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The Gamble House, is a unit of the University
of Southern California School of Architecture. Its relationship
was established in 1966 as part of a joint gift agreement
between the heirs of Cecil and Louise Gamble, the City
of Pasadena, and USC. The agreement provides for public
access and preservation of the David B. Gamble House,
a landmark of the American Arts and Crafts movement
located in Pasadena, California. Designed and built
in 1907-1909, The Gamble House, USC is an internationally
acknowledged masterwork by architects Charles Sumner
and Henry Mather Greene. It is the only extant work
by Greene & Greene to retain all of its original,
Greene & Greene designed furnishings. The City of
Pasadena holds title to the house and furnishings included
in the 1966 gift, while USC controls all subsequent
gifts and grants; staffs and administers the facility
and its public programs; directs educational outreach;
and coordinates preservation and conservation efforts.
The Gamble House, USC is staffed with
six full-time employees including a director, a public
relations manager, a finance/administrative manager,
a bookstore manager, a program assistant, housekeeper,
and three part-time employees including an assistant
bookstore manager, and sales associate. A part-time
archivist manages the Greene & Greene Archives,
USC at the Huntington Library. The Gamble House, USC
and its collections are regularly available for public
viewing with the help of 160 volunteer docents.
The mission of The Gamble House, USC is
to promote public awareness of, and appreciation for,
the architecture of Greene & Greene, primarily through
the example of The Gamble House, USC, its collections,
and its various programs and educational resources.
The Gamble House, USC maintains a website that currently
receives 55,000 visits per month.
Greene & Greene furniture represents
exemplary Arts and Crafts Movement principles both in
its design and craftsmanship. Only a few Greene &
Greene commissions included furniture design, and only
the finest of their homes included decorative art pieces
for specific rooms. As a result, these pieces are exceedingly
rare and difficult to study with any kind of contextual
reference. This makes the pieces at The Gamble House,
USC of special importance to scholars of the Art and
Crafts movement.
The decorative arts collection at The
Gamble House, USC consisted initially of furnishings
given with the house by the Gamble family in 1966. Subsequent
gifts of Greene & Greene objects and decorative
arts from the Arts and Crafts period have significantly
increased the size of the collection and help to better
interpret and contextualize the work of Greene &
Greene. Most of the collection’s decorative arts
are housed at The Gamble House, USC and in the Greene
& Greene exhibition gallery within the Virginia
Steele Scott Gallery at The Huntington Library in San
Marino, California.
The Gamble House
4 Westmoreland Place
Pasadena, CA 91103
626-793-3334
http://www.gamblehouse.org/
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