On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Steve from Mendocino
Hancock Park is an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood that was established during the 20’s at a time that Beverly Hills was just bean fields. Their was not really any neighborhood west of Hancock Park until you got to Santa Monica.
Art Center College of Design, at the time that I went there, was located just inside the western boundary of Hancock Park, and, as it happens, right across the street from the elementary school that I went to. Some of my classmates would hide in the bushes and peer in at the life drawing classes.
I knew the owner of one of the houses in Hancock Park and got permission to photograph the interior for one of my assignments. I shot it all with available light, and applied a sepia toner to the prints to give a sense of antiquity. I’ve simulated the toner with Photoshop color adjustments in these edits, although I didn’t bother to maintain continuity of coloring because I hadn’t expected to exhibit them as a unit as I did in my original assignment. The first photo was taken with a 4 X 5 view camera. The balance were taken with a Hasselblad.
As it happens, this exterior shot is of a different house than the one used for the interiors. For me, this is one of the two most attractive architectural exteriors in Hancock Park.
An original window with, I’m guessing, the original decorative curtain. The screen pulls out of the top of the frame and locks with two little latches, one of which you can see on the left of the lower surface of the frame.
Hallway and original lamp and intercom. The intercom system was pretty primitive and was powered by a pair of dry cell batteries in the attic.
The bathroom tiles in this bathroom were a beautiful lavender color. The cabinetry and plumbing fixtures are original.
The library was paneled with walnut wormwood. I was told that when the wood arrived at the construction site, the original owner insisted on a discount because of the worm holes.
Another hallway showing the woodwork of the doors and frames.
The stained-glass window on the stairs of the entrance hall. The original owner was descended from Jonathan Edwards, and the Edwards Crest is featured in the window.
A still life set that I created for a separate assignment in the dressing room off one of the bed rooms. The photo in the frame is of the then current owner of the house during his military service in World War II.
Scuffletuffle
Beautiful houses, lovely photos. The still life is especially evocative…
Laura Too
Wow, I love all of them, but that wall paper in the last is the best!! Thanks!
AM in NC
Thank you!
Wag
The lead in the windows , especially the last window, are beautiful.
randy khan
Lovely.
Anyway
Nice!
JanieM
How do you make a whole set of pictures whisper about silence?
The wormwood story is funny, but I bet the result was beautiful. Nice place to curl up with a book, maybe?
The still life and the stained glass picture invite some study. The way the light and shadow fall; the layers in the stained glass one, and where the focus lands; and the mysterious object hanging from the light fixture — fascinating pictures.
Kattails
Ah yes the twenties, when they thought the money would last forever. Gorgeous shots, very evocative, love the wallpaper in the last one.
There’s an Avenue in Orange, NJ, that is lined with similar Tudor revival houses; when I was very young they still maintained the old gas street lights. I was in one once. The stairwell was about ten feet wide with a turn, landing, stained glass, the library had coffered oak paneling. I am spoiled for architecture.
UncleEbeneezer
Wow, I had no idea that Art Center used to be down there. My wife worked at Art Center in Pasadena in the 90’s. Hancock Park has so many great, old houses.
stinger
Beautiful architecture, beautifully shot.
J R in WV
That bathroom is very nice, perfect for the time. There is a hotel in Tucson, their modern wings are modern, but their original wings have bathrooms exactly like this picture. Along with Kiva-style fireplaces and dark wood shutters, thick adobe walls, as silent as a closed bank vault.
Great photo set. I have a 4×5 camera, I don’t use it any more, but it has seen a log of light through that big lens.
Misterpuff