WBG's Arthur Rule House

[Roderick Grant]

All of which confirms that if Mrs. Lamp was correct, and there is no reason to conclude that she wasn't, there is a lot of missing information.
If an original drawing was erased and redrawn, how would that affect the file number?

This is like the Frank Lincoln Wright business, assumptions made based on a lack of information rather than proof based on evidence.

[SDR]

For what it's worth and from what I can tell by reading Pfeiffer's note, once a file number was chosen it was not altered -- except, sometime between the
mid 'eighties when the Monographs were published and 2009 (Taschen), a third digit was added to the right of the decimal point, presumably to accommodate
a greater number of drawings for some projects.

Thus, changes in thinking about chronology led to different dates being given to some projects, while the original file numbers remained unchanged. Many such
discrepancies are visible on the pages of the Taschen volumes.

S

[Paul Ringstrom]

There is an interesting house at 401 Woodlawn in Glencoe:

After contacting the Glencoe Historical Society I found out this 1920 house is by John S. Van Bergen.

Here are some photos of the remodeled interiors:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/401- ... 0407_zpid/

[SDR]

The last photo makes clear that the extended exterior planes of the first floor are little more than that -- planes -- rather than the
corner cubes deployed by Griffin in his original. Is it a relief to have someone copying Griffin rather than Wright -- for a change ?

Still -- John's earlier black-and-white image is so much more appealing that the colored one -- color being redundant when the
house has been dip-finished -- sterilized -- in creamy white ?

And -- if a house is going to have cheeks, nothing is cheekier than Wright's C E Brown residence:

[Roderick Grant]

The interiors of the Bergen house make it clear why FLW invented the term "inferior desecraters."

[SDR]

You could do worse; the job was done by a disciplined professional, if nothing else. But whoever first painted the woodwork -- and the brick -- deserves to be booted out of polite society.

(Severe editing, and/or strict "color coordination," make for appealing images, which isn't the same thing as comfort or delight, when occupying the space.)

S

[Paul Ringstrom]

The C.A. Brown House is an extremely nice version of the Fireproof House.

I like the "hidden" front door and the cantilevered porch roof and the siding.

Last time I was there, there was a nice oriental-style garden between the front of the house and the city sidewalk.

[SDR]

all, © W A Storrer

[Paul Ringstrom]

all, © W A Storrer

I hope those downspouts on the cantilevered porch roof a no longer there.

I find the date of this house interesting (1905) as it predates FLW's published Fireproof House of Apr 1907.

Tan-y-deri is dated 1907.

Are there other FLW "foursquares" that predate 1907?

[SDR]

Harry Goodrich, or George Smith, 1896 ? Jessie Adams, 1900 ? Darwin Martin gardener's cottage, 1905 ?

S

[SDR]

How about the 1908 R W Evans residence, as a "developed four-square" ? Fittingly, the corners of the envelope are treated like those of the Fireproof house -- or of the Rule house ?

Rather than an L-shaped living-dining arrangement, the plan puts the dining space on-axis with the central chimney and opposite the symmetrical living room.





plan © W A Storrer

[Paul Ringstrom]

Real Estate Listing
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11-R ... 3385_zpid/

[SDR]

I like the discreet and nicely-crafted sidewalk plaque. And the stucco (?) texture . . .

S