Last weekend I traveled to Pasadena, California for Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Weekend. It’s an exhilarating experience that every Arts and Crafts era fan should experience. Pasadena is home to many, exceptional, well-maintained examples of Arts and Crafts homes including works from noted architects Sylvanus Marston; Frederick Louis Roehrig; and Charles and Henry Greene. Compelling Arts and Crafts exhibits were on display at the Huntington Library, Pasadena Museum of History, and the Pasadena Museum of Contemporary Art. And of course there was lots of furniture, both contemporary and original, available at the Masonic Temple Marketplace. Now, here are a few of things that I learned on my Pasadena pilgrimage.

• The Greene brothers often specified Stickley furniture for their homes–the spec sheet for the Gamble house lists specific model numbers for the boy’s room, and Stickley furniture was also featured in Mr. Gamble’s study, and the upstairs guest room; as well as other Greene and Greene homes.

• While the Greene brothers are well known for their beautifully designed, and flawlessly executed, mahogany furniture, on occasion they built in other materials such as metal. The Gamble house guest room features a pair of hospital style beds made of nickel-plated brass. In fact, until I notice the subtle vertical cloud lifts I thought I was looking at ordinary metal hospital beds!

• On the surface, the Sylvanus Marston designed Lacey house is an excellent example of the Arts and Crafts tenant of integrating local materials, such as stones from the Arroyo Seco River, into designs. It was also a pragmatic, bottom line consideration, since back in the day, anyone could go down to the river and harvest Arroyo stones for free.

• Charles and Henry’s Greene utilized kitchen cabinet doors that slid on tracks (instead of opening out) and scarf joints to make their homes less susceptible to earthquake damage.