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DavidC
Joined: 02 Sep 2006 Posts: 7182 Location: Oak Ridge, TN
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:22 pm Post subject: Article: Paul Hanna and the Hanna House - Stanford, CA |
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Paul Hanna and his house
David |
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Roderick Grant
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9589
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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Paul Hanna was instrumental in establishing the FLWBC. In 1984, prior to the auction of the D. D. Martin Papers in Hollywood, Hanna went through the entire collection, itemizing every letter, telegram, photo and sketch. Then he got Stanford and SUNY Buffalo to collaborate on buying the collection, with each institution receiving half of the originals and half copies. Without his involvement, the entire collection would probably have been sold off by Scott Elliot to private collectors.
His efforts resulted in the ad hoc conference at SUNY in 1985, organized by Jack Quinan, that resulted in the establishment of the Conservancy. |
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Reidy
Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 1540 Location: Fremont CA
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting that the Hannas were Deweyites, as Dewey's theories also gave rise to the Coonley Playhouse. |
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Tom
Joined: 30 Jan 2011 Posts: 2775 Location: Black Mountain, NC
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SDR
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18264 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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Very cool: the images can be enlarged beyond original size. Expand screen (X, lower right corner) and scroll to expand.
Sixty one pages of thumbnails. Good lord . . .
SDR |
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SDR
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18264 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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Many drawings, and many many photographs. On page 45 can be found drawings of perforated panels. A few of the images I inspected were of much lower resolution; they could be enlarged but not read clearly. Most of these were of furniture designs.
SDR |
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SDR
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18264 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:27 am Post subject: |
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Here's a small selection of items, from the Stanford collection with two exceptions.
First, a Dave Anderson photo. The stairs in the foreground were added at some point:
Then, by way of contrast, three delicious early photos. The steel-pipe support probably doesn't exist on any drawing ?
Two lovely roof-framing sheets. Putting these together with the hex-cell floor plane(s), in a contrasting color, would make an excellent collage ?
Then, post-Wright section drawings from the Hanna's book:
. . . and a drawing from the Stanford collection. Neither of these sections shows the wide bottom rail of the operating sash (doors). At upper left Mr Wright invents an outdoor grille with chimney; there is a photo in the collection of the screen, lower right:
A most interesting note to a sheet of interior elevations: the vertical unit is called out as 14 inches. This, contemporaneous to the Jacobs house, which began with a 12" unit which increased during the drawing design phase to 12 1/2" . . .
A photo of the workshop, with a chair positioned to reveal its underside:
A drawing of the workshop overhauled into a caretaker's quarters, dated June 1974 and mentioned as uncompleted by the Hannas in their 1981 book (p 144):
Last, two views of a Chrysler Airflow. The boat-tailed roadster I cannot identify.
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Roderick Grant
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9589
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 11:23 am Post subject: |
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On page 99 of the January '63 issue of HB dedicated to Hanna are two photos of the large parking area off the SW side of the house, added sometime in the 50s, to accommodate parking for 25 cars. The brick steps were added at that time to provide access from to house. Hanna often entertained large groups of visitors, especially Stanford student. |
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Matt
Joined: 25 Nov 2009 Posts: 430
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Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for posting. I'd never seen those chairs before. Sort of a riff on the barrel chair only hexagonal. I'd be more interested in making one of them than tackling an origami chair. Are chair plans amongst the drawings?
One label notes the collection of hardwoods on hand. I wonder if they are still there. |
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SDR
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18264 Location: San Francisco
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Roderick Grant
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9589
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:54 am Post subject: |
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It is hard to reconcile that those "ugly, tippy" chairs came from the same mind that designed the origami chair. The dining chairs are not ugly, but they proved to be too tippy for Hanna guests. I believe it was a mother-in-law who ended up with her face in the soup on one occasion. |
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SDR
Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18264 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:20 pm Post subject: |
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Mr Wright seemed at some points to believe that a chair could have the graceful proportions of a good vase, slender at the foot and swelling at it rose.
Of course a vase isn't expected to deal with a live load . . . !
Someday someone will make an Origami chair out of plastic; that chair will have the look of the original, and the comfort, without the weight. If it turns
out that some of the stability was due to the weight, there could be a problem -- but the chair will be easily shipped and moved.
SDR |
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Roderick Grant
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9589
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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I have a huge chair that needs two to carry it. When I want to move it, I just lift it so there is only one foot on the floor, and then twist. |
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DRN
Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 3836 Location: Cherry Hill, NJ
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: | They're ugly, and tippy. |
The Hanna house was on the FLWBC Conference tour in 2016, and a couple of chair types (reproductions?) were available to be sat upon. A dining chair was available, so I tried it. Crossing ones legs causes the chair to become less stable... if one was to reach for the guacamole in the direction opposite of one's foot on the floor, I could see trouble. Best to keep both feet on the floor at 11 and 1 o'clock.
I will say the perforated center slab of the chair base cast beautiful shadows on the floor and walls. |
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Rood
Joined: 30 Oct 2010 Posts: 1076 Location: Goodyear, AZ 85338
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Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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When critics blasted his three-legged JWax chair, Mr. Wright said ... put your feet solidly on the floor and you have a chair with five legs.
I used one of the three-legged JWax chairs for over ten years ... and never once experienced a problem. On the contrary ... it was always very comfortable. If it were possible I'd buy one. |
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