www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/26/HOL37AMI1.DTL
A ratty easy chair overlooks frat- house row from an upstairs deck. If you slam a door too hard in the house, alumnus David Munroe says, people will shout at you. The house, an impressive composition of Douglas fir, redwood shingles, stone, and bent and burned bricks, compels attention from anyone who looks at it - and obedience from those who fall under its spell. With its intricately fitted woodwork, painted friezes and iridescent stained glass, the remarkably preserved house looks more like the mansion it once was than a frat house. Designed by architects Greene & Greene in 1909 for the William Thorsen family, the Thorsen House has won worldwide fame - and a spot on the National Register of Historic Places - as a masterpiece of the Arts and Crafts movement. That presents both joys and challenges to the frat brothers who call it home. Theres a certain level of commitment that comes along with living in a historic landmark, says Jason Bentley, a member of the frat. The commitment comes with a price tag: $2 million to $3 million to repair the deteriorating exterior and ensure that the 10,000-square-foot Thorsen House will survive a quake on the Hayward Fault - which lies a block and a half away. Sigma Phi is counting on its alumni, says Munroe, the alumni president. By donating a conservation easement on the house to the California Preservation Foundation, the fraternity persuaded the IRS to grant tax- deductible status to its effort. Into the walls will go plywood for sheer strength, new insulation and utility lines. Steel will tie the home to its foundation, anchor the immense chimneys and line the flues. Rotten rafters will be repaired or replaced, and the bridge that connects the house to its garage will be made structurally sound. To work on a Greene & Greene house requires the best materials and craftsmanship, carpenters and metalworkers, Munroe says. Munroe shudders at the prospect of disassembling the chimneys, for example. You can just tell that every single brick was arranged just so, he says. Pasadena architects and brothers Charles Sumner Greene 1868-1957 and Henry Mather Greene 1870-1954 created some of the most sumptuous houses of all time while following an aesthetic code that sought simplicity. Their most famous work is the Gamble House in Pasadena, which has become a museum. Influenced by British Arts and Crafts architects like CFA Voysey and William Morris, by East Coast Shingle-style builders like Henry Hobson Richardson, and by Swiss chalets and Japanese woodwork, the Greenes created a unique style of California bungalow. The Thorsen House, one of their few buildings in Northern California, is considered one of their best works - and one of the best preserved, says Ted Bosley, director of the Gamble House. The Thorsen House is brawny, with massive square posts secured with metal straps, roof beams supporting low-pitched gables, an air of informality, solid teak stairs, mahogany panels and exotic wooden joinery that looks Japanese one moment and Surrealistic the next. A double-block wedged reverse bevel scarf joint, he says of one bit of joinery in the main bedroom. Not every frat brother can discuss the home so tongue-trippingly - but they all learn about Greene & Greene. And many of the guys who join the frat - including its president, Robert Danipour - did so after noticing the houses beauty and knocking on the door. Unlike most frats, Sigma Phi doesnt have 3-foot-high Greek letters on the lawn. When you come inside, your jaw drops - the realization that as a student you have an opportunity to live here, Bentley says. Sigma Phi is one of the smallest fraternities on campus - 20 residents, usually fewer. Generally a quarter to a third of the men are studying architecture or design. Every guy that joins this house, we take a close look at, says Bentley, an architecture major. Newcomers learn the rules - no new holes for thumbtacks or nails, no smoking in common areas. When they party they protect the walls with plywood, or close off the grand living and dining rooms entirely and shove partygoers into the courtyard. If you have one house dog, Munroe explains, you dont have four personal dogs. Everyone pitches in Then theres the work requirement - three hours a week, Saturday mornings. If you take a couple of weekends off, its no problem, Bentley says - if you get an OK from the house manager. But if you just ditch out and take off, youre gonna hear about it. House manager Sayre Laflin sets out the tasks at the weekly house meeting, buys tools and hardware, cooks bacon and eggs or waffles on Saturday morning, then wakes the men. We have a cowbell, he says, but I hate it so much I knock on everybodys door. The work ranges from gardening to cleaning woodwork to repainting walls in their original colors. The guys recently ripped wall-to-wall carpeting off the teak stairs. Plans call for re-creating Greene & Greene carpeting for a runner. Danipour is restoring the master bedroom deck, and a third-floor deck is also being redone. Basically, its been chewing up my school time, to be honest with you, Danipour says. Under the influence The Thorsen House almost met its doom during World War II when the Thorsen family sold it to a sorority that needed to house 50 girls. They were making plans to alter it, Munroe says, really butcher it. Instead, Sigma Phi stepped in because its original frat house was being demolished to make way for Boalt Hall, the law school. Passive preservation helped the Thorsen House during the early years of frat ownership, Munroe says. Bosley, the director of the Gamble House, first became interested in Greene & Greene when he strolled by the house in 1972. The building reached across Piedmont Way and grabbed me by the lapels, he says. He joined the frat and, influenced by Greene & Greene, became an art history major. But he took another step - seeking placement on the National Register. Some alumni thought it could make it hard to modify or sell the house. One felt so strongly about it he took a swing at Bosley during a meeting. Alumni often stop by at Monday night dinners and have alumni banquets in the living room. You never really leave, in a sense, says Bentley, who needs to leave soon because he just graduated. The tragedy of this house is youll never live in such a nice place again.
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