon House, shown here, designed by the Foss Designing and Building Co. That tour is scheduled for Oct. 21. The Glendora tour is scheduled for Oct. 19. Tours of the James Allen Freeman House on Oct. 20 will be led by master woodworkers James and John Ipekjian, who renovated the home.

When the architecture firm of Buff, Straub & Hensman designed a two-story house in 1957 for an oak-covered hillside of Pasadena called Poppy Peak, the post-and-beam structure was shy of 1,400 square feet yet felt voluminous, thanks to an open floor plan, a two-story-tall ceiling and an abundance of glass. PHOTO GALLERY: Buff, Straub & Hensman house restored in Pasadena Fast-forward to the present day, and the house has a fresh start to the new year. Christophe Burusco, an attorney and architecture enthusiast, and Scott Lander, principal of the Los Angeles-based historic restoration firm Lander Design , have carefully erased the wear-and-tear of five decades, returning the home once photographed by Julius Shulman to its Midcentury origins.

The historic preservation organization Pasadena Heritage will host the historic home tour "Luxurious Living: Architectural Elegance of San Rafael," from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. The tour will feature five luxury homes spanning more than 70 years of architectural design. Advance tickets are $18 for members and $22.50 for the general public. Tickets on the day of the event, $20 for members and $25 for the general public, can be purchased at the corner of South Grand and Del Rosa avenues in Pasadena.

The annual Craftsman Weekend celebration organized by the preservation group Pasadena Heritage has some fresh offerings this year, including a tour of a Swiss chalet-style home in Altadena and a stroll through a neighborhood with Victorian and Craftsman homes in Glendora. The three-day event opens Oct. 19 and will include lectures, workshops and bus and walking tours. The highlight is the Craftsman House Tour, composed of five privately owned homes designed between 1911 and 1916, including the 1912 Lemon House, shown here, designed by the Foss Designing and Building Co. That tour is scheduled for Oct. 21. The Glendora tour is scheduled for Oct. 19. Tours of the James Allen Freeman House on Oct. 20 will be led by master woodworkers James and John Ipekjian, who renovated the home.

Pasadena Heritage will celebrate the city's centennial Saturday with a series of guided walking tours of Pasadena's first commercial center, now a National Register Historic District, and an evening gala at the historic Raymond Theater. The walking tours will begin every 20 minutes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with an introductory slide show at the Braley Building, 35 S. Raymond Ave. The charge is $7 a person ($5 for Heritage members) and reservations are necessary.

A walking tour of one of Pasadena's architecturally notable streets is planned for next Saturday under auspices of Pasadena Heritage. Starting at 9 a.m., tours will depart every quarter hour from Allendale Road and South Oakland Avenue. Homes designed by Wallace Neff, Sumner Hunt and other master architects were built along Oakland Avenue between 1910 and 1925 and follow the Colonial, Craftsman, Italian Revival, Pueblo and Classical themes.

It was a rare setback for Pasadena Heritage last week when voters decided to permit demolition of the historic main building of the Huntington Sheraton hotel. Trying to save the building was the latest cause of the private, nonprofit preservationist group. In the 10 years since its founding, Pasadena Heritage has gained a nationwide reputation for effectiveness and political clout in a city known for a strong interest in its heritage.

When the architecture firm of Buff, Straub & Hensman designed a two-story house in 1957 for an oak-covered hillside of Pasadena called Poppy Peak, the post-and-beam structure was shy of 1,400 square feet yet felt voluminous, thanks to an open floor plan, a two-story-tall ceiling and an abundance of glass. PHOTO GALLERY: Buff, Straub & Hensman house restored in Pasadena Fast-forward to the present day, and the house has a fresh start to the new year. Christophe Burusco, an attorney and architecture enthusiast, and Scott Lander, principal of the Los Angeles-based historic restoration firm Lander Design , have carefully erased the wear-and-tear of five decades, returning the home once photographed by Julius Shulman to its Midcentury origins.

Pasadena Heritage will hold its 10th anniversary party Saturday from 7:30 to 11 p.m. on the Colorado Street Bridge, as a benefit to support preservation activities. The popular event, held for the fifth time, will include three live bands, dancing, antique cars, vintage bicycles, no-host food and drink, clowns and mimes, and dance demonstrations. The bridge, a civil engineering landmark also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be closed to traffic for the evening.

"Pasadena Victoriana," a drive-yourself tour of five early Pasadena homes, will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 29, sponsored by Pasadena Heritage, a nonprofit historic preservation group. Docents will explain the history and architecture of each home. Tickets are $22. For more information, call (626) 441-6333.

Kemper Nomland Jr., a Los Angeles architect who teamed with his father early in his career to design and build one of the homes in the landmark post-World War II Case Study House program, has died. he was 90. Nomland died Friday of natural causes at an assisted living home in Long Beach, said his daughter, Erika Nomland Cilengir. A Los Angeles native who was a conscientious objector during World War II, Nomland joined with his father to form Nomland & Nomland after the war. During their partnership, the Nomlands designed numerous projects; chief among them was Case Study House No. 10 in Pasadena.

Tim Celeski has become something of a darling among Arts & Crafts collectors. Owners of the Blacker House and the Robinson House, two Greene and Greene residences in Pasadena, have commissioned more than 100 of his pieces. "My customer base includes lovers of Arts & Crafts homes, but also garden enthusiasts who want something that's both classic and contemporary," Celeski says. Crafted from mahogany and jarra, a dark-colored, durable outdoor wood from Australia, his collection has expanded to six indoor and outdoor styles.

After closing in the spring for major renovations, the Macy's store on South Lake Avenue in Pasadena will reopen this weekend with an updated look. The store, which underwent significant seismic upgrades and interior remodeling, first opened in 1947 as a Bullocks department store. With much of its original architecture still intact, the building has become a historic gem to many Pasadena residents.

Before Disney Hall and Segerstrom Hall, Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena was renowned as one of the premier concert halls in Southern California. Now it is at the center of tensions over the development of one of Old Town Pasadena's last relatively open spaces. The 1,262-seat glass-and-concrete structure, surrounded by an elegant reflecting pool, opened in 1974 and is now owned by Harvest Rock Church, a nondenominational Christian congregation that draws about 1,000 worshipers each Sunday.

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard proudly credits his landslide reelection March 6 to voters finding him effective -- and dull. "My political style," deadpanned Bogaard, 69, explaining his win of a third term with 89% of the vote, "is to actively pursue [voter] boredom." Not so his only opponent, 25-year-old Aaron D. Proctor. A self-described goth, he wears eyeliner and debated Bogaard with his platform for rent control and ending the city's $3 overnight parking fee.

The $121-million expansion of the Pasadena Convention Center will include new buildings but will also showcase one of the city's treasured landmarks: the 1932 Civic Auditorium. The ornate Italian Renaissance building, which opened 75 years ago this month, is the centerpiece of the current expansion project. It is expected to be completed in the spring of 2009.

Pasadena Heritage, a private preservation group, has made a last-minute request that the historic Octagon House not be moved to Los Angeles. The appeal came during fund-raising efforts to move the 93-year-old, eight-sided house to Heritage Square, an enclave of historic homes visible from the Pasadena Freeway in Highland Park. On May 13, Pasadena Heritage sent a letter to Heritage Square requesting that the home be left in Pasadena because it is "a historical treasure."

IT'S like watching Grandpa buy a convertible: Long clad in a dark-timbered Craftsman style, motivated by its deep respect for the past, Pasadena is now spiffing itself up with sleek contemporary architecture. It's either a step into the future, or the early stages of an aesthetic identity crisis. Either way, the built environment of one of the Southland's most architecturally conservative cities is about to change.

Southern California needs 100 more Claire Bogaards ("A Passion for the Old Pasadena," July 8). Pasadena is the jewel it is because of efforts like hers. Developers have long ruled Los Angeles and the Southern California area, from the real estate speculation of William Mulholland's era to decades even before that. Developers care only about profits -- not wildlife, not trees, not livable communities, not architecture, not beauty, certainly -- which is why all over Los Angeles these days you can find hundreds of tacky stucco mini-malls and even more awful, oversized wannabe mansions of indeterminate architecture overbuilt onto crammed residential lots.