1931, Northern California, Kaplansky-Howes house
Pasatiempo
William W. Wurster
The glazed gallery of the Kaplansky-Howes house is an indoor-outdoor link which is usable as a working space and not just a hall connecting adjoining spaces (Woodbridge 1988: 126, 128).
1931, Northern California, MacKenzie house
Pasatiempo
William W. Wurster
The screened verandah of the MacKenzie house is another trademark of Wurster and recognizes the special requirements of out-of-door relaxation on the edge of the beautiful lawns of the golf course (Woodbridge 1988: 126, 130).
1931, Northern California, Voss house
Big Sur
William W. Wurster
For the Voss house of 1931 Wurster had what he described as "an ideal client with an ideal site."10 Built on a knoll in the Big Sur range, this house was designed to take advantage of dramatic vistas of the California coast; the two-story scheme with every room facing south is open to the view and to the out-of-doors. This house contains the essence of Wurster's design--the casualness of informal living combined with simple conventional wood frame construction, not unlike the vernacular barn construction which Wurster knew and admired. Closer examination reveals that the house is organized around the "big porch" on the upper level and the "kitchen cave" on the lower level, both capable of being closed and comfortable during harsh weather. These features, which allow the owners the opportunity of living with the land, recognize the uniqueness of life in a country place as a retreat from the complexities of urban life (Woodbridge 1988: 126, 132, 133).
1932, Peninsula, Henderson House
711 Bromfield Rd., Hillsborough
William Wurster; T. Church, gardens
Wurster's spare, neo-Regency par excellence. Look into the inviting entry court, glimpse the garden facade from the road (Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss 1985: 131-32).
1933, Northern California, Converse House
W side Santa Rita St., bet. Ocean and Mountain View Aves., Carmel
William Wurster
An early but at the same time highly abstract version of the Colonial Revival with a pinch of the Monterey Colonial Revival. This and other houes of the early 1930s in and around Carmel illustrate Wurster's ability to take the period house and transform it into something highly personal--something modern and at the same time highly practical (Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss 1985: 474).
1933, Northern California, Eiskamp House
523 Brewington Ave., Watsonville
William Wurster
A two-story Monterey Revival house. In houses such as this, one can readily see why Wurster was able to establish such a strong reputation by the early 1930s, a reputation among architects for the ease with which he could develop forms out of historic precedent which were modern and very liveable (Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss 1985: 493).
1934, Northern California, Field House
17 Pasatiempo Dr., Pasatiempo
William Wurster; Thomas Church, Landscape Architect
One of four houses designed by Wurster for the Pasatiempo Estates, a low density housing development and golf course laid out in the 1920s. The four are typical of Wurster's early houses that loosely employ a variety of stylistic forms ranging from the Monterey Colonial Revival to the Regency Revival of the late 20s and 30s. See also Berry House (1931), and Hollins House (1931) and Butler House (1931-32) (Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss 1985: 486).
1934, Scotts Valley, Randall House
230 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz
William Wurster
One of Wurster's two-story Monterey style dwellings. Large windows and glass doors lead out to the south onto a brick terrace. Above, a cantilevered wood porch provides views of the Bay (Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss 1985: 488).
1934, Northern California, Sanderson House
920 Bristol Ave., Stockton
William Wurster
This house and the one preceding (Field House, 1941) are Wurster in his American Colonial Revival phase (Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss 1985: 423).
1934, East Bay, Benner house
Berkeley
William W. Wurster
In contrast is a suburban stucco and frame home nestled in a small canyon in Berkeley. The Benner house, completed in 1934, was built for a large and active family. Here again are two special features. The "sun porch," which opens onto a simple lawn terrace and gardens by Thomas Church, is capable of many uses. Facing south, it could be a summer or winter room, a rainy-day room, a marvelous hideaway, or a place for active play. It is a room which has no real identification, and yet, because it is centrally located in relation to the entire house, it is a major feature in the design. The balcony is really a large porch connecting all the major living spaces to a view deck and sleeping porch which look west to the Golden Gate. Of this house Wurster wrote: "We are in the throes of designing a house which shall take a fresh viewpoint--'call it modern if you will' but it is not to be a reactionary modern--in a word everything is done because of a positive wish--never to be different--and I hope it will give a pleasant, enlightened look--but not bizarre."11 (Woodbridge 1988: 133-34).
