If you haven’t been to Madison, Wisconsin, you should go. Make sure you go in the warmer months as things tend to get a bit cold up there in the winter, but on any given Spring or Summer day you will find the city filled with bicyclists and pedestrians, walking and riding the greenways, enjoying the two (big!) lakes that sidle up on either side of the downtown, and living in the great urban environment that Madison has become.

There are so many things to like a about Madison that it is hard to choose what to do if you only have a long weekend to be there. The essential list for someone interested in experiencing some great urban life would probably include:

1. Staying in one of the downtown neighborhoods. The city is built on an isthmus between lake Monona and lake Mendota and that’s where all the best urban action happens. The terrain is flat which allowed the planners to smack down a grid which makes for some great traditional neighborhoods.

2. Renting a bicycle and using that as transportation. It won’t take you long to figure out that about half of the town does the same thing, every day. Make sure to ride over to the Capitol Building on a Saturday morning during the spring and buy some fresh local produce from one of the Nation’s largest farmer’s markets. Also, don’t miss the beautiful, bike-friendly greenways down by the lakes.

3. After the Farmer’s Market, take a tour of the Wisconsin Capitol Building, a beautifully designed building that will have you walking around with your camera glued to your eye. You see a couple pictures of it here, but exploring the building is half the fun. This is one of the few examples of a great public building that you can still enjoy without getting searched as you enter and without feeling like you are limited to only a few interior vantage points. So much of the building is open to explore…don’t miss the viewing patio at the top.

4. For Frank Lloyd Wright fans there are plenty of his works nearby, including the Unitarian Meeting House directly in Madison.

5. Last, but not least, the Terrace at the University of Wisconsin offers a taste of the European square right in the heart of America. Take an afternoon to slow down a bit, grab a beer from the Student Center, play cards, wax philosophical and watch the sailboats float by on Lake Mendota. You won’t regret it.

We love this place…. and if you love homes, planning, architecture (particularly English Tudor), gardens, and trees you must put this place on your bucket list.  Forest Hills Gardens was developed by the Russell Sage Foundation in 1909 and largely completed by 1940.  The Architect was the brilliant Grosvenor Atterbury and the Landscape Architect renowned Fredrick Law Olmstead.   We have never seen a development that has such a wide array of residential offerings, from single family homes, garden homes and carriage houses to apartments and duplex homes.  In addition to the wonderful homes, there are several outstanding church buildings, a train station, parks, and a marvelous commercial center.  The design ideas found at Forest Hills are endless.  This community will be loved forever and for that reason it is truly a “green development”. No modern “cutting edge” development will ever improve on the timeless beauty and rightness found in Forest Hills Gardens.

For additional reading on this development get a copy of The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury and/or Tudor Style. Either book is a great addition to the library.

Just returned from Asheville, NC where I was attending to my father who is recovering from surgery, and yes, even in a serious time like that, I could not resist the urge to take a quick drive through a few downtown neighborhoods. I came away refreshed and inspired by Asheville’s rich architectural tradition and with plans to spend more time there in the near future.

It is very hard finding communities in the US that have their own local style of architecture.  But in Asheville you can find the same architectural theme on homes and commercial buildings: pebble-dash stucco walls, half-timbering, cedar shake accents, broad overhanging eaves with dove-tail rafters, timbered brackets supporting deep gable ends, and warm earth-tone colors resting on split-face granite foundations.  The best term I have found for this style comes from The Architectural Pattern Book by Urban Design Associates: “Biltmore Mountain Shingle” (p. 184).

Above are some prominent examples of this style. They are (top to bottom) the Southern wing of the Manor Inn and Cottages on Charlotte Street, a cottage once associated with the Manor Inn, and the new Grand Bohemian Hotel in Biltmore Village. Next time you are in town be sure to go by both locations. They are great examples of Asheville’s living tradition of a timeless local architectural style that is making Asheville one of our Nation’s most loveable places.

Serenity

A perfect garden, no matter what its size, should enclose nothing less than the entire universe.  -Barragan

Can you find the garage?

Can you see it now?

Hidden Garage Entry

This home was built in the mid-1930s and is one of our all-time favorite garage designs.  If it were raised up to ground level, this three car garage would be the first thing seen in the approach to the house.  But, due to the ingenious design, it fades out of view.  We are fascinated by the architect’s decision to design it as a subterranean structure.  It is lovely on the back side and completely disappears from the front entry side.  This design solution would be perfect for a downhill building lot.

traditions

We love looking through traditional designs of other architects past and present to glean ideas and gain inspiration.  So we thought it would be a neat idea to put a bunch of our plans together into a book, gathering them into a central place for easy perusal.  We hope it inspires others in the design of traditional residential architecture.  Get your copy here.

Jonathan Miller Architects is on Houzz.  Check us out.

Lovable Place No. 2

Simply put… Home.  What is there not to love about white clinker brick, steel windows, slate roof, old towering oak trees and whistling radiators, all filled with children laughing and lots of love.  Living in a “lovable old home” there is much I gripe about, but in the end my affection for it always wins out.

The home is a simple arts-and-crafts inspired English Tudor built by a father-son/builder-architect team in 1927.  The concept is classic Tudor: side facing gable ends with a single dominant front facing gable, and of course, the well proportioned entry turret.  It is on an up-hill site,  has a wonderful walled courtyard in the back to retain the terrain above.   Some fascinating details include the use of teak wood for the interior paneling and trim, no interior wood casings on the windows, self-supporting precast concrete spiral stairs, and no exposed exterior wood – truly a low maintenance home.

The architect (the son) Edwin Peckinpaugh was 24 years old when he designed the home, a recent graduate of Penn University.  He went on to design some of our city’s great homes before moving to Sacramento, CA in the 1940’s – he was a real talent.   You can read more about Edwin at the now Stafford King and Wiese Architects.

Lovable Place No. 1

Sustainable buildings must be Lovable, Durable, Flexible, and Frugal.  ”The first of the four foundations of sustainable buildings is Lovability, because it does not matter how efficiently the building performs if it is demolished and carted off to the landfill in a generation or two because it cannot be loved. ”  - Steve Mouzon

Thank you Steve for your profound observations.  I was so inspired after listening to Steve’s interview on Treehugger that I wanted to dedicate a series of blogs to Loveable Places that are often old, inspiring, restful, natural, and places I love to spend time.  Odds are these places will long outlast most of our LEED certified buildings of today.

This first lovable place is a Georgian Cottage that I am blessed to stay at while traveling.  The photo says it all, no fuss just a perfect proportion, with proper scale, material, and detail.  Placed perfectly at the end of a terraced garden on the edge of the wood.  I will write more about it’s mother estate and Architect in subsequent blogs.

Jonesborough is Tennessee’s oldest city.  For those traditional-minded among us, it also contains some great buildings that have sprung up in the years since its founding.  Give it a visit if you haven’t already, it’s worth the pleasant walk down Main Street.