1999 documentary - FLW and the Prairie School

JChoate · Post by **JChoate** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:12 pm

Some nice footage with appropriate musical accompaniment.
https://youtu.be/WAXlWh4afjw

Also, Roderick once told me the Cheney house was one of his favorites. At the 35:18 mark begins a nicely filmed sequence of the progression from the street approaching and entering the house. It gives a sense of how subtly it unfolds.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:36 pm

How about Drummond's peek-a-boo fireplace, at 36:50 ? There are things in a film, sometimes, that never make it into (published) still photos . . .

S

JChoate · Post by **JChoate** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:16 pm

I like that Drummond fireplace and his window pattern there. He does have a delicacy.

Regarding that Cheney, lovely as it is, I'd kinda like to see some alternate furniture to that billiard table which features in this film and also the bulk of the color images I've seen. I think I'm going to have to go on a search for something pre-pool table.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:33 pm

Futagawa's photos of the house, published in black and white, are remarkably free of furniture---though I don't believed any of what's there is by Wright.

The photos are in Monograph 2, pp 55-59. The vertical stained-glass sconces, which might or might not be Wright's, appear in both those photos and in
the video. I'll post the photos if you wish; they are not very evocative, but they do show what's there . . . more or less.

S

JChoate · Post by **JChoate** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:41 pm

Here's one sans billiards but with some scattershot mod pieces and scraps of fur. http://people.cs.pitt.edu/~chang/budha/refuge/x13.htm

And Steinerag has a crop of images from 1972. Lots of fur.
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%2 ... raitsC.htm

Do we know if FLW designed any furniture pieces at all for the house? If so, I don't imagine Edwin Cheney treasured them much. I would expect he sold that house lock, stock, and barrel. Did he linger or move out right away?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Nov 01, 2019 12:32 am

Heavy on the Scandinavian. While almost any Danish chair would likely beat any of Wright's, for comfort, I nevertheless suspect that his reaction would be to decry
this collection, in the same way that he bemoaned the rag-tag furnishings his early clients "dragged in behind them," wrecking the ambience of his sublime interiors . . .

S

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:02 am

According to Brendan Gill, Edwin Cheney stayed in the house for the rest of his life. He remarried and started a new family as soon as his divorce was final.

I've never heard of Wright doing furniture for it, but it has a large collection of the Henreidon designs, some visible in passing at around 36:15.

The pool table, they told us on Wright Plus, is original to the house. Interesting to imagine what might have happened on top of it.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:54 am

To me, William Drummond was by far the best of FLW's "Oak Park boys." The house shown is one I have never seen before. Love the fireplace. And the following house (Carter) by WBG is an exceptional house, as well.

I met the owner of the billiard table in '87. Can't recall his name off hand. He lived alone. He may still be the owner. Cheney, no matter the furniture, is a brilliant house to be in, perfectly scaled. The best thing that could be done with that house is a restoration of the wood, which is practically black with age, and a less white paint job for the plaster. That is about all it needs ... aside from removal of a massive B 'n' B carbuncle in the back yard, which I believe was added early on by Drummond.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Nov 01, 2019 12:02 pm

SDR, if you ever get a chance, sit in an original barrel chair from DD Martin, perfectly comfortable. Though if you have an inguinal hernia, don't try to move it. The downscaled version for the Taliesin dining area is less comfortable, a bit tight, as is the Cassina version.