The Sidney D. Gamble Lecture Series, 2008-2009
Presented by the Friends of The Gamble House

Collection of the New-York Historical Society

Tiffany Studios, Wisteria lamp; designed by Clara Driscoll, ca. 1901

The Women of Tiffany Studios

Margaret K. Hofer
Saturday, January 31, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Margaret K. Hofer will discuss new groundbreaking research on the role of women in the design and manufacture of Tiffany Studios’ famous leaded-glass lamps. The recently discovered correspondence of Clara Driscoll has revealed that it was Driscoll who designed many of the firm’s iconic lamps, including the Wisteria, Dragonfly and Peony. Ms. Hofer will discuss how:

• Louis C. Tiffany believed that women had an innate sense of color and design and relied on the women’s glass-cutting department to select glass for many lamps and windows – and paid them on the same scale as the men.
  
• Rivalry between the men's and women's departments created tension at Tiffany Studios, resulting in a strike by unionized male glass cutters in 1903.

Margaret K. Hofer, curator of decorative arts at the New-York Historical Society, co-curated its 2007 exhibition “A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls” with Martin Eidelberg and Nina Gray.

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Charles Phoenix Collection

Luer Quality Meat rocket, 1956 

Charles Phoenix’s
Southern Californialand!

Charles Phoenix
Thursday, March 19, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

A slide show by “histo-tainer” Charles Phoenix celebrates how locals lived, shopped, worked, played and partied in the 1950s and ’60s. Charles’ spectacular collection of Kodachrome slides together with his informed commentary, quick wit and keen eye for detail are sure to give you a whole new appreciation for the place he calls Southern Californialand.

See Pasadena, Downtown L.A., Hollywood, Marineland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Disneyland, Space Age suburbia and more.

Tour It: Charles Phoenix’s San Dena/Dena/Rino

Saturday, March 21, 2009, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A school bus field trip tour of classic and kitschy attractions in San Gabriel, Pasadena, Altadena and San Marino. Marvel at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and its spellbinding Kenny Scharf parking garage; journey to far-off exotic places at the Pacific Asia Museum; gasp while visiting a Craftsman-furniture-filled Castle Green pied-a-terre; enjoy a special luncheon at the California School of Culinary Arts; see the giant, playful sculptures at Monster Park; then tantalize your taste buds with Fosselman’s famous ice cream while enjoying a spectacular collection of vintage trailers displayed in a folk art environment at Funky Junk Farms.

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Joe Fletcher

Hidden Valley in Moab, Utah, completed 2007

Prefab Housing:
From Craftsman to Contemporary

Leo Marmol
Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Leo Marmol will provide an overview on the history of prefab architecture and will discuss Marmol Radziner Prefab’s ongoing quest to explore the feasibility of creating modern, well-constructed homes within the constraints of a factory. Highlights will include:

• A look at the history of prefab architecture
  
• An overview of past Marmol Radziner Prefab projects from design to installation
  
• An exploration of the efficiencies gained by building homes within a factory

Leo Marmol, FAIA, is the managing principal of the design/build firm Marmol Radziner + Associates. In 2005, the company launched Marmol Radziner Prefab to create green, modular homes that are built in its factory and delivered complete.

See it now: Prefab in progress

Video from the Los Angeles Times documents how prefabricated pieces came together to form the family residence of  Leo Marmol, managing partner of Marmol Radziner + Associates, on a lot in Venice in June. Marmol and business partner Ron Radziner are on hand to describe the process.

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Lisa Reitzel

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California

The Gardens of Hearst Castle

Victoria Kastner
Saturday, May 16, 2009, 1 p.m.

Victoria Kastner will provide the first in-depth look at San Simeon’s landscape, examining the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement on its design. She will detail the garden’s history as well as discuss its wider meaning in early 20th century California. Specifically, she will:

• Analyze Julia Morgan’s unrecognized work as William Randolph Hearst’s landscape architect
  
• Discuss the contributions of Bernard Maybeck and other Arts & Crafts architects to San Simeon’s garden design
• Link San Simeon to other landscape-related events in California, including the University of California’s campus design, the restoration of the missions, the preservation of the redwoods, and the two 1915 California World’s Fairs

Victoria Kastner is the historian at Hearst Castle and author of “Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House” (2000) and the upcoming “Hearst’s San Simeon: The Gardens and the Land.” She has lectured nationwide on San Simeon.

Tour It: Italian Spring in a San Rafael Garden

Saturday, May 16, 2009, following the lecture
Pasadena

Indulge in the romance of a bygone era amid the restored grounds of a 1919 Reginald Johnson Mediterranean Revival estate along Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco in the San Rafael Hills. Landscape architect Heather Lenkin will share her insights into the designs, details and plant materials that make up the property’s cultivated spaces including a walled orchard, rose garden, spring garden, desert-inspired “inferno garden” and a delightful secret garden. Refreshments will be served.

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