The Gamble House [photo credit: Visit Pasadena]
The family withdrew the house from the market. Instead, they deeded it to the City of Pasadena and the University of Southern California, with a provision, according to then-Mayor Terry Tornek, that they would rather see it demolished than allowed to fall into disrepair.
That did not happen. Today the Gamble House at 4 Westmoreland Place stands as it did in 1909, when architects Charles and Henry Greene completed it as a winter retreat for David and Mary Gamble of the Procter & Gamble Company. Every piece of furniture the Greenes designed for the house is still there. The stained glass they conceived for the entryway and stairwell still catches the light. The sleeping porches still open off the second-floor bedrooms, angled toward the Arroyo.
According to the Gamble House Conservancy, which operates the site for the City of Pasadena, the house is considered the most complete and original example of the Greenes’ work the only extant Greene & Greene property to retain all of its original architects’ furnishings. It was designated a California Historical Landmark (No. 871), listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and named a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
The Greenes drew their design from everywhere and nowhere obvious. Charles and Henry had encountered Japanese architecture at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair on their way from Ohio to Pasadena, where they eventually settled and established their firm, Greene & Greene. By the time they designed the Gamble House, that encounter had filtered through into every surface the overhanging eaves, the scarf joints, the ginkgo and dogwood motifs in the stained glass, the sense that every material had been considered rather than merely applied. While the house was still under construction, David and Mary Gamble traveled to Japan, China, and Korea; the metalworks and embroideries they brought home are still in the house today.
The Gamble family used the house as a winter retreat every year until their deaths. The house remained in family use until 1966. It sits on what was once Pasadena’s “Millionaire’s Row” along Orange Grove Avenue, a stretch where wealthy Midwestern and Eastern families built grand winter estates at the turn of the last century. Arroyo Terrace, one block away, is lined with other homes the Greenes designed during the same period.
Those who have not been inside may know the exterior from elsewhere. The Gamble House’s carriage house and front facade appeared as the fictional home and workshop of Doc Brown in the 1985 film Back to the Future. The interiors were recreated on a soundstage the furnishings and finishes inside were considered too fragile for film production.
The house is open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Docent-guided one-hour tours explore the interior through rooms lined with rare woods and original furnishings. A separate Gardens & Gables tour covers the exterior and grounds. For visitors who want more access, the “Behind the Velvet Ropes” tour runs two and a half hours, flashlights provided, into spaces not seen on the standard tour. Monthly Crafting Meet-Ups are held on the lawn under the big oak tree the first Saturday of each month, May through September.
Advance ticket purchase is recommended, as tours frequently sell out. The bookstore in the original carriage house is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on touring days and carries books on Greene & Greene, the Arts & Crafts movement, and Pasadena history. For information and tickets: (626) 793-3334 or gamblehouse.org.
“When the Gamble family donated it to the city, part of the agreement that was signed stipulated that they would rather have the house demolished than allow it to fall into a state of disrepair, which at the time was a real concern.”
— then-Mayor Terry Tornek, 2020
It did not fall into disrepair. It was, instead, preserved — by the family’s choice, by the city’s stewardship, by the generations of Pasadena residents and visitors who have walked through its front door and stood in the 38-foot entrance hall while the light through the stained glass moved across the teak.
The Gamble House Venue: 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, CA 91103 Cost: Tour tickets vary; check website Link: https://www.visitpasadena.com/directory/the-gamble-house/
