Reviving a Greene & Greene classic

THE 1903 Bandini residence is often called Charles and Henry Greene’s first “California house” because of the way the Arts and Crafts legends took lifestyle and climate into consideration. The home, demolished in the 1960s, was designed around a hacienda-style courtyard that blended Spanish traditions with Japanese structural components.

“It was a time when they were shedding traditional styles and the popular looks of the turn of the century and thinking about the fundamental issues that were driving their designs,” says architect Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, who has directed the full-size reproduction of the Bandini house’s porch, veranda and trellis as part of “A ‘New and Native’ Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene.” The exhibition opens today at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino in partnership with the Gamble House and USC. About 140 pieces will be on view, including drawings, photographs, furniture, light fixtures and stained glass from 30 Greene & Greene commissions.

Noting that the brothers designed Victorian houses in the late 1890s, McLeod finds the Bandini house to be a fascinating part of their evolution. “It is interesting to see where they came from before they got to the Gamble House,” McLeod says, citing the Pasadena landmark.

For more information and events: www.huntington.org, www.gamblehouse.org and www.pasadenaheritage.org. See more photographs at latimes.com/home.

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Lisa Boone