“This is the last piece in our collection,” the film-director owner remembers thinking when the family first toured the house. For years they had been collecting Monterey, Stickley, and Arts & Crafts furniture; American pottery and Grueby tiles; and native art including Navajo rugs. The aging bungalow, built during the 1910s, was designed by famed architect Myron Hunt. The client was the Midwest industrialist Edward Drummond Libbey (Libbey Glass Co.), who used the place as a hunting lodge. Built of redwood, with board-and-batten construction inside and out, it boasts a front door and beams embellished with Chumash Indian motifs, a massive stone fireplace, and many original fixtures.
The room once known as Mrs. Libbey’s suite is now the master suite. With approval from the Ojai Historical Commission, the owners reconfigured the space, adding about 500 square feet to accommodate this bathroom, which was built with period amenities.
William Wright
1. THAT BATHTUB
The bathroom offers one of the best views from the house, especially for someone soaking in the re-enameled tub—discovered in the backyard, being used as a horse trough.
2. UNFITTED ANTIQUES
The capacious room has the feeling of bedroom converted to a bathroom in the prewar era. Vintage bits of furniture contribute to the layered, evolved sensibility.
William Wright
3. AIRY CONSOLE SINK
With slim legs, exposed plumbing, and a streamlined marble top, the double sink seems to float in the room, allowing full view of the floor and wall.
4. PERIOD HEX TILE
The hexagonal mosaic tile with grey grout is both practical and evocative of the period; it’s softened and enhanced with a green border and an Arts & Crafts rug.
Be Inspired…
This simple sconce with a clamshell glass shade is a classic design of the times. Rejuvenation’s ‘Foster’ bathroom sconce is shown in polished nickel with
a 4″ opal shade. rejuvenation.com
<p>18” ‘Rebekah Vase’. </p>
Bauer Pottery was resurrected in 1998 to reproduce Bauer’s California designs of the 1920s–1950s. The 18” ‘Rebekah Vase’ (also in 12″ and 22″ heights) is shown in Parrot Green. Vase #213, designed by Fred Johnson in 1934, is shown in Aqua; it’s 8″ tall. bauerpottery.com
Bushere & Son Iron Studio handcrafts hardware, lighting, and tile and iron products. Reminiscent of work from the late 1920s, the Spanish Revival end table is made of wrought iron with contemporary California tiles by RTK Studios; 29″ tall and 19 ” square. bushereandson.com
Reminiscent of both Southwest indigenous work and the leaded-glass designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, Stickley’s ‘Prairie Sand’ rug is of Himalayan wool, hand-woven in Nepal; available in multiple sizes and as a runner. stickley.com
