Roadway entrance gates, Brookmere Homeowners
Association
Pasadena, California, 1996
20' (6.1m) wide x 6'6" (2m) high,
The Brookmere Gates
Designed and fabricated by Eric Peltzer in the Arroyo Craftsman style.
This style was best represented by the work of Pasadena architects
Charles and Henry Green, whose "super bungalows" such as the Gamble House remain California
landmarks of architecture, style and craftsmanship. The Greens were
interested in total design; for many of their more lavish homes, they
designed furniture, carpeting, windows, switchplates--virtually every
visible object in the house.
One of their signature design elements is the use of shaped and carved heavy wood exposed beams. The joinery they employed has been compared to that used by wooden shipwrights. The famous "cloud lift" motif was often used, which is the stairstep carving profile. The challenge in adapting this to a steel gate is that it's much more difficult to "carve" steel! The shaping was achieved by taking a large rectangular steel tube, cutting the profile with a plasma cutter, and painstaking welding up the exposed side with a very long stairstep cap of steel, and finally grinding down and rounding all these long welds for a seamless effect. Further, variations in the thickness of different gate elements were achieved by using various sizes of steel tubing.
Each gate leaf weighs about 350 pounds. The gates are twenty feet wide and are opened by hydraulic arms. An entrance call box and an exit keypad station were also created in the same style.
Also, a shingle-style hanging sign was created. The lettering is modeled after the hand-lettered style used by the Greens in their original building plans. The characters were plasma-cut through stainless steel plates. (One on each side of the shingle.)
This project was largely brought about by the efforts of Brookmere
residents Gretchen and Henry Reed, whose property adjoins the gates.
Also instrumental was Ron Lee, a fan of Craftsman design and talented wookworker, who
commissioned the sign and guided the project in its later stages. Ron
also created the gatepost lamps.