Teahouse Case Study Construction Project

 by Justin Kindred, Art Center College of Design

For Materials and Construction I, Mark Dillion asked us to choose a house or building somewhere within the Los Angeles area to examine, study, research, and measure. Our project was to build an accurate scale model of the building we had chosen. Having a great deal of love and respect for traditional Japanese architecture, I set out to find an example here in Los Angeles. Not being a local, my knowledge of the area and its examples of traditional architecture were extremely limited. After finding numerous examples of modern interpretations of the Japanese tradition, I finally found what I believed to be an authentic example of a Japanese teahouse. Located in the Japanese gardens of the Huntington Library is an example of a Shoin style teahouse.

I proceeded to make a few telephone calls to the Huntington Library inquiring about the house. I was told to contact the Assistant to the Director, Danielle Rudeen, about further information and possible access to the house. Ms. Rudeen was more than helpful with access to the house and gardens along with the library's information on Japanese architecture and the history of the teahouse. I was given run of the house with a camera, tape measure and sketch pad. I took notes about every material and detail I could think of that would be necessary, along with taking countless pictures. I finally decided to do a detail model of the front porch and the six square feet immediately behind it. The total area of the model came out to be an eleven foot by six foot section.

Researching the house's construction and history was the next step in the process. The Huntington Library's reference was sparse when it came to the history of the house. From what I had gathered, it was built in the 1890's for the World's Fair in San Francisco. It was later moved to the corner of California and Fair Oaks in Pasadena to be used as a teahouse for Japanese business men. Huntington bought the house in 1906, along with all of the grounds, to be placed on his estate. From there it has had various degrees of attention. Currently, there is an Artwalk to raise money for the house and Gardens.


A Japanese carpenter was commissioned to construct the house. He was limited to local materials for construction, mostly Douglas Fir. One item that has been pointed out to me and something I noticed while studying the house was that some western building influences are noticeable. Most noticeable are the shoji screens and the extra height on the second floor.

After studying traditional building methods, I learned a few rules about Japanese construction. The size of the column will dictate the size of almost any other part of the house, along with the number of Tatami mats used in any given room. For example, for a column that is five inches by five inches, the Neda (joist) will be two and a half inches by two inches (column size x .5 by column size x .4 = Neda size). These rules will dictate everything from hip rafters to veranda floor boards. These rules also seem to change from region to region in Japan. It was also dependent on whether or not the carpenter wanted to follow the rules. These rules helped me in constructing the parts that I could not get to to measure or could not see. After collecting as much historical information on building practices, diagrams and other general information as I could find, I went to work building a quarter square model. The finished model is about three feet wide, five feet long and five feet high.

One of the premises for construction of the model was the use of identical materials to the original, or as close as possible. Since the original was made of Douglas Fir, the model should be as well. Because I could not find the wood in the exact sizes that I needed and because I needed a lot of it, I found the most convenient source. Just about every piece of wood in the model was once a standard two by four. I found that the only way to get the exact size I needed was to mill down each piece individually. Once I had the basic size, each piece was placed in the mill and the final shaping was done. With a one eighth inch mill bit and a sharp chisel I was able to copy most of the traditional joints involved in traditional construction.

The model stands without any support other than joint work. Epoxy was only used to attach the basswood roof, veranda floor, and a few other minor details. It really is quite a testament to Japanese joinery. I originally thought that the model would collapse under its own weight when construction first began. It has been driven across town twice and has survived sitting in the shed without a problem.

Once the main frame was constructed and before the final roof was put on, I built the plaster walls. It had to be done at the middle stage of construction, instead of the last stage as is the case of the original house. I felt it would be too difficult to plaster and sand the walls in such a narrow space once the roof was attached. Because the real house did not have traditional wall construction but a western adaptation, I copied the western version for this model. The traditional house would have a bamboo screen woven in the middle of the wall. Clay, mud or whatever was convenient would be smeared onto the screen and it would be finished with plaster.

However, this house was done with plaster and lathe construction, typical of housing done in America at this time (since the house had been moved three times, who knows what the original walls were made of). Once I had applied about twenty pounds or more of plaster over the lathe, I did the finish sanding.

The next step was to complete the roof and add the finishing details. The floor boards were finally attached, shoji screens placed in the channels, shingles attached to the roof, and the model was then stained. Traditionally, the Japanese would not paint or stain the wood in their houses. They prefer the natural beauty of aged wood, not to mention that stain and paint stop the wood from breathing and encourage dry rot. However, the house at Huntington Gardens had been painted. I had tried to duplicate the teahouse thus far, so I thought I should see it through to the end and stained it.

The last step of the house was to transport it home to clear out space for other people to work. A fun prospect. It weights about 250 pounds with the sand in the base, and it is too wide to fit through doorways. At present, it dominates my living room and makes quite a conversation piece.
I would like to thank Mark Dillon for such a challenging assignment, along with great advice and encouragement. Danielle Rudeen at Huntington Library for going out of her way to let me have access to the house and finding all the great historical references and for putting up with my constant phone calls. And Whit Preston for the great photographs.

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