Pomegranate's "Usonian Houses" Carla Lind

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 10:25 pm

The hall closet doors caught my eye. I wouldn't have expected them to match the walls in color, as flush doors to this day are made of birch veneer rather than redwood. But there are Usonian door panels made of the board and batten materials -- usually exterior doors for tool storage, etc, as I recall it.

Another detail we see here is the acute corner in the bedroom, where the boards and battens die into a corner piece made flush with the surface of the sunk batten. This is perhaps a more discreet way to finish an interior wall corner than mitering the materials -- smoother to the hand, and the eye ?

SDR

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 7:41 am

...mmm, I would have expected the gallery closet doors to match in color at least.
The vertical handles on those doors stand out too.
I would have expected a bone thrown to the horizontal on those.
For a guy who is said to have specified the alignment of screw heads
in these houses one just wonders.

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 2:28 pm

RE Doors/Closet Doors in the Goetsch-Winckler House:

All closet and wardrobe doors are the same plain style. The vertical handles are ever so slightly tapered toward the base to facilitate opening.

The two bedroom doors and bathroom door are just standard doors, certainly old, and the hardware is as well. I'm not 100% sure they are original, but they are very worn.

Using the color of the wood, any wood anywhere, in the interior of the G-W House to identify its type, is less than reliable. One former owner admits to applying a dark stain to the entire interior. Over the years other repairs and cleanings have changed the color of the same type of wood in different areas of the house.

Finally, the beauty of the home is in how the surfaces change color depending on the light, either natural or artificial. Once inside you realize that photographs, black & white or color, do not do this feature justice.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 3:40 pm

Mm, yes. A good illustration of that last point is to experience an all-white interior with plenty of openings to daylight, including clerestories and skylights. The color of light that enters from the outside is influenced by the sky, and by any reflective surfaces found outside the glass: grass, exterior walls, trees, clouds, etc. So, to add all that to the various finishes of a wooden interior, and given the aforementioned variables, over the course of the daylight hours, will produce an infinite variety of effects, not exactly alike on any two consecutive days, I would think.

You'e doing a great job with the house -- including letting others have a peek via your blog and posts here. Do you anticipate being there long enough to ponder the possibility of recreating the lost trellises at the bedroom end of the house ? Or will someone else have to take that major task on . . .

SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 7:41 pm

The interior doors at Lamberson are all faced with redwood veneer. In terms of color matching, we tend to have the opposite situation. Many of the doors are significantly darker (different batches or cuts of veneer? Fading of walls from sun exposure, while doors left open are less faded?) The closet and cabinet doors match the walls. It's the thicker doors to individual rooms which differ, some more than others.

Door to bathroom off of master bedroom:

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 9:32 pm

Living in a Wright home through all four seasons ...
is an experience I will never have.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 9:38 pm

Never say never!

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:43 am

SDR, was thinking, an owner of a Wright house on the historic level of the G/W might have good luck
with a web based kick starter fundraising campaign for a project like the trellises.
Once completed you could give donors a weekend there or something like that.
I'm sure Audrey could get the working drawings pro bono on WC at least.
The hard part would be construction of course.

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 10:28 am

SDR asked if we plan to be in the G-W House long enough to replace the trellis feature over the lanai. That depends on which one wears out first-the roof or me.

The roof featured in the 1989 issue of Old House Journal is still just fine. Minor repairs to the membrane from storm debris are all that's been needed. Replacing the trellis would require a complete roof replacement as well as rebuilding the wood trim sections removed/reworked in 1989. So..."If it ain't broke..."

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:32 pm

Scanned pages of the 1990 Old House Journal article "Cantilever Tales can be found at this link:

http://savewright.org/wright_chat/viewt ... c&start=15

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:35 pm

I just emailed the restoration architect Marc Rueter to see if him or anyone in his office would be willing to correspond about this.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 2:56 pm

Fair enough, Audrey.

For those wondering what we're talking about, Audrey's blog shows the two missing trellises:

https://www.facebook.com/16842551251495 ... =3&theater

It is certainly true that a great deal of the roof would have to be exposed to properly rebuild the missing trellises.
SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:32 pm

Audrey's decision to wait until the time when the roof requires replacement makes much sense. As John Eifler says, there are the "while you're at it" restoration moments.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:32 pm

For Tom and others, I've posted enlargements of my original scans from the OHJ article, on the Usonian Cantilevers thread.

http://www.savewright.org/wright_chat/v ... 9128#79128

SDR