Storybook Cabin – Mountain Architects

Recently my family and I took a whirlwind car trip to Arizona and Southern California to see family, friends and coincidentally, more Storybook style architecture. Along the way we stopped in Hollywoodland, a unique development of storybook cottage homes in Hollywood. I had briefly mentioned the neighborhood and some of the Storybook style origins on a recent blog post titled Storybook Cabin Plan, and since we were in the area, I added Hollywoodland to our itinerary.

Entrance to Hollywoodland

As I had mentioned, the Storybook Style surged in popularity after Hollywoodland, a subdivision of cottage homes, was built in 1923. The theatrically designed homes served as residences in Los Angeles for a number of movie stars and received nationwide media attention as America’s first themed residential community. The Hollywood sign actually used to say Hollywoodland and was built to promote the neighborhood, which housed such notables as Bela Lugosi and Humphrey Bogart. The developers bowed out in the 1940’s and now the stars build to suit their own tastes. The neighborhood is now referenced as upper Beachwood Canyon.

Storybook House in Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland’s covenants required homes to be designed in one of several European revival styles. Architects and builders made full use of this license, arriving at eclectic combinations that its developers might never have expected. Below is a Hansel and Gretel cottage combining half timbering, stone accent walls, and a seawave patterned roof with rolled eaves and jerkinhead gables.

Hollywoodland Storybook Cottage

A closeup of this home below shows more accents of the European style. In older times, homes were built of stone. Sometime along the way, the stucco style grew popular, and homeowners covered up the beautiful stone with stucco. This creative affect was applied to either side of the windows below. Additionally, shingle roofs were created in seawave patterns and shaped to represent the European straw bale roofs. Eventually wood shingle roofs were prohibited because of fire danger, so composition style roofs became the norm, though they pale in comparison.

Storybook Cottage Detail

Wolf’s Lair, a rambling mansion built by real estate developer Milton “Bud” Wolf, is a Norman Revival style castle in Hollywoodland dating from the mid 1920s. Shown below is the gatekeeper’s residence, designed by architect John Lautner in the 1950s.

Wolf’s Lair

Today, Hollywoodland has its own homeowner’s association, but is often referred to as upper Beachwood Canyon. Shown below are some of the homes that have replaced many of the Hollywoodland cottages.

The Homes Today in the Upper Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood.

A word to the wise. If you ever plan to drive through Hollywoodland, make sure you bring a small car, and aren’t squeamish about driving on narrow, winding roads.

For more information on the Storybook style, see Storybook Style Hansel and Gretel Cottage in Beverly Hills, Fun Architecture: The Storybook Style in Disneyland, and Storybook Cabin Plan.

John Hendricks, Architect AIA

Hendricks Architecture specializes in residential design, most specifically in the design of mountain style homes and cabins. We’re located in Sandpoint, Idaho.

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This storybook cabin looks more like storybook cottage meets hobbit house meets Swiss chalet. Nevertheless, this quaint, whimsical cabin could fit in just as easily in a city such as Seattle or Portland as it would in the New Zealand countryside or the Cascade Mountains.

Storybook cabin as seaside cottage or mountain chalet

Storybook Cabin Front Elevation

This 834 square foot architect designed cabin (with an optional 159 square feet of two loft spaces) is built for comfort and includes a comparatively large great room with open picturesque trusses and beams set amidst the curved roofs. It could also be used as a guest house, or configured into a boat house or a high-end gardening studio. The home is loosely inspired by the playful Storybook Style from English and French medieval farmhouse design. This style has several style variations, including English Country Cottage, Cotswald Cottage, Hansel and Gretel, Fairy Tale House, Disneyesque, Hobbit House and Storybook House. All were designed to create a cozy, homelike atmosphere.

A little more history, the Storybook Style is a whimsical variant of the Tudor Revival in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The Tudor Revival was based on late medieval styles and the Arts and Crafts movement. Many of the home buyers (as well as architects and builders) were veterans of World War I, and brought back memories of the English and French countryside. In the meantime, Hollywood was creating movies set in historic time periods in faraway lands. In pure Hollywood fashion, liberties were taken with the local styles by enhancing the charm and cuteness of these places.

The Storybook Style surged in popularity after a subdivision of cottage homes, called Hollywoodland, was built in 1923. The theatrically designed homes served as residences in Los Angeles for a number of movie stars and received nationwide media attention as America’s first themed residential community. The themed neighborhood included such places as The Humpty Dumpty Store. The Hollywood sign actually used to say Hollywoodland and was built to promote the neighborhood, which housed such notables as Bela Lugosi and Humphrey Bogart. The developers bowed out in the 1940’s and now the stars build to suit their own tastes. The neighborhood is now referenced as Upper Beachwood Canyon. For more information please see Southern California Storybook Style Architecture: Hollywoodland.

Storybook Cabin Plan

Whereas the historical homes were identified with false, distressed, ornamental half-timbering, this particular home includes fully exposed architectural and structural timbers on the interiors and exterior, which may or may not be distressed. The original Storybook houses had modern interiors resembling the homes of the 20’s, whereas this home has rustic interiors (yet modern in function) to match the exterior.

The home includes a comfortable two person bedroom with a built-in desk. An open loft sleeps two more in twin beds. The quality designed home also includes built-in cabinets, bookshelves and a window seat, as well as wrought iron lighting and hardware. A pantry/storage/laundry room is included, along with a storage attic (which could also be incorporated into a larger loft area) over the back rooms. The home includes an energy efficient stone masonry fireplace while still retaining the Old World look and feel. See Storybook House Video for a video showing the exterior.

The Storybook Cabin is our second stock cabin plan. Prices include:

Preliminary Sketches – Schematic 8-1/2″ x 11″ drawings showing Floor Plans and the Front & Rear Elevations, for $150 emailed PDF, $200 priority mail
Study Home Plans – Developed 24″ X 36″ drawings showing Floor Plans & all Exterior Elevations, for $300 emailed PDF, $350 priority mail
Construction Set – A full set of 24″ X 36″ detailed drawings and specifications including Floor Plans, Foundation and Framing Plans, Exterior Elevations, Building Sections, Wall Sections, Details, Interior Elevations, Reflected Ceiling Plans, Window/Door Schedules, Electrical Plans, Finish Plans, and all Fixtures, Products and Materials Specified per the original design, all for $1300
Each Additional Construction Set $250
Construction Set PDF Files $1300
You may go to our Plans Page for quick and easy ordering, or you can call us directly.
Modifications available. Please contact us for pricing.

This energy efficient cabin is designed for “rustic elegant” comfort. Plans can be modified to be more unique per individual preferences. Preliminary drawings and Construction Documents are drawn with cad software, and are designed per the latest International Residential Codes. Plans may need to be modified for certain jurisdictions. Please note that with the curved roofs, timbers and other detailing, along with a higher quality of specified materials, that construction prices are higher than the typical home.

For our first stock cabin plan, see cabin plan. While we are beginning to delve into the stock plan arena, I still recommend a custom home design for maximum living and cost efficiency for individual lifestyles. For more information see Good Quality Architecture Adds Value to Your Home. Please visit our portfolio for examples of some of our recently completed custom projects. Sorry but we don’t sell plans of our client’s custom homes.

For more information on our plans please contact us by phone at 208.265.4001, by email, or by filling out your information on our contact page.

John Hendricks, Architect AIA

Hendricks Architecture, listed as one of Mountain Living Magazine’s top mountain architects, is located in Sandpoint, Idaho. Subscribe to Hendricks Architecture’s Blog.