Living the Craftsman Lifestyle

The Craftsman style of architecture grew out of a social philosophy known as the Arts and Crafts Movement that began in England in the 1830’s. When the young British architect, Augustus Pugin, railed against the subversion of skilled labor in favor of the mass production dynamic that was defining the Industrial Revolution, artists, craftsmen and intellectuals rebelled against this powerful trend. Like the “Green Construction” of current architectural design, the craftsman was a social reaction to environmental conditions. The result was a unique architectural style based upon a growing appreciation for things that were made without mass-production. In 1840, John Ruskin, an art history professor at Oxford University, began his campaign to return England to a simpler way of life that called for the elimination of machine-made decoration in favor of clean design free of foreign influence. The English having borrowed heavily from the French in order to furnish the elaborate Victorian lifestyle, turned to the revival of English Gothic and Medieval styles. It was Ruskin’s championing of “man is his work” that so moved William Morris, a student of theology, to abandon his pursuit of the ministry to dedicate his life to the reformation of society through art. In 1859, together with fellow architect, Philip Webb, Morris built Red House using custom

crafted furniture, wallpaper, tiles and accessories specifically designed to “fit” the home. In 1861, the Arts and Crafts Movement celebrated acceptance as a design genre with the founding of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., a furniture, design and decorative accessories company that stressed time-honored craftsmanship and natural materials. The fortuitous timing of the London International Exhibition of 1862 showcasing never-before-seen Japanese arts and crafts had profound effect on English perception of the importance of form and function. The compatibility the Arts and Crafts Movement and Japanese design and social attitudes enamoured the English consciousness. In 1868, Charles Lock Eastlake published , Hints of Household Taste, a bestseller that stressed a single design style based on simplicity. This social conscience spread throughout Europe known as Art Nouveau in France and Belgium, Jugendstil in Germany and Succession in Austria. It was in 1876, when United State hosted the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia that America was introduced to the architectural philosophy of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

 

The United States, having adopted its architectural and aesthetic blueprint from Europe, had less design and artisan history upon which to draw. However, the Shaker heritage of simplicity of design in service to simplicity of thought fueled the explosive reception of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America. Shortly thereafter, the Spanish missionary style would lend its influence, particularly in the architectural anomaly of the California bungalow and the use of stucco as exterior surfacing. It was in America that the name “Craftsman” was coined in an 1900’s publication by furniture maker Gustav Stickley called, “The Craftsman” which featured original house and furniture designs by Harvey Ellis and the Greene brothers.

 

Many of the design characteristics of the Craftsman represent a departure from the Victorian lifestyle and conventions. Middle-class woman of the turn of the 19th century commonly did not have live-in domestic servants and would do most if not all of the housework herself while watching the children. These added roles made it important that the kitchen be integrated into the main house with easy sight lines to the common areas on the main floor. Another kitchen accommodation of craftsman origin is the built-in breakfast nook, making the kitchen more conducive to family use. The butler’s pantry of the Victorian Era was replaced with dining room cabinetry that often consisted of “built-ins”, which incorporated wood and glass elements into the public spaces of the house. These built-in elements of craftsman design expanded into the bedroom as built-in closet space replaced free standing wardrobes and dressing rooms. Structural elements of architecture came out from behind walls as open-beamed ceilings exposed areas of the second floor in the form of loft living space and rising roof pitch added volume to less impeded open interior space.