butler’s choice: Historic Gamble photography by hilary kline
Designed by architects Greene & Greene in 1908, the Gamble House, in Pasadena, Calif. is considered a jewel of the American Arts and Crafts movement. While the main rooms were built with the more costly mahogany and ebony, the spaces designed for food storage and preparation, including the kitchen, cold room and butler’s pantry, were outfitted primarily with birdseye maple. The maple floors and cabinetry, along with the sugar pine counter tops, made these three rooms the brightest in the house. Each material in the butler’s pantry, like dual under-mounted sinks that are nickel silver over copper, or the walls lined with white subway tile, was selected by Charles and Henry Greene for its practicality and durability while still balancing form and function.
22 | spensermag.com | jan.feb 2012