Harold Turner

[vortrex]

Here's a story about the Thornapple cottage with lots of pictures.

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-mich ... lloyd.html

[SDR]

Very useful to have these additional photos. The vintage shots are particularly helpful. Plantings on the inside of the big window are a unique find . . . carrying out Turner's intention to introduce more humidity, according to the text ?

He has handled his roof in an admirable way, reducing all the complexities of the plan into just two uniform and well-sealed planes.

SDR

[Roderick Grant]

Let's take a poll: Which is superior, the original glazed south wall with the transoms (1), or the replacements without the transoms (2)?

When this house first came to our attention, I felt the bath was a bit of a mess. I'm glad to hear it is a remodel, not a Turner original.

It wouldn't take much to bring this gem back to mint condition, judging by the photos. At $269K, what do you think the odds are it will remain pure?

[SDR]

The glazing isn't "bad" now -- but the frameless condition at the ceiling (throughout) has been lost. I'd return the single muntin (?) near the ceiling, and drop the other glazing bars, I think. (What's with the obsessive blinds -- even on the clerestories ??)

SDR

[Roderick Grant]

Perhaps the blinds are an attempt to keep the early morning light at bay since the main room includes the sleeping area? They do look bad. But worse is the fake wood-like cabinet in the kitchen. That's gotta go.

[SDR]

The original cabinetry as revealed in one kitchen photo was not the streamlined plywood work that typified Wright's houses (that recessed-flat-panel door is now called "Shaker" in the industry) but it was far more appropriate than the hideosity now in place. (I was making Formica doors like these in the first business I joined, in rural Massachusetts in the later 'sixties. Perhaps the former owner thought this style period-appropriate ?) I note that Turner bought into Wright's preference for piano hinges.

The random-width board texture seems a minor mistake when seen in plane with a brick wall as at the folding bedroom partition. Wright's use of a modular wood texture is so much better in contrast -- and I think we don't often see him placing brick and wood side-by-side in the same plane, in any event. Another lesson learned from an also-ran ?

Nevertheless the house is a treasure. Let's hope and pray for its ongoing existence.

SDR

[DavidC]

6325 Meadowwood Ln, Grand Blanc, MI, 48439


David

[Roderick Grant]

6325 is beautiful. There is an exterior photo (#59) which shows a circular staircase inside; that seems to be inconsistent with the overall geometry of the house. And I wonder what's beneath all that wall-to-wall carpeting? Just about anything is better than WTW. A lakeside 4,131 sf house for $499,900, in an excellent neighborhood? That's an unbelievably good buy. Michiganders, would its closeness to Flint be a negative? Isn't that one of the Rust Belt victims?