Storybook architecture or fairytale architecture is a style popularized in the 1920s in England and the United States. Houses built in this style may be referred to as storybook houses.
Storybook architecture or fairytale architecture is a style popularized in the 1920s in England and the United States. Houses built in this style may be referred to as storybook houses.
The storybook style is a nod toward Hollywood design technically called Provincial Revivalism and more commonly called Fairy Tale or Hansel and Gretel. While there is no specific definition of what makes a house storybook style, the main factor may be a sense of playfulness and whimsy. Most seemed snapped out of a craggy old-world village with intentionally uneven roofs, many cobblestone, doors and windows which may look mismatched and odd-shaped. The steep roofs of such buildings often have uneven shingles designed to evoke straw thatch, with multiple gables, turrets and dovecotes. [1]
The style took a foothold in California, particularly in Los Angeles, during the 1920s and 1930s. [2] A primary example can be found in the 1927 Montclair, Oakland, firehouse, and in a more traditional English cottage-style in the 1930 Montclair branch library. Idora Park in north Oakland, California, is a four-square-block storybook architecture development begun in 1927 on the grounds of the old amusement park. Other examples in Los Angeles are the Snow White Cottages, designed in 1931 by architect Ben Sherwood; Charlie Chaplin Studios, built in 1919 by architects Meyer & Holler; the Charlie Chaplin Cottages, built in 1923 by Arthur and Nina Zwebell, a husband-and-wife architectural team; and the "Hobbit House" built between 1940 and 1970 by Disney artist Lawrence Joseph.
The primary architects that worked in this style are Harry Oliver, Ben Sherwood, William R. Yelland, Walter W. Dixon, Hugh W. Comstock, and Carr Jones among many other local architects.
A dovecote is a small, decorative shelter for pigeons often built on top of a house. It looks like a receptacle for secret messages from a fairy-tale world, and this whimsy makes up for the fact that no one actually wants pigeons roosting on their house. Dovecotes are especially common in certain parts of the Los Angeles suburbs, on ‘‘storybook ranch’’ homes — houses recast on the exterior to resemble a cottage that one of the Seven Dwarves might live in... as an intern at a historic preservation firm in Sherman Oaks, I was assigned the task of documenting every dovecote within 10 blocks of the office. [3]
Oliver is noted for his Spadena House in Beverly Hills, and the Tam O'Shanter Inn in Atwater Village, Los Angeles. Harry Oliver worked on more than 30 Hollywood films as an art director or set decorator between 1919–1938. The Spadena House, also known as the Witch's House was originally built to function as offices and dressing rooms for Willat Studios, a silent film studio in Culver City. It was moved to Beverly Hills in either 1926 or 1934 (accounts vary) and has served as a private residence since that time. The Tam O'Shanter Inn, also a Storybook building, was designed by Oliver and built in 1922. Harry Oliver was also responsible for Van de Kamp bakery's trademark windmill buildings which were designed during the same time period.
Sherwood is noted for the Snow White Cottages built in 1931 in Los Angeles.
Another example are cupola-topped storybook homes in a lot in Culver City constructed between 1946 and 1970. They are collectively known as the Hobbit Houses.
William Yelland is noted for his (Thornburg) Normandy Village and Tupper & Reed Music Store, both located in Berkeley. Yelland designed homes in Oakland, Piedmont, Berkeley, San Leandro, Hayward, Woodland, Modesto, Clarksburg, Sacramento, Kensington and San Francisco.
W. W. Dixon is noted for his work with developer R. C. Hillen in creating the Dixon & Hillen catalog of home plans. Dixon is noted for Stonehenge & Stoneleigh villages in Alameda as well as Picardy Drive in Oakland.
Carr Jones is noted for the post office (now Postino Restaurant) in Lafayette. He also designed and built one-of-a-kind homes in Oakland, Berkeley and Piedmont such as the impressive Houvenin House at 85 Wildwood Gardens in Piedmont. He also built the Steve Jobs home in Palo Alto.
Hugh W. Comstock is noted for his "Fairy Tale," storybook architectural style, that has been closely identified with Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. [4]
In Iowa City, Iowa, builder Howard Moffitt constructed more than 100 vernacular houses, known locally as Moffitt houses, in the 1930s. These houses are strongly influenced by Storybook styling, often faced with whimsical faux Medieval flourishes. [5] [6]
In Tucson, Arizona, self taught Storybook style disabled architect and builder George Phar Legler along with local friends and railroad hobos began in 1923 constructing on 3 acres numerous storybook themed rock, wire, and cement structures, features, and water features based on their near to the ground view of being seen from the eyes of children. Known locally and at times nationally as Valley of the Moon (Tucson, Arizona). Building at the Valley of the Moon continued until 1963. The original magical features that remain include the Wizard's Tower, Cathedral Church Complex, Enchanted Garden, along with a few others. The facility is on the National Register of Historic Places and remains open to the public operated and conserved by the George Phar Legler Society, Inc. [7]
Julia Morgan was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career. She is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California.
Bernard Ralph Maybeck was an American architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was an instructor at University of California, Berkeley. Most of his major buildings were in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Francis Whitaker was a blacksmith in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where he established The Forge in the Forest. He had The Mountain Forge, in Aspen, Colorado, which he later relocated when he was named an artist-in-residence at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Colorado.
Elmer Grey, FAIA was an American architect and artist based in Pasadena, California. Grey designed many noted landmarks in Southern California, including the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Huntington Art Gallery, the Pasadena Playhouse and Wattles Mansion. He is credited with being one of the pioneers in the development of the new American architecture in the early 20th century, with a focus on harmony with nature and eliminating features not belonging to the local climate and conditions. Grey was also a noted artist whose paintings are in the permanent collection of the Chicago Art Institute.
The Muscatine Avenue Moffitt Cottage Historic District is a National Register of Historic Places district that includes five stone cottages in Iowa City epitomizing the eccentric vernacular architectural style of Howard Moffitt. Moffitt constructed more than 100 houses in Iowa City and Coralville, Iowa, and a few in Citrus City, Texas. These small houses represent one of the regional 20th-century vernacular architectural styles in the United States. Howard Moffitt was a prolific builder.
Edwin Lewis Snyder was an architect and pioneer in the use of Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture, building homes in Northern California for decades from the early to mid-twentieth century. The Snyder-designed Berkeley Community YWCA, built in 1930, is on the city's historical register; the Roy O. Long Co. Building, built in 1927, is on the California Historical Resources Inventory. Along with Frederick L. Confer, Snyder designed several “western colonial” homes during the depression. In 1851, Snyder designed the 7,700-square-foot (720 m2) Alpha Delta Pi sorority house in Berkeley, excluding architect’s fees, the English cottage style structure was made for $27,500.
The Spadena House, also known as The Witch's House, is a storybook house in Beverly Hills, California. Located on the corner of Walden Drive and Carmelita Avenue, it is known for its fanciful, intentionally dilapidated design, and is a landmark included on tours of the area.
Albert Henry Hill was an American architect.
Roger Lee (1920–1981) was a Chinese-American modernist architect who designed more than 100 houses and other projects in Northern California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Most of his work was done during the 1950s and 1960s, and mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been referred to as an architect who "designed high style for the middle class," and is today considered one of "the forgotten mid-century modernist" architects. Lee was also one of the few Chinese American architects in the nation when he first received his license in 1947.He was regarded as one of the most brainy architect of his times because of his unconventional modernist way of designs.
Pedro Joseph de Lemos was an American painter, printmaker, architect, illustrator, writer, lecturer, museum director and art educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to about 1930 he used the simpler name Pedro Lemos or Pedro J. Lemos; between 1931 and 1933 he changed the family name to de Lemos, believing that he was related to the Count de Lemos (1576–1622), patron of Miguel de Cervantes. Much of his work was influenced by traditional Japanese woodblock printing and the Arts and Crafts Movement. He became prominent in the field of art education, and he designed several unusual buildings in Palo Alto and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Harriet Jean Moody was an American architect who designed distinctive Storybook Cottages in the Santa Barbara, California, area. The Historic Landmarks Commission has been working with the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and Santa Barbara Planning Board to protect the close to three dozen homes known to have been built by her.
Samuel Newsom was a Canadian-born American architect. Together with his brother Joseph Cather Newsom founded the architecture firm Newsom and Newsom, practicing in Northern and Southern California. Their most celebrated house is the Carson Mansion in Eureka, California.
Outlands in the Eighty Acres, also known as Flanders Mansion is an 8,000-square-foot Tudor Revival house. It is significant as a work of architect Henry Higby Gutterson and for its innovative construction with light grey interlocking Precast concrete blocks. The mansion is preserved within the Mission Trail Nature Preserve in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 23, 1989.
Hugh W. Comstock was an American designer and master builder who lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He and Michael J. Murphy were responsible for giving Carmel its architectural character. Comstock developed a fairy tale or storybook architectural-style that has been closely identified with Carmel. Twenty-one of his cottages remain in the area today. Comstock also created a modern use of adobe in the construction known as "Bitudobe," a type of post-adobe brick.
The Tuck Box is a historic Craftsman Storybook style commercial building in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, United States. It was built in 1926, by master builder Hugh W. Comstock. The building was designated as a significant commercial building in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey, and was recorded with the Department of Parks and Recreation on October 8, 2002.
The Lemos Building is a historic Craftsman Fairy tale commercial building in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It was built in 1929, by Louis Anderson, based on master builder Hugh W. Comstock's adjacent Tuck Box design. The building was designated as a significant commercial building in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey, and was recorded with the Department of Parks and Recreation on October 8, 2002.
The Garden Shop Addition is a historic Craftsman commercial building in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The kiosk was designed and built in 1931, by master builder Hugh W. Comstock, and is adjacent to The Tuck Box and the Lemos Building. The shop was designated as a significant commercial building in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey, and was recorded with the Department of Parks and Recreation on October 8, 2002. The building is occupied by Exclusive Realty.
Percy Parkes was an American master builder in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Parkes was one of the main progressive builders in Monterey County through the 1920s and 1930s, and the first contractor to build homes on Scenic Drive. His best known commercial buildings are the Seven Arts Building (1928), the Dummage Building (1924), and the Percy Parkes Building (1926). His American Craftsman-style, influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, is evident in the buildings he constructed during that time.
Robert R. Jones was an American architect in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California best known for his Modern architecture. Jones designed numerous residences and commercial buildings in the Monterey Peninsula. In the post-war period, he emerged as a prominent figure among architects and designers who played a pivotal role in shaping Carmel's modernist landscape from the middle 20th century onward. His was known for his design aesthetic that was a Modern architecture-style, combined with elements from the Second Bay Tradition. His creation, the Monterey Airport Administration building, was honored with a design award by the Smithsonian Institution.
The Sherman and Henrietta Ford House is a house in Glendale, California in the US. It is a rare intact example of a small, storybook-style Tudor cottage, reminiscent of the type of housing built in Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s. It is unique in its scale: affordable and built for a middle-class family, but with all of the care and craftsmanship of the great Tudor Revival estates of Southern California. It was built and designed by John (Jack) Frith in 1936.
