My Week in Photos

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” - Annie Dillard

I just love that quote by writer Annie Dillard! A good part of my time is spent running and taking photos and then sharing what I see. This is my architecture week in photos taken in Eagle Rock, Pasadena and South Pasadena.

On Sunday’s run in South Pasadena, a commercial building on El Centro caught my eye for its use of breeze block and the entryway sited on the left of the property.

There was a short stroll in Eagle Rock on Tuesday along Escarpa Drive, a loop off Campus Road across from Occidental College. I had been here last August when the skies were eerily smoky due to wildfires off the Angeles Highway. The hope was that I might retake some photos in better lighting. And, indeed, conditions were better on this cloudy day. Three of the images below are views of a trio of neo-craftsmans by Oakley Norton. Another is a look downhill of an interesting mid-century.

While on Escarpa, I recalled an Eagle Rock residence that I had “bookmarked” as one I would like to visit one day. A Google search of Eagle Rock and the architect’s name yielded an address on Hill Drive only a couple miles away, adjacent to the 134 freeway. Below, a couple photos of the Norman Bilderback House built in 1953. The architect Eugene Weston III designed many homes nearby in Pasadena, but only one in Eagle Rock. It was a treat to be able to view it from the street.

While in the neighborhood, I took the opportunity to walk along a couple of the adjacent streets close to the Bilderback House and was rewarded with a view of another mid-century post and beam - the Norcross House built in 1960 by architect Bruce Warren Norcross for his personal residence. There’s a nice article in Dwell magazine.

Finally, closer to home on a run along Green Street in Pasadena, the morning light was just right on a mid-century office building that stands out architecturally amongst the other commercial buildings nearby.