California Craftsman Cottages of Laguna Beach (cont)

There are a number of other homes in the Laguna Beach area which are not as accessible as The Cottage but which reward the student of local history and/or architecture who can manage a drive by. Several of them are reproduced here.

1560 Galen

This home was built in 1929 by Floyd Case, Laguna Beach's first building inspector.

The natural rock, the shingle siding, the high gabled roofs all make the home blend in with the natural surroundings-one of the characteristics of the craftsman tradition.

155 Sunset Terrace

Built in 1919 this single story home is a good example of the craftsman style applied to the basic California bungalow. On the one hand you have the rock walls, supports and chimney and the heavy beams (on a single story building with a low pitched roof!) which are the hallmarks of a craftsman home. On the other hand you have the small size-just enough room for a beach cottage.

2192 Ocean Way

At the other end of the spectrum is the California craftsman home built in 1927 for E. H. Newland of Hollywood. This is located in Moss Point and was designed as a summer home, not a bungalow and, accordingly, rises beyond the single story. The shingle siding, which seemed to be the preferred exterior wall covering for the better built homes, is once again evident.

These houses were well built and will last a long time-they have already been around for three quarters of a century. But progress, so wonderful in so many ways, means that no more of them have or will be built. Time, the leveler of all things, will eventually send these into history.

Our Gold Coast is evolving into a richer and, in many ways, a more beautiful place and it is exciting to envision what will come. Still, it's nice to stop, now and then, and look around at the treasures we still have and to enjoy sights our children will never see.

The author would like to thank Karen Wilson Turnbull both for the excellent renderings for this article and a considerable part of the information on which the article was based. Her book, The Cottages and Castles of Laguna is one of the best references on the architecture of the area before 1940 and is a required source book for anyone who wishes to learn about that architecture while some of it is still here.