12/31/2025
Madeline Garden’s story begins with the building it inhabits: the Cheesewright Studios Building, raised in 1927 as a statement of taste by interior architect Edgar J. Cheesewright—then celebrated for elite residential and hospitality work. He chose Pasadena because his clientele clustered there, and he wanted a home base that felt as refined as the houses he designed. 
Cheesewright didn’t build a simple office—he commissioned a substantial studio complex of more than forty rooms (about 35,000 square feet), with offices, design rooms, showrooms, and workshops, arranged to read like an elegant private residence rather than a factory of commerce. The architecture is widely described as French Quarter–influenced (often also labeled Colonial/Georgian), and the interiors were curated with antiques and artistry to reinforce that illusion of lived-in grandeur. 
Then history took a sharp turn: after the studio era, the site changed hands and uses, including a notable wartime chapter—by 1943, Cheesewright leased space to Caltech, where scientists conducted nuclear fission research, and the building later became tied to Navy research administration. 
Today, Madeline Garden brings the property back to its original spirit—beauty, ritual, and a sense of occasion—by framing afternoon tea inside rooms that still carry the building’s old-world atmosphere. It’s not just “a place to eat,” but a setting where the architecture and the ceremony of tea work together, letting guests step into Pasadena history for a few unhurried hours.
If you want to see Madeline Garden's historic features, come visit us in Pasadena, California!
📍1030 E Green St Pasadena, CA 91106
