Pratique du Shadowing: Architects Living in a Rare Jo Paul Rognstad Mid-Century Home in Claremont, California | House Tour - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec YouTube

The house is very private and is very off-putting from the street and very small from the street.

⏸ En pause

Vitesse :

252 phrases

Si les phrases sont trop courtes ou trop longues, cliquez sur Edit pour les ajuster.

The house is very private and is very off-putting from the street and very small from the street.

When you're walking up there's only one set of windows you see.

The porch is really low.

It's compressive.

And when you step in it gives you the impression of stepping into another world world.

To walk into the house is to walk into the whole home.

It's to step in and see the living room and the kitchen and past the foyer into the backyard,

both levels of the backyard, in the back house.

It's almost like that door becomes not an entrance to a building but a gateway to another place or Eden,

shall we say.

It's our Eden, definitely.

I'm Mark Schumann.

We're here in Claremont, California at our home,

my wife and mine's home, originally the Grant residence.

The house was built in 1952 for Mr. and Mrs. Grant.

The architect was Joe Paul Rangenstead.

He came out of USC and we believe he was a student of Jim Grant's.

Sometime in the late 50s,

early 60s, he relocated to practice in Hawaii,

where he actually is a relatively prominent architect,

especially in the modernist movement.

I had the good fortune to actually talk to Joe sometime in the late 90s,

maybe early aughts, not too long after we had moved into the house because I was looking for the plans.

I wanted to see if he still had the original plans.

And what he had mentioned,

it was kind of fun because I told him the house,

I told him who it was for,

and he had to search his memory and he even said something like,

oh my gosh, that's like one of my first homes and they were the best clients.

They basically let me do whatever I want.

And trust me, as an architect,

they are the best clients.

We moved into the house summer of 98.

It was never on the market.

Our realtor had heard that the city attorney,

Win Firth, was moving to Palo Alto.

And so she just called,

hey, will you be selling your house?

They had not even thought about it.

My pushy or our pushy realtor kind of said,

well, I've got this person who would be perfect for it and got me in the door that day.

And I'll be honest, I walked in the door and I couldn't believe it.

And you kind of asked,

well, what would make it,

why did we think this was special or what would make it seem like it was the house?

I mean, you step in the door and it just is beautiful.

I mean, it's a piece of architecture.

It's more than just a house.

Laurel and I had just designed a house for us to build here in Claremont,

in Earth Claremont.

And it wasn't working out because of some costs and a few other issues from where we were living and we decided,

well, let's just, let's just find it,

let's see what is available.

To walk into this house was like,

I'll be honest, I said the worst thing you can say to my realtor,

I don't care what it costs or how long it takes,

I've got to own this house.

And it turns out the only caveat we had,

you know, restriction to the purchase is that my wife had to see the house and agree to it.

So I actually offered money on a house without my wife seeing it,

which is a funny story because her mother did the same thing.

I'm happy to say that my wife was very happy with the choices that,

no, she loves this place.

One of the things that Wyn told me,

and I think maybe told us,

was one of the reasons she was selling it to us was because she knew we would take care of it.

And I mean, that just showed that they had that same appreciation and love for the architecture,

for the space.

I had gone before the city council a number of times to fight developers,

and that's how she knew me.

I walked in the door and she goes,

you're that impassioned architect and you know keep up the good fight.

You know she she was interested in the things that were interested in you know living spaces,

homes, not houses.

You know it's not an investment it's where you raise your children.

They don't have to be mutually exclusive but I think when you approach a structure as being an investment,

as just a house, then it doesn't matter what it looks like.

It doesn't matter its history.

One of the things we learned about was the importance of history of place.

One of the things that I've always enjoyed or liked about what I do as an architect is creating memories,

creating history, and this place has it.

Now is it ancient?

Is it Baroque?

Is it craftsmen?

No, but it is very specific to mid-century California living.

And I don't even mean in a time capsule.

I mean, everything that that brought forth still exists in this structure.

And I don't see why we would want to change it.

Or what would be better, frankly?

I'm Laurel Tucker and I have lived in this house with my husband Mark Schumann and family

for 27 and a half years.

I know that the Grants worked closely with Mr. Roggenstead in the design.

The studio in back was built for Mr. Grant's

and there used to be hooks in the beams out there and we imagined that he hung large canvases from them.

It was fun to find that.

Mr. Grant did a lot of the stonework in the yard around the house, the retaining walls.

I know that they came from Pasadena and they didn't live in this house very long and then they moved up north.

This was not a family home for them,

it was just the two of them but they had children later

100

and Mark was actually in contact with the son at some point since we've been living here.

101

We had looked at a lot of houses and Mark came and saw the house before I did.

102

I was at work.

103

He called me while I was sitting at my desk and he said,

104

this is a great house.

105

It has a shoe closet and I said buy it

106

but then the first time I came in when Firth

107

and Don Brennis the owners at that time had a fire going in the fireplace

108

and I walked in the front door

109

and just went this feels like home it's just so comfortable and welcoming so you open that door and it just

110

welcomes you with open arms We had an amazing realtor who really got to know who we were,

111

and she found out that this house was going to be coming up for sale,

112

and she got us in the door before it ever hit the market.

113

And I have thanked her ever since for doing that for us.

114

I like to call it a case study house that's not really a case study house,

115

but it's so beautifully designed already.

116

And when our friends said,

117

what's your first project going to be?

118

We said, unpack our boxes because it's a perfect house.

119

And so when we added the primary suite,

120

we were very careful to try to keep it exactly in character with what we already had.

121

We had two big, beautiful pine trees.

122

The one close to the house was an Italian stone pine.

123

and the one closer to the studio was an Aleppo pine.

124

But I used to go out and look up at it and I would literally hug the tree and say,

125

don't ever fall because if you do,

126

it'll break my heart and it'll destroy a lot of things.

127

And then on January 21st,

128

2022, Friday night, the winds were picking up and it was pretty bad.

129

It got more and more windy.

130

There was no power and it was getting late.

131

So we went to bed and I was watching the branches on the big tree flailing around.

132

And then a branch dipped down and I thought that doesn't look right and then saw the trunk just go down.

133

And, you know, I said,

134

Mark, oh my God, it's going down.

135

So we jumped out of bed and ran outside and there was our tree lying across the garage.

136

The winds kept blowing and then I heard this huge crack.

137

I realized it was the other pine tree had gone down on the other side of the studio.

138

And then I kind of lost my mind.

139

It was like, okay, one tree, we'll deal with it.

140

But the other one was just really awful.

141

But we begin rebuilding, you know,

142

one foot in front of the other.

143

And, you know, the community was great.

144

People were around us and supporting us.

145

Further into it, we were thinking,

146

neither one of our kids lives at home anymore.

147

So do we really even need this for work anymore? right?

148

So we said, let's just,

149

you know, maybe set it up as a rental or something.

150

Then the city in the last year approved short-term rentals,

151

Airbnb, Vacquesa, that kind of thing.

152

We decided to try it.

153

It's been a real gift.

154

So we rebuilt it almost exactly as it was,

155

but modernized it, put in a kitchen.

156

It's turned out to be a wonderful thing.

157

When we bought the house,

158

we just liked the house.

159

We wanted the house.

160

We didn't realize that it would become kind of,

161

I feel like in some ways it's our civic duty,

162

but I feel like it's giving back.

163

And when you are fortunate enough to have something as wonderful as a house like this,

164

I don't know, I felt incumbent on us to share it,

165

try to help educate, you know,

166

some of the beauties of having a place like this and the connection to the outdoors.

167

I think it's civic duty, but there's also pride.

168

You know, not everybody gets to have something like this,

169

and I feel like we're sharing it.

170

And having the Airbnb, that's a big thing.

171

Now we have people coming in every week.

172

They tell us, oh my gosh,

173

this is such a great place.

174

And the yard is so beautiful.

175

Thank you, Mark Schumann, for the amazing landscaping in back.

176

But it's wonderful to share it because I think it brings joy to other people too.

177

When we added our primary suite, it felt really open.

178

The bedroom had initially just had one wall of glass looking in the backyard,

179

but when we pushed it out into the backyard,

180

it almost felt like we were sleeping outdoors.

181

And it was a little bit uncomfortable at first.

182

I've gotten used to it now.

183

And there's glass and you're part of nature and everything that's happening outside you experience when you're inside.

184

It's like living.

185

It's almost like camping.

186

sometimes and we're both pretty avid campers so it suits us.

187

So one of the aspects about this house is how well ventilated it is

188

and so during the summer months if you open these large doors that are to my right And in the afternoons,

189

when the sea reuses are coming from the west,

190

we get great follow through with these vents.

191

Likewise, there's vents behind the fireplace,

192

which also let a lot of air in.

193

That, in combination with some clear stories that open,

194

just allows the air to flow through.

195

In fact, what's nice about it is we can leave the house locked with these open,

196

so when we get home in the summer months,

197

it's not real stuffy in here.

198

It's spatially fabulous, right?

199

I mean, it feels good to the human scale.

200

The back wall of the living room is only like six foot six high,

201

which is really low.

202

But it doesn't feel compressive because it goes up to about 10 feet.

203

And it's glass.

204

There's glass all over the place.

205

So again, you don't really feel like you're in a house as much as you are very sheltered by these planes.

206

If you were talking about a style,

207

Laurel's dad talked about how when he first walked in,

208

he felt like he was in Japan again.

209

It reminded him of Japanese homes.

210

And when we would go to the Japanese pavilion at the Huntington,

211

we were taken aback by how similar our home was,

212

but even this style of home,

213

you know, movable walls, maybe whether they're glass or not.

214

We even have shoji screens from that standpoint,

215

but certain horizontalities and the house is built on a four foot by four and a half foot grid,

216

not quite the tatami size,

217

but, you know, still it's regular.

218

And by the way, that might be some another reason why my wife loves this place.

219

She loves a grid.

220

I'm not a grid architect, she's a grid architect.

221

The colors are all muted.

222

And in some ways it's front and center,

223

but it really does take a backdrop to the artwork,

224

the possessions that we have filled,

225

our story, and to the gardens.

226

The house exists here and it's beautiful,

227

don't get me wrong, I love it.

228

I love it.

229

When it was empty, it was amazing.

230

But it's not, there's no grandeur to it, but you're impressed.

231

It's a human-centric space, which is what we do.

232

That's our careers, is building space for humans.

233

And we get to live in a space like that every day.

234

I will also say that when we bought the house,

235

Laurel and I felt, oh,

236

we finally got a grown-up's house.

237

Interesting enough.

238

And I think the style has a lot to do with that.

239

It's a house that you want.

240

It just dies for a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

241

Great music playing with crowds of people

242

and maybe that's one of the reasons why we have parties

243

and invite people in and the tours is it just feels like a place

244

that was meant for that and 27 years 27 years later um

245

it still feels that way we're still so happy to be here and

246

and that's as much Claremont as well I mean it's a

247

quiet place it's a neat neighborhood you know we travel well

248

and never really lived there in a long time but you know

249

if I've got to spend time I'm really fortunate to be

250

able to spend time in a town like this in Southern California but specifically in islands like this.

251

Not a bad not a bad life.

252

you

TRENDING

Populaires

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.

☕ Offrez-nous un café

ShadowingEnglish reste 100% gratuit grâce à votre soutien. Les coûts des serveurs et de l'IA sont élevés — votre café nous aide à continuer ! 🙏

Faire un don via PayPal

ShadowingEnglish.com – Pratique du Shadowing en Anglais

Parlez anglais couramment grâce au Shadowing. Écoutez des vidéos YouTube de locuteurs natifs, répétez phrase par phrase et développez une vraie prononciation et fluidité — utilisé par les candidats IELTS du monde entier.

Pratique du Shadowing: Architects Living in a Rare Jo Paul Rognstad Mid-Century Home in Claremont, California | House Tour - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec YouTube

Populaires

Context & Background

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Pratique du Shadowing: Architects Living in a Rare Jo Paul Rognstad Mid-Century Home in Claremont, California | House Tour - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec YouTube

Télécharger l'application

Context & Background

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?