Jenny Strauss at Style 1900 passes on this press release on the coming weekend's home tour in Pasadena:

Pasadena Heritage presents its 17th Annual Craftsman Weekend on October 17-19, 2008. The event is the largest and most comprehensive celebration of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Western United States.

The signature event of the Weekend is the Craftsman House Tour. This in-depth, drive-yourself tour allows guests the opportunity to experience the rich variety of Craftsman architecture that makes Pasadena a destination for Arts and Crafts enthusiasts from across the country. Experienced docents will provide detailed histories of each of the six featured homes while guests examine the natural materials, fine craftsmanship, and exquisite detailing that exemplify the Craftsman era.

On this year's tour, we are pleased to feature two homes designed by Sylvanus Marston, one of Pasadena's most prominent architects. Near the banks of the Arroyo, the Bishop House of 1911 beautifully demonstrates the heightened elegance of Marston's Craftsman designs, especially in its spacious wood-paneled living room. The home was commissioned by Maitland L. Bishop, who moved to Pasadena in 1909 to recover from tuberculosis and was famous as the city's oldest practicing lawyer at the age of eighty-seven.

Designed in 1912, the Marston-designed Lacey House in North Pasadena will also be open for visits this year. This low-slung bungalow beautifully harmonizes with its surroundings, and has been described as the "quintessential Arts & Crafts ideal". The home features a massive boulder foundation that was likely gathered from nearby Eaton Canyon. The interior includes a striking barrel-vaulted ceiling, a bird-motif Batchelder fireplace, a billiard room, and beautiful leaded glass built-ins.

The Clark House, a Pasadena Historic Landmark designed by Frederick Louis Roehrig, is celebrating its centenary this year. The house, which is located in the architecturally rich Madison Heights neighborhood, is designed with a Swiss Chalet influence, and features an unusual side entry. The beautiful interior is centered on a prominent brick fireplace with an inglenook likely inspired by Roehrig's travels in England. In honor of its anniversary, the home has received an Arts & Crafts appropriate kitchen remodel.

In celebration of the significant Greene & Greene anniversary and events of 2008, this year's tour will include two properties by the architects that have rarely been open to the public: the Edgar Camp House and the Wild Wood Cottages. The Camp House, a true mountain bungalow in Sierra Madre, was designed in 1904 by the Greene Brothers, with Henry Greene returning in the early 1920s to add a second story. The expansive, rustic living room of the home holds many similarities to that of the now demolished Bandini House from 1903, part of which will be recreated in the Greene & Greene exhibition at the Huntington.

Originally simple structures for a dairy farm, the cottages of Wild Wood were remodeled in the Craftsman style by Henry Greene in 1922-24, and were only discovered to be the work of the architect within the last ten years. These cabins have been described as "one of the most intriguing design projects undertaken by Henry in the early 1920s," and the secluded, idyllic property of Wild Wood also includes an unusual boulder amphitheatre that may also be the work of Greene. Join Pasadena's tour to learn more about the fascinating history of this special compound.

The Craftsman House Tour will take place on Sunday, October 19 from 9 am – 4 pm. Tickets for this event are $45 and include entrance to the Furnishings and Decorative Arts Show & Sale at the Masonic Temple on Saturday, October 18 from 9 am – 5 pm, and Sunday, October 19 from 10:00 am – 5:30 pm. For tickets and information please call Pasadena Heritage at 626-441-6333 or visit us online at pasadenaheritage.org.