Dumblane, in the historic Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington D.C., is one of Stickley’s many American Craftsman style homes. This house is named after Dumblane Manor, a Federal style manor across the street. The area was later converted into an all-girl Catholic school under the name Immaculata Seminary. Dumblane is clearly inspired by the popular Arts and Crafts Movement, here, showcasing the talent of American craft builders in the sturdiness of the building.

Gladstone Houses, in Shasta County, CA, are a prime example of classic American Craftsman Architecture. Whether or not Stickley actually played a role in the building of these houses is of debate, but I thought it was still a good example to include because, if not Stickley’s work, it is very derivative if his style. It is also such a good practical example of the style that I found it necessary to include.

The Gladstone Houses were built for the accompanying Gladstone Mine community by the owner of the mine in 1909. There were two different styles of home, an Upper House and later-built Lower Mansion. I could only find pictures of the Upper House, but the Lower Mansion was described as having an L-Shaped floor plan with a triple-intersecting hipped roof, which had a gentler slope than the steep hipped roof of the Upper House.

I joined the Scottish Rite at this Temple around this time last year. In fact, the anniversary of my degrees is some point this month. This historic building is from the Great Depression era, and it is a beautiful building, in my opinion. It is a mixture of a bunch of different architecture styles, but the inside is mostly Egyptian-revival. I also am on a degree team, where we go on stage and recite our lines in front of a class of candidates, and our degree we put on is the 12th degree, called Master Architect. After a Mason receives this degree, they certainly won’t be a Master Architect in terms of knowing the in-depth mathematics and engineering that goes into building something, but it is a thorough ceremony teaching some tools that ancient architects would have used (namely the compasses, parallel ruler, protractor, plain scale, sector, and slide-rule), as well as physical representations of the different style of columns are present on the stage during the degree. Of course, we don’t teach candidates the practical applications of these things, we instead teach symbolic meanings. The degree also touches on the nature of God as the architect of the universe, showing the perfection of His active nature.

I’m a member of Pi Kappa Phi Alpha Gamma chapter here at OU, and this is our new house. When I first joined, as a Freshman, we had a different house in South Greek. This new house we got last year was a huge improvement. I love the columns out front. I lived inside this house for a year, and it was such a good experience (but costly), and I learned quite bit about living in this kind of building, and how communal buildings like these are laid out. It is quite different from just a normal family house, because of the large amount of people that live there and share the facilities. This house has three stories, and a basement, making it the largest building I have ever lived in to date.

I am including my Masonic Lodge as a place that has had a large positive impact on me, from an architectural viewpoint. The Lodge is where I first learned about the five orders of architecture, and the act of building is something very important to Freemasonry. I once read somebody describe it this way: a Freemason is to a stonemason (and architect), as an alchemist is to a chemist, or an astrologer to an astronomer. So as a Freemason myself, I learn about ancient architectural tools and how to symbolically apply them to my life in order to become a better person. While this is quite removed from actual practical architecture, and while I couldn’t possibly be an architect just based on the information I learned at Lodge, it is quite important to me and it has greatly impacted my view of architecture in general.

Masonic Lodges are all laid out according to a symbolically-significant architecture. The cardinal directions are important with relation to the different officer seats and places. Where a candidates moves within the Lodge during his initiation rituals is also symbolically significant. Learning all of this has taught me a lot about symbolic architecture, and I will never view a Masonic Lodge or any symbolically-built building the same after learning about this.

In Summer 2019, my family and I went on a big trip to LA for my cousin’s wedding. While we were there, of course, we took full use of the more pleasurable parts of the city, and less of the busy wedding stuff. While we were there, we went to Disneyland in Anaheim, and this was a nearby bar located on Disney’s campus.

I really enjoy tiki bars, tiki culture, and tiki drinks, and this is the place to be in Anaheim if you like that kind of stuff. I have always been interested in tiki, especially since I came to OU and have been old enough to enjoy the beverages myself. I have been keeping a small home bar, and prior to my visit I had been leaning into the tiki drinks, but Trader Sam’s was the first legitimate tiki bar I had been into, and it really solidified my experience with tiki. Some day, I want to open up my own tiki bar just like Trader Sam’s.