Maybeck Studios

Recitals

The Concord Jazz label has recorded over four dozen CDs of Maybeck performances, the most recent being Marion McPartland's all-Ellington set, Single Petal of Rose. These are all available through Concord Records, and at music stores everywhere.

Although no longer open as a "public" venue, the Studio occasionally hosts private "house concerts" with invited guests. Upcoming performances in the late summer and autumn of 2004 will include jazz saxophonist Jessica Jones (), the resident Maybeck Trio (Jerry Kuderna on piano, Elaine Kreston on cello, and clarinetist Roy Zajac), and new music by Gregory Moore. Whenever specific dates are scheduled, they will be posted here. To receive invitations, send your email address to maybeck@handprintseries.com.

Maybeck Studio: A Breif History

Bernard Maybeck's studio for Alma Kennedy was originally designed and built in 1914, when the architect was at the height of his creative genius. (His renowned Christian Science Church in Berkeley was completed in 1912.) Mrs. Kennedy taught piano at Mills College, where one of her students was Milda Nixon. (Neither Mrs. Kennedy nor Miss Nixon were related to the politicians.) The Nixon family were dedicated patrons of the arts, and commissioned the live-in studio for their daughter's teacher beside their own home in the Berkeley hills.

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In 1923 a fire destroyed musch of north Berkeley, including Mrs. Kennedy's studio. Maybeck rebuilt it immediately, adding a new wing attached by a narrow bridge above a Tudor archway. Miss Nixon, now on the music faculty at Mills herself, moved in with Mrs. Kennedy and the two women shared the complex for the rest of their lives.

The house is indeed a conception of the three charming and eccentric personalities - Kennedy, Nixon, and of course Mr. Maybeck. The architect had strong opinions about lifestyle, and urged his clients to live as much as possible within a single large space. Therefore the only traditional bedroom in the house is a small guest room; the residents' beds fold down from concealed panels in the redwood walls of the larger rooms.

After 1923 Mrs. Kennedy wanted to eliminate fire hazards, and when Maybeck rebuilt the studio she wouldn't allow a gas stove in her kitchen. The still-functioning electric burners on the old tile counter were the first built-in cook-top in the country. Maybeck, an obsessive tinkerer, devised and assembled it himself on his drafting table.

Both Kennedy and Nixon were committed to preserving Maybeck's designs. Neighbors and local craftspeople recall the ladies insisting that the architect's color scheme be faithfully maintained during repairs. They fondly recalled Maybeck working from European Gothic, Moroccan, and Japanese sources to create the painted motifs, juxtaposing 11 different colors altogether.

Gargoyle: Copper dragon with Mayan crown.

Gargoyle: Copper dragon with Mayan crown.

Yet neither woman was opposed to making her own mark on the house. In the 1923 reconstruction, Mrs. Kennedy asked that a copper gargoyle, a dragon wearing a Mayan crown, be repositioned from the studio's facade to her second-floor sunporch where she could see it each day.

Miss Nixon once installed a large Oriental rug on the studio floor. But Mrs. Kennedy complained that it damped the resonance of the pianos in the room, and removed it. Compromising, they cut out all but the lengthwise perimeters, discarded the center portion, and hand-stitched the edges back together. It was then tacked to the staircase running up from the studio to the balcony, where it remains today. In some places the slight asymmetry is noticeable.

Another of Mrs. Kennedy's pupils was the child prodigy, Ruth Slenszcynska. The young artist made her debut at the age of four, and went on to rave reviews throughout America and Europe. Her first recitals, though, were presented in the Kennedy studio. Between pieces she stood against the pulpit Maybeck designed for Mrs. Kennedy's reserved seat, and there she pressed her small perspiring palms against the redwood. Mrs. Kennedy, far from being upset by about the handprint stains, turned them into a little memorial for Miss Slenszcynska. She tacked a frame around the spot.

Over the years the handprints have faded, but the small nail-holes have remained. Gregory Moore, who owns the house today, wanted to honor this bit of history. When he moved in he traced the hands of his twin nieces, budding musicians at ten years old. The prints were cut into hammered copper, and tacked to the redwood using the same holes Mrs. Kennedy put there.

Alma Kennedy died in 1960, and Milda Nixon in 1981. The house stood empty for several years, with only a few prospective buyers. Whoopi Goldberg reportedly toured the house, but told the realtor, "Honey, I may be weird, but I ain't this weird!" In 1987, jazz pianist Dick Whittington bought the house and began the public recital series.

After purchasing the property in 1996, Gregory Moore has worked to restore and preserve the house and grounds. He has seen to electrical, plumbing, and structural retrofitting, as well as restoration of the gothic tracery, windows, and painted details. All of this work is done according to Maybeck's design specifications, though utilizing the best currently available technology.

The house stands as a brilliant integration of styles, an enigmatic play of forms and space and color and line, reflecting Maybeck's deep sense of beauty. But Maybeck himself would have understood it as something more subtle, and more important. The structure is built to follow the contours of the hill, and the plan is not so much a linear ascent up the site as it is a graceful, multidimensional expression of its undulating curves. There are five different levels interconnected by short staircases, and open to eachother through interior windows. Thirteen exterior doorways and many more windows continue the flow outward to the various garden elevations. So Maybeck's design encourages daily passages, routine or even ritual, following the sun's progressive angles down and around the hillside slope. It is a celebration - of architecture and environment, of music, and of life - in time and space.

Bernard Maybeck's studio for Alma Kennedy was originally designed and built in 1914, when the architect was at the height of his creative genius. (His renowned Christian Science Church in Berkeley was completed in 1912.) Mrs. Kennedy taught piano at Mills College, where one of her students was Milda Nixon. (Neither Mrs. Kennedy nor Miss Nixon were related to the politicians.) The Nixon family were dedicated patrons of the arts, and commissioned the live-in studio for their daughter's teacher beside their own home in the Berkeley hills.

Gothic tracery on the sun deck.

Gothic tracery on the sun deck.

In 1923 a fire destroyed musch of north Berkeley, including Mrs. Kennedy's studio. Maybeck rebuilt it immediately, adding a new wing attached by a narrow bridge above a Tudor archway. Miss Nixon, now on the music faculty at Mills herself, moved in with Mrs. Kennedy and the two women shared the complex for the rest of their lives.

The house is indeed a conception of the three charming and eccentric personalities - Kennedy, Nixon, and of course Mr. Maybeck. The architect had strong opinions about lifestyle, and urged his clients to live as much as possible within a single large space. Therefore the only traditional bedroom in the house is a small guest room; the residents' beds fold down from concealed panels in the redwood walls of the larger rooms.

After 1923 Mrs. Kennedy wanted to eliminate fire hazards, and when Maybeck rebuilt the studio she wouldn't allow a gas stove in her kitchen. The still-functioning electric burners on the old tile counter were the first built-in cook-top in the country. Maybeck, an obsessive tinkerer, devised and assembled it himself on his drafting table

.

Both Kennedy and Nixon were committed to preserving Maybeck's designs. Neighbors and local craftspeople recall the ladies insisting that the architect's color scheme be faithfully maintained during repairs. They fondly recalled Maybeck working from European Gothic, Moroccan, and Japanese sources to create the painted motifs, juxtaposing 11 different colors altogether.

Yet neither woman was opposed to making her own mark on the house. In the 1923 reconstruction, Mrs. Kennedy asked that a copper gargoyle, a dragon wearing a Mayan crown, be repositioned from the studio's facade to her second-floor sunporch where she could see it each day.

Miss Nixon once installed a large Oriental rug on the studio floor. But Mrs. Kennedy complained that it damped the resonance of the pianos in the room, and removed it. Compromising, they cut out all but the lengthwise perimeters, discarded the center portion, and hand-stitched the edges back together. It was then tacked to the staircase running up from the studio to the balcony, where it remains today. In some places the slight asymmetry is noticeable.

Another of Mrs. Kennedy's pupils was the child prodigy, Ruth Slenszcynska. The young artist made her debut at the age of four, and went on to rave reviews throughout America and Europe. Her first recitals, though, were presented in the Kennedy studio. Between pieces she stood against the pulpit Maybeck designed for Mrs. Kennedy's reserved seat, and there she pressed her small perspiring palms against the redwood. Mrs. Kennedy, far from being upset by about the handprint stains, turned them into a little memorial for Miss Slenszcynska. She tacked a frame around the spot.

Over the years the handprints have faded, but the small nail-holes have remained. Gregory Moore, who owns the house today, wanted to honor this bit of history. When he moved in he traced the hands of his twin nieces, budding musicians at ten years old. The prints were cut into hammered copper, and tacked to the redwood using the same holes Mrs. Kennedy put there.

Alma Kennedy died in 1960, and Milda Nixon in 1981. The house stood empty for several years, with only a few prospective buyers. Whoopi Goldberg reportedly toured the house, but told the realtor, "Honey, I may be weird, but I ain't this weird!" In 1987, jazz pianist Dick Whittington bought the house and began the public recital series.

After purchasing the property in 1996, Gregory Moore has worked to restore and preserve the house and grounds. He has seen to electrical, plumbing, and structural retrofitting, as well as restoration of the gothic tracery, windows, and painted details. All of this work is done according to Maybeck's design specifications, though utilizing the best currently available technology.

The house stands as a brilliant integration of styles, an enigmatic play of forms and space and color and line, reflecting Maybeck's deep sense of beauty. But Maybeck himself would have understood it as something more subtle, and more important. The structure is built to follow the contours of the hill, and the plan is not so much a linear ascent up the site as it is a graceful, multidimensional expression of its undulating curves. There are five different levels interconnected by short staircases, and open to eachother through interior windows. Thirteen exterior doorways and many more windows continue the flow outward to the various garden elevations. So Maybeck's design encourages daily passages, routine or even ritual, following the sun's progressive angles down and around the hillside slope. It is a celebration - of architecture and environment, of music, and of life - in time and space.