Video: Bogk House w/ Barbra Elsner

[DavidC]

First Person: Living in Architectural History - [1:51]


David

[outside in]

I can't help but laugh - she lives in one of the biggest boxes Wright ever designed.....

[lang]

The house may indeed be a box, but a very nice box to my eye

[Roderick Grant]

I stayed at Bogk once and found it a charming place. Not a masterpiece, but very comfortable and handsome. Another house that might not measure up to FLW's best is the Harry S. Adams House in Oak Park. (Check out the first Adams Scheme, M3/197-201! Yikes! What an overwrought mess!) After a tour, Jack Quinan, who has been involved with DD Martin for close to 30 years now, said to me, "That's the house Martin wanted Wright to design for him." ... meaning 'simple.' The Martin design might at the same time be wondrous and overwhelming. Some clients just want a comfortable house to live in. Both Mrs. Bogk and Mrs. Tomek, who suggested FLW for the Bogk design, were practical Midwest housewives, who would probably have felt uncomfortable in an extravagantly detailed Dana-type house. (Although Tomek got a gem, nevertheless.) But those houses - Bogk, Adams (Harry, Jessie and Mary), Charles Brown - seem to have the least trouble with alterations, deterioration from deferred maintenance, resale, etc. than many of the more elaborate houses.

[pharding]

I toured the Bogk House yesterday as part of the Milwaukee Art Museum Program. The house is quite wonderful and in great condition. Barbara gave an amazing tour with great anecdotes. She and her family are great stewards of the house. The house built quite robustly with generous use of cast in place concrete in its structure and within its walls. This is one of the first houses that FLW did upon his return from Europe and you get this sense that FLW is searching for a new architectural language reflecting to some degree what he saw in Europe. He is also moving on from the Prairie House architectural language. This is also a product of its modest sized site. It really fills out the site. The house is located in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the US.

[Wes Barwick]

Paul,

I am so jealous. I used to sit outside of that house during breaks between classes when I went to UW-M. Must have spents hours just looking at it, my favorite Wright home that I have seen. Everytime I am in Milwaukee I take a drive over to see it. I wish I could have been there, I never seem to be able to make it to any tours of this house. However, I am hoping that I can find some time soon to come and see the Davenport house. I hope you enjoyed your tour. Talk to you soon.

[pharding]

Of any house of that Period it has the most original finishes intact. The George Mann Neidecken finishes on the built-ins, wood trim, and furniture are all original and are in amazing condition. Olgivanna put her mark on it with a bold orange carpet throughout after FLW passed. Barbara did a great job working that color scheme as she added LR furniture pieces that she acquired at auction in somewhat bright colors. Altogether the interior works quite well and tells the story of the house. It is a very cool house from an innovatiove period when FLW had few commissions and he lavished enormous design effort on it.

I have closely observed several furniture pieces by George Mann Neidecken over the years. The quality of construction and workmanship is absolutely amazing. The stain and finishes are equally amazing. If you compare this to FLW furniture that is made today, the contemporary versions are poor in comparison to what Neidecken produced.