Wright Chat

It has been about 35 years since I visited the Mitchell House, but as I recall, the moment I entered, I felt it was not a FLW space. Whatever can be said of spindles, trim and canoodling in the Schiller office, the building as an enclosure of space is not Wright-like at all. As to gambrel roofs, nei...

The trapezoidal beds mentioned were in the original Hanna master bedroom. When the bedroom wing was remodeled, turning the master into a library, and moving the master into the area formerly occupied by the 3 children's bedrooms, the new bed became a large, standard bed with only one quirk: a wall p...

That sounds like the article concerning elements of design of the Zimmermann House, an offprint of which was hardbound. It is probably hard to find these days, but there has been a post of excerpts from it on WC.

In just one issue, March, 1952 the are articles on George Nakashima (80-89), Harwell Hamilton Harris (90-94), Gordon Drake (95-103) and The Sewerless Toilet Without Chemicals (113-113), which informs us that Sir John Harington invented a toilet in 1596. I always liked the magazine. My uncle, Bjarne,...

However fervently FLW may have wanted ASHB to vanish after the disastrous experience, he may have softened his view later in life: In his last book, "A Testament," on page 122, there is a drawing of the duplexes (oddly a perspective of one version with the as-built plans). The book is basi...

As HOJO shows, the plaque was indeed made and installed. The garden on the roof garden may or may not have been built, but when I was there in the 90s for a FLWBC Board Retreat, when the entire tower was empty, the roof was as HOJO's second image shows it. I believe that it is now fitted out for din...

Then there's the Hoffnung Festival of 1956, with "Concerto Popolare," wherein the orchestra was expecting to play the Tchaikovsky "First Piano Concerto," while the pianist thought it was the Grieg. After battling through, they both ended up playing "Beer Barrel Polka." ...

Henry: I assume that, as Bill and Lynn are captivated by Wagner's Ring Cycle, they both have the recording "Anna Russell Sings! Again?" which includes an analysis of the story of "The Ring of the Nibelungs."

I agree, the stonework is not FLW-like ... nor EF Jones-like. But that would not be my complaint; it's just that designer's specific choice. What I find distracting is the busyness of detailing. FLW's details evolved from the design of the house: they were one. Gilmore's is more like applique, tossi...

Both illustrations appear in Mono 9/plates 101 & 102, which is all I have ever seen of it, so I assume it was never made.

That is a bronze plaque showing the orientation of Coonley relative to due north. It was placed near the reflecting pool.

"The Romantic Spirit," by Carol Bishop (Balcony Press 2005, 144 pp.), a small (6"x8") book, consists of 64 plates of manipulated Polaroid photographs of FLW's buildings, both major and minor, Fallingwater #1. My favorite is the tower at Taliesin (#18). As a fundraiser for constru...

Robert McCarter also published a massive book (367 pp.) for Phaidon in 1997. It covers FLW's entire career, and it too is light on technical content. I haven't read it in years, but I was not impressed much by it. Geiger dismissed it out of hand.

Don't confuse St. Mark's with Price; St. Mark's was strictly residential, with no commercial areas. This sketch features the basic square divided into quadrants, only one of which is developed. The other three would be identical. The 30-60-90 comes from the relationship of the lot and church to the ...

It could be, though as I recall, it was paper cover without a slip case. But 35 years takes its toll.