919 La Loma Rd
Pasadena, CA 91105, USA

Richard Frank and Mary Alice House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance

The stately Frank House's overall massing and grand command of an expansive site with large trees and grounds recalls a more famous neighbor less than a mile up the Arroyo 10 the north, the I908 Gamble House by Charles and Henry Greene as well as the older architect’s seminal influence on Buff, Straub & Hensman. Like other monumental bungalows b) the Grecnes, the Frank House is a large stucco (painted a deep ochre on the outside, the color again recalling its American Arts and Crafts heritage) and wood house with its gently pitched roofs, articulated volumes, and a strong Craftsman/Japanese influence. However. here instead of bands of windows "punched into" shingle siding ala the Gamble House, the exterior of the Frank House is a mix of wide sections of glass; brick; and thin, vertically oriented tongue-and-groove wood panels (painted a sage green) or stucco of a fine sand-grain finish. The panels and the stucco only become part of a larger rhythm with the modular exposed framing of timber posts. beams, rafters and joists and railings, which together visually unifies the house and are the principal character-defining features of both the house and Buff. Straub & Hensman work during this period.

The client was a young. successful businessman; his wife, an interior decorator. and their three children. The Frank family founded. owned and operated Law1) Foods, a well-known factor). restaurant and retail center. Nearby in northeast Los Angeles; the family company became one of American's largest purveyors of certain convenience foods. particularly blends of spices, which began to appear after World War Il and that appealed to the middle class, servant less homemaker.


Because of its large size, the prominent site, and complex program, the Frank House demonstrates the firm's early confidence and mastery of their emerging architectural vocabulary at an ambitious residential scale and at an early time in the group's practice. It also demonstrates the way that local and strong influences were not imposed but thoughtfully integrated into a Modernist paradigm of the post-and-beam construction technology popularized by the USC/Pasadena Schools after World War
n. In effect, the design dematerializes Craftsman architecture through the use of glass. Which replaces much opaque sheathing,
while also employing vernacular Japanese strategies, for example in the stucco infill between vertical framing members. The house's graceful exploitation of site is also an important philosophical value in the work of master architects Buff, Straub, and Hensman, an approach advocated by Modernists in general and the USC architectural faculty in particular during this time. and well demonstrated here. The resulting composition is not a hodgepodge of mixed styles but a strong, Modem, individual statement that integrates these styles and adds to them in a contemporary way reflecting the period of significance, 1957.


Significance Conclusion

Argument under Criterion C- Eligible
As demonstrated above, this work by Buff, Straub & Hensman meets the registration requirements as outlined in the Multiple Property Submission, Cultural Resources of the Recent Past, Ci1)' of Pasadena. This single-family house has virtually all of its character-defining features and retains its integrity. I t is an excellent example both of the firm's body of work and as an excellent example of Post-and-Beam residential architecture, as well as embodying the larger architectural concerns and expressions of Pasadena's "Recent Past' as described in Context Statement 2. It is significant as demonstrating innovation in residential Modernism as a single-family house within the period of significance, 1948 - 1968. Therefore, it is eligible to qualify for listing in the National Register under Criterion C, Architecture and Design, at the local level of significance, with a period of significance of 1957.