Pomegranate's "Usonian Houses" Carla Lind

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 2:42 pm

The first glass door is in complete shadow. The second glass door reflects the sunlit exterior brick wall. You are not looking through the door, but at a reflection.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:56 pm

You have to be right.
Completely fooled -
I mean it never occurred to me that was a reflection.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 5:01 pm

From Audrey, not at all the expected solution.

Again, not at all sure what I'm doing technically here, but hope this shot gets through.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 6:03 pm

That's a Lulu, Tom -- don't know what you did there, but it didn't work.

SDR

JChoate · Post by **JChoate** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:09 pm

Tom, I think you're seeing the reflection of the brick wall on the exterior, reflected in the glass because the exterior is brighter than the interior.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:16 pm

Yep, completely fooled by that.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:18 pm

I'll post Tom's link, briefly, as I believe the image is from owner Audrey and I don't have her permission. The question she might answer: does the bedroom bookshelf appear to be original ?

JChoate · Post by **JChoate** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:34 pm

I was looking at Audrey's Facebook page and it shows an early and a current view of the house from inside the lanai here:

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

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

We see in the older image that there used to be trellis structures cantilevering off the upper and lower roofs. In the current day photo the trellises are gone.

Does anyone know when and why they went away?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:06 pm

Here's the sad fact; this detail had escaped my attention when reading the 1990 "Old House Journal" piece on re-roofing the house:

"Because of a limited budget, the owner decided against replacing the
trellises and fixing the brick lanai wall that had begun to deflect and crack."

http://savewright.org/wright_chat/viewt ... c&start=30

SDR

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 10:36 pm

Can anyone post or send me a link to the photo of the Goetsch-Winckler first bedroom/shelf as seen in the Pomegranate book?

To SDR, yes, the bedroom bookshelf does appear to be original.

I'm traveling but will be at the G-W House in early November and can take any photos you request to answer questions. I'm working on better photos for a Facebook post/album covering all the unique storage spaces in the house.

It is difficult to explain how the recessed shelf in the small bedroom fits into the wall which has storage shelves on the opposite side. Referencing the photo of the entrance wall on shown on the Facebook post for the Small Bedroom, left to right there is the bedroom door from the hallway, a small built in shelf/desk and then the recessed bookshelf. The Gallery (hallway) storage shelves and the recessed bookshelf share the wall space as deep as the little built in shelf/desk (I've seen these in other FLW houses.) The Hall Closet at the beginning of the Gallery also occupies this wall space.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:05 pm

So, the bedroom recessed shelf must intruding into one of the shelf spaces that opens to the gallery. I assume it isn't as deep as the closet depth, so there is probably a shallower shelf at that level, on the gallery side.

Here's the Pomegranate photo. The book was published in 1994. Photo Balthazar Korab Ltd.

JChoate · Post by **JChoate** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 8:29 am

That recessed bookshelf is a cool detail. Especially so because it courses with, and reinforces, the board & batten module.

Also, I like what little I can see of that rug. I wish we could see more of it. Does it appear elsewhere?

That's a very charming photo vignette by Korab. It really invites you select a book out of the slot and have a seat and do some reading. I presume this photo was was part of the photo shoot that included the exuberantly decorated living space that I've seen elsewhere. Good stuff.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:06 am

Audrey,
I think it's a great idea to do a dedicated thread on your blog about the storage spaces in your house.
I've been looking at Wright's work for some time now.
Not as long as most on Wright Chat.
However, I've never noticed this kind of detailing in Usonians.
It makes me suspect that I need to look harder.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 5:49 pm

Tom, is this the image you linked before ? In any event, it's the companion to the above.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:49 pm

Yes, that's the one.
Audrey says a previous owner cut the hole in the back of that shelf.
She says the red color is an item sitting on the shelf on the gallery side.

...by the way, don't the doors bother you here?
They do me.
I mean I would have expected Wright to have made the doors out of wall sections
... and so almost invisible as a door.

Audrey - please forgive my WrightChat personal insensitivity. I love your house.
I am in awe of people like you with the will and the means to preserve and protect this kind of work,
and your generous openness to the larger community around the work and to people like me.
I think we all are in your debt to some degree.
Please excuse my Wright - nerdiness.