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SOHO Celebrates the Life of Paul Duchscherer
July/August 2017
By Ann Jarmusch
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 Paul Duchscherer and Beth Montes, beloved former SOHO president, now deceased. Photo by Allen Hazard, 2003 |
 Paul Duchscherer |
SOHO, San Diego, and the national preservation community have lost a beloved friend and enormously talented designer and advocate who made fast friends and impressed people with his knowledge and fun-seeking nature as he traveled the country. Paul Duchscherer passed away June 20 after battling a brain tumor diagnosed in January.
Duchscherer was a featured expert on HGTV's "Curb Appeal" and the PBS series "This Old House," but he is perhaps best known as the author of a series of handsome, lovingly researched books on Arts & Crafts bungalows. By including early San Diego bungalows owned by SOHO members Erik Hanson and Ingrid Helton, David Swarens and Vykki Mende Gray, and several others, Duchscherer brought national recognition and respect to the city's Arts & Crafts architecture and history.
His bungalow books demonstrated the value of work by important San Diego architects such as Irving Gill (Judith Bond's home, Paul and Sarai Johnson's former office in a converted bungalow) and Emmor Brooke Weaver (Mary Ward's bungalow), as well as designer-builders like David Owen Dryden (the Covington and Sykes homes), and builders whose names are lost.
"He made many friends in San Diego, who would gather over meals whenever he came to town for spirited talks about Arts & Crafts and other subjects," Helton said. "Duchscherer eventually bought a San Diego bungalow court as an investment he was excited about," she added. Bonnie Poppe, a former SOHO board member whose South Park bungalow appeared in one of his books, helped Duchscherer rehabilitate and manage the bungalow court.
A San Francisco resident for decades, Duchscherer graduated from the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design there in 1975. His first love was Victorian architecture and design, which led him to join Artistic License - A Guild of Artisans, which was then focused exclusively on Victorian arts and architecture, in San Francisco in 1985. As a designer, he completed restoration and rehabilitation projects of period homes and their interiors, new construction in period styles, and gardens and landscapes. See the guild's Facebook page tribute.
"The magnum opus of Paul Duchscherer's long [design] career was the 1879 McDonald Mansion in Santa Rosa, redesigned in collaboration with Stephen Rynerson and including the work of many other guild members," wrote Artistic License (see photos on the same Facebook page). He also was a long-time member and former board vice president of the American Decorative Arts Forum of Northern California. In line with his interest in design and historic architecture, he worked at Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers."
"For years, Paul was an integral part of our success in educating people about the American Arts & Crafts movement," Alana Coons, SOHO's Director of Education and Communications, said. "Bruce and I first met Paul in 1985 when he helped design several elaborate Victorian wallpaper ceiling sets in our 1887 National City home. He was so much fun to work with, and of course, so knowledgeable. Over the years, Paul helped SOHO on a variety of projects; hundreds of San Diegans attended his always sold-out lectures. We still carry all his book titles in SOHO's museum shops, classics that they are."
In collaboration with architectural photographer Douglas Keister, Duchscherer's many books include The Bungalow: America's Arts & Crafts Home (1995), Inside the Bungalow: America's Arts & Crafts Interior (1997), Outside the Bungalow: America's Arts & Crafts Garden (1999), and Victorian Glory in San Francisco and the Bay Area (2001), all published by Penguin Putnam Inc. Pomegranate published his series of small-format books called Bungalow Basics (2003-2004), which focus on a single room; followed by Beyond the Bungalow: Grand Homes in the Arts & Crafts Tradition (2005) and Along Bungalow Lines: Creating an Arts & Crafts Home (2006), both collaborations with photographer Linda Svendsen (Gibbs Smith).
Our Heritage asked Ingrid Helton and David Swarens to tell us about their friendships with Paul Duchscherer, which both grew out of his scouting San Diego for his bungalow books. (1995). David and his partner, Vykki, visited him most recently in May.
Here's what David wrote:
"We were honored to have our modest 1923 home included in his first bungalow book, The Bungalow – America's Arts & Crafts Home. Our house was even featured in the book review in one of the San Francisco newspapers. When we traveled, we treated our homesickness by finding the page in copies of this very popular work in bookstores and museum shops.
"Paul transformed the way bungalows were seen, through his writing and speaking, and as part of the Arts & Crafts 'revival' he focused the light on these homes of the people. Through good humor and skillful writing, he shared his wide-ranging knowledge of design and history. And he made many friends.
"Paul was truly a bright beacon, with his infectious enthusiasm, humanity, and knowledge.
"A few years back, we were at a reception in the Bay Area, with Arts & Crafts artists and collectors, and when Paul and his friend Don arrived, there was a 'buzz.' I think everyone who knew him loved and respected him. He had a true star quality, if in a very low-key manner not usually associated with that phrase.
"His presence in our community cannot be overstated, nor can his loss now. I think most who knew Paul knew him as a friend. We were friends, which is, to me, the best one can say about another.
"Our last visit with him was in early May, and we talked about favorite Broadway musicals, his in- process autobiography of growing up in hotels, Anglo Japanese design, Bay Area copper, our shared enthusiasm for under-appreciated sewing rockers, and what he could eat on a pizza."
Here are highlights of an interview with Ingrid, who recalled having Duchscherer speak at the SOHO Arts & Crafts Weekends she originated "a tradition:"
"We hosted Paul when he came to San Diego and was starting on his first book. Erik [Hanson, her husband] took him all over the city. He loved showing Paul San Diego and discussing the nuances of architecture. We didn't host him with any intention of our 1906 house being included, but it's in the second and third books. We were honored when he chose it.
"He was a really special guy, the kind of person you just instantly love. So easy to be around and fun. He was well-read and he always had interesting stories to tell. Even if we didn't see each other for a while, you could always jump in again.
"Paul returned to San Diego with photographer Doug Keister to shoot bungalow exteriors. [Their second book, Inside the Bungalow: America's Arts & Crafts Interior, was more complicated.] He approached owners with respect and consideration, so they would allow him to see inside the house and then make arrangements to come back and photograph it. He made people feel proud of what they had.
"Paul would stage the photos so they worked for the book, and so they said what he wanted them to convey. He had a kind of instinct about how to tweak a room to bring out the essence. He saw what was distinct about each house, like our inglenook and some of the hardware.
"Paul wanted to come back to photograph our front porch when the wisteria was blooming. That shot is on the dust jacket cover of Outside the Bungalow: America's Arts & Crafts Garden.
"His first books came out when the Arts & Crafts movement had really come alive. So many people wanted information. The timing was right. Through his books, he really promoted our cause and promoted SOHO.
"Even though he loved his work, part of his success was the way he loved people. He always left people feeling good. Clearly, he was loved wherever he went."
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