![the side of the house [i took this]](http://static3.px.yelp.com/bphoto/4Lc5tmK6KzADinqrsRZalA/xss){kind=small}
![on the porch [i took this]](http://static3.px.yelp.com/bphoto/ckiK1twcSeCU0f8maeCcVA/xss){kind=small}
![gambles pots on porch [i took this]](http://static4.px.yelp.com/bphoto/l8Ee0nhk109Z02e990E8xQ/xss){kind=small}
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Gamble House
Rating Details »
Categories: Local Flavor, Landmarks & Historical Buildings [Edit]
Neighborhood: Pasadena4 Westmoreland Pl
Pasadena, CA 91103
(626) 793-3334
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
20 reviews for Gamble House
It's Doc's house from Back to the Future. Do you remember when Marty goes back to 1955 and knocks on Doc's door?
Besides movies, it's just a beautiful historical craftsman house.
If you're in Pasadena, it's worth paying a visit.
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"So does a ghost live here or something?"
I had no idea what the Gamble House was supposed to be (haunted house, house of a famous murder, etc.). My friend wanted to go so we paid it a visit. I quickly learned that it was the summer home of David and Mary Gamble (of Procter and Gamble).
The house is in a beautiful part of Pasadena (though much of Pasadena is beautiful). The house has a pretty big yard (always a rarity in Los Angeles). The outside of the house is pretty nice and interesting (the architect was definitely in love with big wooden beams). There are actually a few other houses along this stretch of Pasadena that are similar to the Gamble House (you might even say they look even more impressive).
The tour takes 1 hour and costs $10 per person (no reservation needed; you buy your ticket at the gift shop). We did not have the time so we could only peer in through the windows; however you can't see much except some stained glass and old furniture. A tour may be worthwhile if you are visiting.
If you are just into architecture and exterior design, you could take a walk around the neighborhood to see the many nice houses (I mentioned above) in this neighborhood. The gift shop has a lot of stuff but only a few items that relate directly to the Gamble House.
Parking is free on the street.
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I'm not an architecture expert, nor have I done a whole lot of research on this home or about the Greene brothers, so I will limit my comments to what I learned on the Gamble House tour and my impressions of being in the house itself.
The house was intended to be used as a winter home for the Gamble family--Mr. and Mrs., two sons of college age who didn't spend much time in the home, and Mrs. Gamble's sister "Aunt Julia". The home cost $55K to build, with another $10K spent on the furniture. The art glass used throughout came from one artisan: Emil Lange of Pasadena. There was only one telephone in the home, used by Mr. Gamble to phone in the day's weather data to the Pasadena newspaper.
The home has large "sleeping porches" (decks) off of the second floor's master bedroom and sons' bedroom. Also unusual (to me) is that all the painted surfaces in the home's rooms are actually canvas stretched over the walls' and ceilings' plaster, and so each room has a hanging rail installed around the walls at a height close to eye level on which to place any hanging artwork and decorations. The home's rooms would seem dark even when lit artificially because the bulbs used drew only 16 watts.
The home was last lived in during 1966. Strangely, the Gambles' descendants didn't want to retain ownership of the home.
The original architectural drawings for the home are found in the Huntington Library in San Marino.
The front door with its Lange stained glass figure of a California Live Oak is justly famous. The entrance hallway is dark and spacious, and upon entering the home, one immediately sees evidence of extraordinary detailing in the woodworking along the stairs, ascending to the right.
Throughout most of the first floor, the impression is of darkness and low ceilings. The living area (like a den) is not remarkably large but has extensive carving and exposed beams on every wall. Opposite the den is the dining room, its remarkable box-shaped hanging fixture imposing a right-angled geometry on the room's space. Santo Domingo mahogany (now extinct) was used in the dining room.
Four second-floor rooms are bedrooms with generous windows, each presenting more examples of the extraordinary woodwork. Only a small number of furniture items are exhibited in Mr. and Mrs. Gamble's master bedroom, and it wasn't clear from the docent whether the items shown were the only items used by Mr. and Mrs. Gamble in that room.
The home's living space didn't feel ample, given the overall size of the house. Extra space was allocated to the entranceway and to the sitting area next to the second floor stairway landing.
As a building, the Gamble House is impressive, but as a home it seems to me it would have been cramped for a family of five. Perhaps the family spent a good deal of time outside the home, on the grounds or on the decks, enjoying the mild southern California winter months.
I write reviews of unique travel sites around the Los Angeles and southern California area. Find these at: http://www.examiner.co...
If you're in the area, come visit. The tour is a little over an hour. If you're somewhere like West LA or South Bay, I can't say it's worth driving out to Pasadena for.
The tour dates are limited so plan in advance: Thurs to Sunday 12 noon to 3pm. $10 regular, $7 for students.
No photography inside.
What I found most impressive was the condition of the house. It's very, very well maintained. And hey, its owned by USC School of Architecture. Go Trojans!
WEnt on the tour last year. AMAZING!! the detail is insane! GO!!
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There are many fabulous homes in Southern California but there aren't that many on the National Register of Historic Places. The Gamble House happens to be on the National Register and, after my visit yesterday, I clearly see why. My friend, who is an architect, invited me and two others to tour this historic home yesterday. This home was originally built as a "vacation home" for Gamble Family, that is the Gamble's of the notorious and wealthy family affiliated with multinational corporation, Procter & Gamble. This home spans a whopping 10,000 square feet. The details in this home are literally breathtaking. Not only on the inside, but the outside of the home displays impeccable craftmanship and great detail to the naked eye. A rarity in this home, and in California, is the fact that this house has a basement and a third floor. Richard M., the tour guide, is well-informed of this home, the Gamble's, and the history of this house and he shared a wealth of information. The tour is approximately an hour and is worth every minute. If you haven't been, I recommend you visit this place to see how the elite of yesteryear spent their time in what was known as their "vacation home", which is drastically bigger than my main home.
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The Gamble House is tight!!!! It's a prefect spot for you artists and architecture fans.
Be warned, you can't wear sneakers. They want your ass dressed up if you want to take a tour. I was here a while ago, shit, I had to put on my club clothes to get in. It's like that.
This place isn't too far from the crib, but has to be on your agenda if you're going to take in all that Pasadena has to offer.
I know you can bring in a notepad or sketchbook to draw or write--I don't remember if cameras were allowed, though.
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This place screams 2 things to me: Childhood, and Back to the Future. I can't help it; the image of Christopher Lloyd's face peering out from the garage doors always welled up in my mind when taking the tours, which we did a few years in a row at my elementary school.
I always meant to go back for a tour when I got older, but I never got around to it. That said, I can still remember what most of the building looked like, so strong was the impression it left on my little self.
To me, this house exemplifies old Pasadena -- not Old Town, but old *Pasadena*. It'll always have a place in my heart.
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So when I was a kid, my cousin was an architecture student at USC. He was one of two (I believe) students who were allowed to live in the Gamble House one spring semester. That year, instead of having Easter at my aunt's house like we normally did, we had it at the Gamble House. It was amazing. So we took a little insider's tour at the beginning of the day, but since we were allowed the run of the house for the rest of the time, my cousins and I got to basically run around and do whatever we wanted. I showed some visitors the trapdoor safe in the master bedroom and even impressed one of the tour guides.
It was so much fun. That was before I understood how cool the architecture is or how historic the place is. It was also exciting because that night was the premiere of Family Double Dare, and we got to watch it while the sun set beautifully over the backyard and one of my cousins climbed out on the roof to take a picture of the sunset.
A few years later, the cousin who had lived here for a semester got married in the backyard. This place definitely was the site of one of my favorite childhood memories, and that's saying something because I have a lot of fond memories from my childhood. (See my other reviews.)
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If you have never heard of architects Henry and Charles Greene, I'll let you in on a little secret: they were the jedi knights of architecture!!!
The Greene brothers unlocked the mystery of man's relationship to nature, or perhaps to them it was never a mystery. If you don't know what I mean, take a tour of the Gamble House.
The Gamble House is like a time machine. It was the summer residence of one of the richest families in America, built at the turn of the 20th century. As you walk up to and around the house, you'll notice how it seems to "belong" on this piece of land. Everything is in the right place, and every nook and cranny seem to have personality and character.
Step inside and you are immediately transported into another century. The materials of construction are practically alien to modern times: teak wood, mahogany walls, beautifully inlaid color tiles, stained-glass windows. Yet everything is natural - it seems to connect us to our inner spirits, to our humanity and to our most precious and innate senses. You feel safe here, you feel like you never want to leave.
The house is full of many custom features - such as furniture designed with flowers from Mrs. Gamble's favorite vase, to match. Or a hanging "crane" incense burner representing the Gambles family crest, that Mrs. Thorsen bought in Asia and had "built into" the underside of the main stairway. The bottom line is that you have NEVER seen craftsmanship or beauty like this home or the many wonderful pieces of furniture that grace it's presence. If you haven't been to Pasa-get-down-dena, this is a great reason to go.
P.S. If you are lucky enough to be in the Bay Area, one of the Greene's masterworks, the Thorsen House, can be found at 2307 Piedmont Ave. in Berkeley. If you would like a private tour - I'd be happy to be your guide. My fraternity bought the house in 1943 and we have occupied it longer than the Thorsens did. We take excellent care of the house and have established it as a Berkeley Historic Landmark and National Historic Place. For more info go to: http://www.thorsenhous...
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Classic architecture! A fun way to spend a Saturday. Also check out the geocache there...
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This weekend we went to the Gamble House for a tour. It's a phenomenal representation of the Craftsmen style homes that were built here in California in the early 1900's. The house was designed and constructed (including all of the furnishings) for David and Mary Gamble (of Proctor and Gamble) in 1908 as a vacation home.
Many who lived on the East Coast believed that spending a season or two in the California air and sunshine was good for their health. So, they'd travel across the country (usually taking weeks to get here) and stay for as long as they pleased. In addition to their regular bedrooms, they'd have extra beds located on a covered porch so that they could get the most of the healthy fresh air.
Every single beam, pieces of furniture, stained glass, lighting fixtures, rugs, landscaping etc, were all beautifully and strategically designed by brother architects Henry and Charles Greene. It truly is a work of art. And back in 1908, it cost a whopping $55,000 to finish (an average sized home in the area at the time ran about $5K). Oh, if it only cost that now!
The warm color of the woods and the rounded edges give the home a great cozy feel. However, though we were quite astonished by the house, we agreed it was too dark for our liking. There was very little natural light and the lighting fixtures were sparse (the photos give the illusion of light). So, when you stood in the center of the house, it was extremely heavy with darkness. But, I bet it stayed wonderfully cool during our hot summers here.
If you love to cook, you'd have fallen in love with its roomy kitchen filled with lots of workspace, storage, a pastry room with a large marble countertop, a walk in pantry, and another room simply dedicated to storing china and silver. But, Mrs. Gamble rarely stepped foot in the area. Her live-in servants cooked, cleaned and waited hand and foot on the owners and their guests.
So that completes your tour of the Gamble House. If you're ever in area, you should take an hour to stop in and take a tour. You'll love it.
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BEAUTIFUL craftsman architecture. Architecture buff or not, head over here for the tour, it's great. And it will really make you realize how much of a shit box your LA/Weho overpriced apartment is.
Plus, Pasadena has tons of lovely old neighborhoods that are good for cruising around and checking out the pretty houses. Yes, I've done that before. I like houses. Is that ok with you?
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I told the people at work I was going to Pasadena to see the bungalows and they looked at my like I said a dirty word.
Ha.
I *love* old houses. LOVE them. And this is why last weekend found me in a rental car, camera in hand, cruising through the neighborhoods of the Rich and Famous.
The Gamble house is a masterpiece by the Greene brothers. Donated intact with its original furnishings, it is a must see for any Arts & Crafts buff. The regular tour is one hour, although they offer a "behind the velvet ropes tour" once a month - I'd have taken that one if I could have.
Beautiful grounds, the neighborhood also has other Greene and Greene houses for the ogling. The bookstore, in the renovated garage, has a wonderful selection of books and tasteful gifts in the Arts & Crafts style.
Bungalow love!
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This house is a must-see if you're in the area. It's a century old and a national historic landmark-- what a gorgeous example of american arts and crafts style architecture!
There are 1-hour tours for around $10 (with a student/senior discount available) on weekday afternoons, or if you're really an architecture buff, go for the 2.5-hour tour for about $40.
Don't forget to check out the bookstore at the end, in what used to be the garage.
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The house was built by David and Mary Gamble who wanted to create a retirement residence on Westmoreland Place. It was designed by architects Charles Greene and Henry Greene in 1908. This architectural style home is a perfect example of the Greene & Greene architecture. Mary traveled to Japan a lot so she wanted Japanese designs throughout her home. The beautiful golden stained entry door of a weeping Japanese tree is an example. The staircase was inspired by waterfalls; edges were round and smooth. This was the only thing we were allowed to touch on the tour, otherwise you must keep your hands to yourself. One of the greatest things about the Gamble house is that everything is kept in its original matter with its exceptions of the restoring the wood and replacing the kitchen stove. Their garage is now the Gamble House Bookstore!
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It's Doc Brown's house! Really!
Movie trivia aside, this house is a PRIME example of craftsman architecture and of the work of Greene & Greene (famous architects).
The tour is informative and takes you into virtually every area of the house. I took the general tour and I am itching to go back for the behind the ropes tour.
My favorite part? Finding out that the help ate on "cheap" Stickley furniture. Awesome!
Archetypical Crafstman - not SEARS. It's too bad they don't make homes like this anymore. The Gamble house is a must see if you like, or like me LOVE, Arts and Crafts architecture.
My IDEAL home would not be a Victorian (as in SF), Eichler, or Wright home, it would be some thing from Greene and Greene. My wish, if I could go back in time, would be to have attended USC and be one of the architectural students who gets to live in this home.
Movie trivia: this was the home that Doc Brown lived in in "Back to the Future" (see: http://www.imdb.com/ti... )
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Take the once a month private tour. It is definitely worth it. Be warned - It could make you sad about where you live. I almost didn't write a review after reading someone else's that needed to point out that Greene and Greene are "famous architects." I don't know a lot, but seriously. Come on.
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for a little ol' suburb, hollyweird does a lot of filming in pasadena. this location, by far, is my favorite to point out to friends and family not familiar w/my hometown. i think its most famous cameo was in back to the future where it was used as doc brown's house...at least for the outside shots.
located just outside of what was known once as "millionaire's row" along north orange grove blvd, this was the retirement home of david and mary gamble. mr. gamble happened to work for a small company called proctor and gamble. i dunno, you may have heard of it?
this house is also significant because it's one of the best preserved greene and greene homes today. if your a nut for architecture or real craftsmanship, you'll definitely dig this place. the details of its interiors are mind-blowing. one thing that always trips me out when i drop by here is the front door. i'm amazed at how low it is, it's like i'm entering a time warp...were peeps really that short back then?
i last took a tour of this landmark in grade school and they still give tours of the place. after a few deca--errrm, years--i wouldn't mind checking it out again myself.
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