The Pacific Sun

A San Francisco Bay Area weekly publication

Feb. 1997

Picking fences

Mark your property's

perimter with an

elegant entranceway

by Diana L. Powers

Does your home lack a certain "curb" appeal? You might consider adding an attractive entry gate to give it some requisite charm this spring. Sebastopol's Charles Prowell, 46, has been designing and building commissioned furniture , as well as residential interiors and built-ins for Bay Area residents for 24 years. In addition, however, he creates and installs exquisite garden and entry gates and fences in both Marin and Sonoma.

"Fences are a nice diversion. It allows me out on the job site...to elevate this notion of fences...carry it to a level of workmanship associated more with furniture."

A third-generation woodworker from Sydney, IL (pop. 600), Prowell relocated to San Francisco after graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1973. He describes the move as being prompted by his interest "in a level of workmanship that seemed beyond the scope of a Midwestern patronage."

His work as a gate-builder began in 1982 as an outgrowth of his fine furniture-building reputation. It seemed odd, to some, that he should cross platforms from his established field of patrons to engage himself with gates and fences--a genre known more for the carpenter than the designer/craftsman. And yet, in his inimitable fashion, he has elevated this genre into another realm. When one of the homes he has worked on goes on the market, realtor's promote their sales by mentioning "Charley Prowell gate and fence." Prowell's gates and fences are a departure from the typical nailed-together batten styles common to most fences. Having built many gates since the intital development,Prowell continues experimenting with new ways to blend aesthetics and efficiency. One of his old stand-bys is a Craftsman-style stile & rail gate that goes well with the arbors and trellises that detail many older homes here in Northern California.

"Not every home is right," he says. "There are certain styles of architecture I've been drawn to since college and I imagine that is reflected in the designing of both my furniture and gates. My least favorite--beside the obvious tract home--is the California Coast home, with it's angular lites and rooflines and plywood sidewalls. The 60's and 70's produced, what to me, represents the bane of California architecture."

Prowell considers both redwood and cedar excellant choices for gates, and uses them frequently. It is necessary to know beforehand how the gates and fences will be fnished. Light-colored paints and stains require require the extra step before assembly of sealing off all end-grains. This prevents the tanins associated with redwood and cedar from bleeding onto the lighter finish. It is a precaution that is typical to Prowell's obsession with details and something most fence-builders wouldn't consider. The end-grains are sealed off with an epoxy coating.

He also uses only the highest grade of lumber: clear, al-heart stock. No knots. No sapwood.

Prowell learned the art of woodworking from his step-father and grandfather. Both were followers of turn-of-the-century woodworker-architect Gustav Stickley's utilitarian, almost Shaker-like style, championed by the American craftsman movement.

"My step-father was a carpenter and his father was a cabinetmaker, so most of my designs spring from the hand-crafted techniques of the cabinetmaker pitted against the practicalities of the carpenter," says Prowell.

"Simplicity has always been the common denominator--simplicity and balance," he adds. "Regardless of the complicated tenonry or exposed joints with fitted wedges, the piece should work on first glance, its separated parts should never upstage the whole." He likens these parts to the secondary strokes of a painting or the prose of a novel; they're to be appreciated, even perused and scrutinized, but only as an afterthought, "...for the sum of the most extravegant details can never carry a work of art, can never right an imbalanced design."

Charles Prowell Woodworks can be reached at (707) 823 8013. Email him at prowell@mac.com. His Web site, with photos and prices, can be reached at www.prowellwoodworks.com