Jan 14, 2013
Merwin House - National Register of Historic Places
Statement of Significance The Merwin House is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C at the local level of significance as the work of master architects Charles and Henry Greene, and as an excellent example of Craftsman residential architecture in Pasadena. The Merwin House exemplifies the values of design, craftsmanship, and materials which embodied the philosophy of Arts and Crafts period residential architecture as outlined in the Multiple Property Submission “The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA 1895-1918: The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement.”'' The period of significance is 1905, when construction was completed on the house. The Merwin House is a significant example of the work of the nationally renowned architectural firm Greene and Greene. It exemplifies the tenets of the California Arts and Crafts movement identified in the 1999 Multiple Property Submission “The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1895-1918: The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement:” Originating in England during the second half of the nineteenth century, the Arts and Crafts movement was born out of a reaction to the deleterious effects of industrialization on the quality of manufactured goods and the separation of the worker from his product. Pasadena was one of three American centers of Arts and Crafts architecture that emerged at the turn of the century. During the period 1895-1918, the city excelled in both the quality and quantity of its Arts and Crafts residential architecture. The influence of the movement was first evidenced in the Shingle style houses which date from the mid-1890s. By the early twentieth century, Pasadena's Arts and Crafts residences encompassed a variety of architectural styles including the Craftsman, Swiss Chalet, Prairie School, Anglo-Colonial Revival, Mission Revival and English Influenced (Tudor, Cotswold Cottage). Their simplicity of form, informal character, direct response to site, and extensive use of natural materials, particularly wood and rubble masonry, were a regional interpretation of the socio-economic and aesthetic reforms espoused by the movement's founder, William Morris. By the conclusion of World War I, in 1918, the most significant of the city's Art and Crafts residences had been built, although the movement continued to influence residential architecture into the next decade. The Craftsman architectural style that developed during the Arts and Crafts period has become strongly identified with the development of Pasadena in the early 20"^ century. Although there were many local practitioners whose works received national recognition, the Greenes were the best-known architects to come out of the Arts and Crafts movement in Pasadena, and they rank along with Bernard Maybeck in the San Francisco Bay Area and Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago as the premier architects of the movement in the United States. The Merwin House is a rare, early example of their work constructed during the transitional period that led to the development of their mature style. Although the classically-inspired portico and some decorative details represent the preferences of the client, the house has significant characteristics of Arts and Crafts period architecture, including references to the Swiss and Japanese traditions of domestic architecture with the aesthetic values of the Arts and Crafts movement. Distinctive exterior features include the wide and low proportions, informal arrangement of architectural features, front porch, wood, stone, and brick details, and a natural or earthen color palette of materials. The interior features built-in furniture, cabinetry, and light fixtures designed by the Greene brothers as part of the “total environment” they sought for their clients. Charles and Henry Greene Charles Sumner Greene (1868-1957) and Henry Mather Greene (1870-1954) were born in Brighton, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. They spent part of their childhood living on their mother’s family farm in West Virginia where they developed a love of nature. When they were teenagers, the family relocated to St. Louis where they were enrolled in the Manual Training School of the University of Washington. The director of the school followed the teachings of John Ruskin and William Morris, and instilled in the brothers an appreciation for handcraft. Following high school, at their father’s suggestion both brothers studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They completed their architectural certification in 1891, and apprenticed at Boston firms before joining their parents in Pasadena in 1893. On their way west the brothers passed through the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and saw for the first time the Japanese architecture that would later influence their work. When they arrived in Pasadena, they opened an architectural office; they would practice together from 1893-1914. During the first ten years of their practice, they largely designed conventional single-family residences in popular styles of the period. In 1904 the Greenes completed the first two commissions that would explore their desire for a new California architecture -the Reeve House and the Tichenor House, both in Long Beach. At the Reeve House they worked with structural expression and broad, sheltering gable roofs. They also designed furniture, light fixtures, and leaded glass windows and doors in an early attempt at creating a whole environment. At the Tichenor House they explored their interest in Japan that began in Chicago in 1893 and was reignited with a visit to the St. Louis World’s Fair at the client’s request in 1904. During this same period, they started receiving larger commissions from wealthier clients, and their style continued to evolve into the innovative forms for which they would become famous. In 1952 they were presented with an award from the American Institute of Architects, which hailed the Greenes as “formulators of a new and native architecture,” that established a new paradigm for the art of architecture in the United States. ® Contractor Peter Hall The work of Greene and Greene was further refined as a result of their long-time collaboration with contractor Peter Hall (1867-1939), and his brother, furniture-maker John Hali (1864-1940). The Merwin House was only the second collaboration between the Greenes and the Halls. Peter and John Hall would become the favored craftsmen of the Greenes and would be closely associated with their work. Peter and John Hall immigrated to the United States from their native Sweden with their family when they were young children. Peter came to Pasadena when he was 19 to work as a stair builder. After a short stint in Port Townsend, Washington, he returned to Pasadena and began working with John at the Pasadena Manufacturing Company. In 1900, Peter left the business to become an independent contractor. John remained with the Pasadena Manufacturing Company until 1906 when he left the company to build furniture for the houses his brother constructed. The Hall brothers had learned woodworking traditions in their native Sweden, and the high quality of their work appealed to the Greene brothers. The Halls’ skills far exceeded what the Greenes’ had obtained from previous contractors, and from 1904 onward, the Halls worked with Greene and Greene on some of the finest achievements of the Arts and Crafts movement. City of Pasadena Pasadena’s beginning dates to 1873 when a group of settlers from Indiana formed the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association and purchased land that was part of the Rancho San Pasqual. Many of the earliest settlers who came to the new colony saw the potential for agricultural enterprises, while many became land speculators. By 1875 the colony was named Pasadena. By this time there were more than forty residences and over 10,000 acres of citrus in cultivation, together with deciduous fruit trees, olives and grapes and a variety of row crops. A commercial center known as “the Corners” was developed by 1880 at the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Additional commercial development continued along Colorado Boulevard, which became the principal axis through Pasadena and remains the heart of the city’s central business district. Pasadena was incorporated as a city in 1886. With the coming of the railroad in the 1880s the region experienced a real estate boom. Pasadena attracted wealthy Easterners and Mid-Westerners who came to California to escape the harsh winters back home. The earliest tourists came in response to aggressive promotion of Southern California’s’ ’curative" climate. The foothills above Pasadena were especially popular as they were believed to offer particularly healthful properties associated with mountain air. Pasadena gained a national reputation as a destination for wealthy, intellectual, culturally inclined and socially advantaged Easterners and Mid-westerners. By 1890 Pasadena had grown from a sparsely populated agricultural village into a major resort town. Grand hotels were built to accommodate the seasonal visitors, many of whom decided to settle permanently in Pasadena. Charles and Henry Greene opened their practice in January 1894 on the corner of Colorado Street and Raymond Avenue. Following the New York Stock Exchange crash of 1893, the brothers had elected to leave Boston — the “Athens of America” — and its less promising professional prospects to join their parents in this new Southern California community. In the early twentieth century, early settlers and landowners began selling large tracts of land to developers who removed orchards and agricultural fields and divided it into standard fifty- or sixty-foot lots. Between 1900 and 1920 the population of Pasadena grew from 10,000 to 45,000 residents, ® and the city experienced a building boom and rapid increase in residential development. By the turn of the twentieth century, Pasadena was attracting a large number of well-trained architects who achieved a fierce local following. Original Owners Alexander Moss Merwin (1839-1905) was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1866, and that same year married Elizabeth Burnham (d. 1932). Shortly after their marriage. Reverend Merwin and his wife were sent on a mission to Valparaiso, Chile. The Merwins spent seventeen years in Chile, during which time they raised five children, founded Spanish Protestant congregations in Santiago and Valparaiso, and established the first orphanage in the country. ® In 1885, following the deaths of their two youngest daughters, the Menwins decided to return to the United States. They lived briefly in Florida before relocating to California, likely due to its advertised health benefits, in 1886. After a short stay in Santa Barbara, they moved to South Pasadena and purchased a five-acre property on South Fair Oaks Avenue known as Miraflores (“look at the flowers”) before commissioning the Greene brothers to build their new home in Pasadena in 1904. While in Southern California Reverend Merwin established Protestant congregations in Alhambra, Lamanda Park, and South Pasadena; he was also affiliated with Spanish congregations in Azusa, San Gabriel, and Los Angeles. The Merwin’s were active community members and philanthropists. Reverend Merwin was one of the founding members and the first president of the Twilight Club, which endeavored to give men an opportunity to “find surcease from their daily business and professional lives and invade the higher realms of science, philosophy, literature, or even the more prosaic problems of everyday existence.”^® Other early members of the Twilight Club included Charles and Henry Greene, which is undoubtedly where they met Reverend Merwin and several other important clients. Reverence Merwin was one of the founders of the South Pasadena Library, served on the board of the Pasadena Hospital Dispensary, and was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the American Revolution. Elizabeth Merwin was on the board of directors for both the Pasadena Red Cross and La Vina Sanatorium. Reverend Merwin died in February 1905, before construction was completed on the house. Elizabeth Merwin lived in the house until her death in 1932. Her niece, Martha Burnham, remained in the house until 1948 when it was purchased by the current owner. Conclusion The Merwin House is a significant early example of the work of master architects Charles and Henry Greene, who are recognized as leading proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States. It is the second collaboration between the Greene brothers and their long-time contractor Peter Hall. It meets the eligibility standards identified in the Multiple Property Submission “The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1895-1918; The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement.” It exemplifies the values of design, craftsmanship, and materials of the Arts and Crafts period in Pasadena, while exhibiting design characteristics of the Greene and Greene firm and decorative details that reflect the original owner. The property was purchased by the second and current owner in 1948 and has seen little alteration since that time. There are significant character-defining features remaining on the interior and exterior, and the property overall retains sufficient historic integrity to convey its significance.
Merwin House - National Register of Historic Places
Statement of Significance The Merwin House is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C at the local level of significance as the work of master architects Charles and Henry Greene, and as an excellent example of Craftsman residential architecture in Pasadena. The Merwin House exemplifies the values of design, craftsmanship, and materials which embodied the philosophy of Arts and Crafts period residential architecture as outlined in the Multiple Property Submission “The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA 1895-1918: The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement.”'' The period of significance is 1905, when construction was completed on the house. The Merwin House is a significant example of the work of the nationally renowned architectural firm Greene and Greene. It exemplifies the tenets of the California Arts and Crafts movement identified in the 1999 Multiple Property Submission “The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1895-1918: The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement:” Originating in England during the second half of the nineteenth century, the Arts and Crafts movement was born out of a reaction to the deleterious effects of industrialization on the quality of manufactured goods and the separation of the worker from his product. Pasadena was one of three American centers of Arts and Crafts architecture that emerged at the turn of the century. During the period 1895-1918, the city excelled in both the quality and quantity of its Arts and Crafts residential architecture. The influence of the movement was first evidenced in the Shingle style houses which date from the mid-1890s. By the early twentieth century, Pasadena's Arts and Crafts residences encompassed a variety of architectural styles including the Craftsman, Swiss Chalet, Prairie School, Anglo-Colonial Revival, Mission Revival and English Influenced (Tudor, Cotswold Cottage). Their simplicity of form, informal character, direct response to site, and extensive use of natural materials, particularly wood and rubble masonry, were a regional interpretation of the socio-economic and aesthetic reforms espoused by the movement's founder, William Morris. By the conclusion of World War I, in 1918, the most significant of the city's Art and Crafts residences had been built, although the movement continued to influence residential architecture into the next decade. The Craftsman architectural style that developed during the Arts and Crafts period has become strongly identified with the development of Pasadena in the early 20"^ century. Although there were many local practitioners whose works received national recognition, the Greenes were the best-known architects to come out of the Arts and Crafts movement in Pasadena, and they rank along with Bernard Maybeck in the San Francisco Bay Area and Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago as the premier architects of the movement in the United States. The Merwin House is a rare, early example of their work constructed during the transitional period that led to the development of their mature style. Although the classically-inspired portico and some decorative details represent the preferences of the client, the house has significant characteristics of Arts and Crafts period architecture, including references to the Swiss and Japanese traditions of domestic architecture with the aesthetic values of the Arts and Crafts movement. Distinctive exterior features include the wide and low proportions, informal arrangement of architectural features, front porch, wood, stone, and brick details, and a natural or earthen color palette of materials. The interior features built-in furniture, cabinetry, and light fixtures designed by the Greene brothers as part of the “total environment” they sought for their clients. Charles and Henry Greene Charles Sumner Greene (1868-1957) and Henry Mather Greene (1870-1954) were born in Brighton, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. They spent part of their childhood living on their mother’s family farm in West Virginia where they developed a love of nature. When they were teenagers, the family relocated to St. Louis where they were enrolled in the Manual Training School of the University of Washington. The director of the school followed the teachings of John Ruskin and William Morris, and instilled in the brothers an appreciation for handcraft. Following high school, at their father’s suggestion both brothers studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They completed their architectural certification in 1891, and apprenticed at Boston firms before joining their parents in Pasadena in 1893. On their way west the brothers passed through the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and saw for the first time the Japanese architecture that would later influence their work. When they arrived in Pasadena, they opened an architectural office; they would practice together from 1893-1914. During the first ten years of their practice, they largely designed conventional single-family residences in popular styles of the period. In 1904 the Greenes completed the first two commissions that would explore their desire for a new California architecture -the Reeve House and the Tichenor House, both in Long Beach. At the Reeve House they worked with structural expression and broad, sheltering gable roofs. They also designed furniture, light fixtures, and leaded glass windows and doors in an early attempt at creating a whole environment. At the Tichenor House they explored their interest in Japan that began in Chicago in 1893 and was reignited with a visit to the St. Louis World’s Fair at the client’s request in 1904. During this same period, they started receiving larger commissions from wealthier clients, and their style continued to evolve into the innovative forms for which they would become famous. In 1952 they were presented with an award from the American Institute of Architects, which hailed the Greenes as “formulators of a new and native architecture,” that established a new paradigm for the art of architecture in the United States. ® Contractor Peter Hall The work of Greene and Greene was further refined as a result of their long-time collaboration with contractor Peter Hall (1867-1939), and his brother, furniture-maker John Hali (1864-1940). The Merwin House was only the second collaboration between the Greenes and the Halls. Peter and John Hall would become the favored craftsmen of the Greenes and would be closely associated with their work. Peter and John Hall immigrated to the United States from their native Sweden with their family when they were young children. Peter came to Pasadena when he was 19 to work as a stair builder. After a short stint in Port Townsend, Washington, he returned to Pasadena and began working with John at the Pasadena Manufacturing Company. In 1900, Peter left the business to become an independent contractor. John remained with the Pasadena Manufacturing Company until 1906 when he left the company to build furniture for the houses his brother constructed. The Hall brothers had learned woodworking traditions in their native Sweden, and the high quality of their work appealed to the Greene brothers. The Halls’ skills far exceeded what the Greenes’ had obtained from previous contractors, and from 1904 onward, the Halls worked with Greene and Greene on some of the finest achievements of the Arts and Crafts movement. City of Pasadena Pasadena’s beginning dates to 1873 when a group of settlers from Indiana formed the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association and purchased land that was part of the Rancho San Pasqual. Many of the earliest settlers who came to the new colony saw the potential for agricultural enterprises, while many became land speculators. By 1875 the colony was named Pasadena. By this time there were more than forty residences and over 10,000 acres of citrus in cultivation, together with deciduous fruit trees, olives and grapes and a variety of row crops. A commercial center known as “the Corners” was developed by 1880 at the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Additional commercial development continued along Colorado Boulevard, which became the principal axis through Pasadena and remains the heart of the city’s central business district. Pasadena was incorporated as a city in 1886. With the coming of the railroad in the 1880s the region experienced a real estate boom. Pasadena attracted wealthy Easterners and Mid-Westerners who came to California to escape the harsh winters back home. The earliest tourists came in response to aggressive promotion of Southern California’s’ ’curative" climate. The foothills above Pasadena were especially popular as they were believed to offer particularly healthful properties associated with mountain air. Pasadena gained a national reputation as a destination for wealthy, intellectual, culturally inclined and socially advantaged Easterners and Mid-westerners. By 1890 Pasadena had grown from a sparsely populated agricultural village into a major resort town. Grand hotels were built to accommodate the seasonal visitors, many of whom decided to settle permanently in Pasadena. Charles and Henry Greene opened their practice in January 1894 on the corner of Colorado Street and Raymond Avenue. Following the New York Stock Exchange crash of 1893, the brothers had elected to leave Boston — the “Athens of America” — and its less promising professional prospects to join their parents in this new Southern California community. In the early twentieth century, early settlers and landowners began selling large tracts of land to developers who removed orchards and agricultural fields and divided it into standard fifty- or sixty-foot lots. Between 1900 and 1920 the population of Pasadena grew from 10,000 to 45,000 residents, ® and the city experienced a building boom and rapid increase in residential development. By the turn of the twentieth century, Pasadena was attracting a large number of well-trained architects who achieved a fierce local following. Original Owners Alexander Moss Merwin (1839-1905) was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1866, and that same year married Elizabeth Burnham (d. 1932). Shortly after their marriage. Reverend Merwin and his wife were sent on a mission to Valparaiso, Chile. The Merwins spent seventeen years in Chile, during which time they raised five children, founded Spanish Protestant congregations in Santiago and Valparaiso, and established the first orphanage in the country. ® In 1885, following the deaths of their two youngest daughters, the Menwins decided to return to the United States. They lived briefly in Florida before relocating to California, likely due to its advertised health benefits, in 1886. After a short stay in Santa Barbara, they moved to South Pasadena and purchased a five-acre property on South Fair Oaks Avenue known as Miraflores (“look at the flowers”) before commissioning the Greene brothers to build their new home in Pasadena in 1904. While in Southern California Reverend Merwin established Protestant congregations in Alhambra, Lamanda Park, and South Pasadena; he was also affiliated with Spanish congregations in Azusa, San Gabriel, and Los Angeles. The Merwin’s were active community members and philanthropists. Reverend Merwin was one of the founding members and the first president of the Twilight Club, which endeavored to give men an opportunity to “find surcease from their daily business and professional lives and invade the higher realms of science, philosophy, literature, or even the more prosaic problems of everyday existence.”^® Other early members of the Twilight Club included Charles and Henry Greene, which is undoubtedly where they met Reverend Merwin and several other important clients. Reverence Merwin was one of the founders of the South Pasadena Library, served on the board of the Pasadena Hospital Dispensary, and was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the American Revolution. Elizabeth Merwin was on the board of directors for both the Pasadena Red Cross and La Vina Sanatorium. Reverend Merwin died in February 1905, before construction was completed on the house. Elizabeth Merwin lived in the house until her death in 1932. Her niece, Martha Burnham, remained in the house until 1948 when it was purchased by the current owner. Conclusion The Merwin House is a significant early example of the work of master architects Charles and Henry Greene, who are recognized as leading proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States. It is the second collaboration between the Greene brothers and their long-time contractor Peter Hall. It meets the eligibility standards identified in the Multiple Property Submission “The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1895-1918; The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement.” It exemplifies the values of design, craftsmanship, and materials of the Arts and Crafts period in Pasadena, while exhibiting design characteristics of the Greene and Greene firm and decorative details that reflect the original owner. The property was purchased by the second and current owner in 1948 and has seen little alteration since that time. There are significant character-defining features remaining on the interior and exterior, and the property overall retains sufficient historic integrity to convey its significance.
Jan 14, 2013
Posted Date
Mar 20, 2022
Historical Record Date
Jan 14, 2013
Source Name
United States Department of Interior - National Park Service
