Red Stick Modern

Exploring Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Baton Rouge. You can contact us at modernredstick at the gmail.

1642 Sherwood Forest Blvd, Sherwood Forest September 21, 2007

Filed under: Architecture, Baton Rouge, International Style, Louisiana, MCM, Mid-Century Modern, Modern Architecture, Ranch Houses, Recent Past, Residential, Sherwood Forest — Red Stick Modern @ 5:50 am

1642 Sherwood Forest Blvd a, originally uploaded by RedStickModern.

So, I’m not sure what happened here. This home is located across the street from 1645 Sherwood, the previous entry. Both homes are at the entrance to the Sherwood Forest Country Club, but there are no other houses quite this modern in the vicinity. The rest look like very late 60s to 80s, so it leads me to think that these homes belonged to people associated with the club-especially since this was still very much the country in the 50s/60s.

The entrance to the Sherwood Forest Country Club is located near the corner of Sherwood Forest and Old Hammond Highway. The Country Club building itself is right out of the late 50s, early 60s–the course itself has existed since the early 50s, but I suspect the main building is later. Unfortunately, with country clubs being PRIVATE and all, the folks that go there on a Saturday morning are very suspicious of someone, no matter how non-threatening, taking photographs. I have a few photos, but none that are spectacular that could also be taken from the sidewalks, so I haven’t bothered to post them.

 

1645 Sherwood Forest Blvd, Sherwood Forest September 17, 2007

Filed under: Architecture, Baton Rouge, International Style, Louisiana, MCM, Mid-Century Modern, Recent Past, Residential, Sherwood Forest — Red Stick Modern @ 7:49 pm

1645 Sherwood Forest Blvd a, originally uploaded by RedStickModern.

Normally, I wouldn’t show the carport as the main view of a home. This home, however, is all carport and concrete screening block, the kind made famous by Edward Durell Stone.

This home is situated at the corner of Sherwood Forest Blvd and the entrance to the Sherwood Forest Country Club. The small gate into a courtyard just off of the triple-arched carport is the main entrance to the property, facing towards the Country Club road. The side of the building facing Sherwood Forest, a busy boulevard, is entirely sheathed in a squared-off cloverleaf pattern that shades glass curtain walls.

Follow the photo link for more pictures.

 

11466 Robin Hood, Sherwood Forest June 30, 2007

Filed under: Architecture, Atomic Ranch, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, MCM, Mid-Century Modern, Ranch Houses, Recent Past, Residential, Sherwood Forest — Red Stick Modern @ 1:14 pm

11466 Robin Hood d, originally uploaded by RedStickModern.

This house was featured in a previous entry, but I thought it deserved an entry of its own. This front-gable ranch with massive clerestory windows commands a corner lot in Sherwood Forest.

Here’s what I’m picturing: tiki torches lining the edges of the property, Bob and Carol bbq-ing on the front lawn, lots of giddy laughter and enough Mai Tais to drown Don Ho. Can you dig it?

 

Growing Up in a Ranch House, Part 3 June 19, 2007

Filed under: Architecture, Baton Rouge, Broadmoor, Louisiana, Ranch Houses, Recent Past, Residential, Sherwood Forest — Red Stick Modern @ 7:11 am

Architect Edward Durell Stone’s masonry screen block became widely used after it was introduced in 1956, first as a shade for the glass curtain walls that are prevalent in Modern architecture, and then for smaller residential projects. The perforated cast concrete blocks, usually a foot square and 4 to 6 inches thick, can commonly be seen on ranch houses, forming one wall of a carport or a portion of fence. Builders nationwide aggressively adopted the use of these blocks, since they were cheap to manufacture and offered an eye-catching decorative touch.

A more interesting version of the ranch house may include a gable roof with the end facing the street, clerestory windows located directly under the fascia, small windows high on the walls of the bedrooms, and a wide, vertical chimney often built into the façade. Arrangements of elements usually placed an emphasis on vertical members piercing the horizontals, such as the broad chimney intersecting the sprawling building silhouette. Any of these elements may appear on a ranch house, some houses feature a few, others have many. You may see a house with a front gable roof and a band of clerestory windows, but lacking a picture or corner window. The more elements present, and the more melodic their arrangement, the higher the style of the ranch house. Even without high design, though, a ranch house is recognizable as a ranch house.
Sherwood Forest Front-Facing Gable Ranch with Clerestory Windows

Photograph by Pat Duncan