Robert Tolmie House and Studio Piedmont, California 1923 Charles lived in Berkeley while designing a live-in music studio in the Oakland hills for his friend, a pianist, Robert Tolmie. Covered in irregular brown shingles, the design includes a large open main space in which Charles worked diligently to achieve proper acoustics. The balustrade is ornamented with redwood panels carved with figures of musicians and the plaster walls are decorated with impressions made from wood blocks carved by Charles.