Wright Chat

DRN · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 3833 Location: Cherry Hill, NJ

A PBS /American Public Television arts program produced in Philadelphia is airing this week on some PBS stations in the US with a segment about FLW. Stuart Graff of the FLW Foundation, Jennifer Gray of Avery Library, and a Wright Homeowner in the Philadelphia area were interviewed.

https://www.articulateshow.org/articulate/frank-lloyd-wright

Roderick Grant · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9582

Interesting video. Ms Gray is a bit too negative, and comparing FLW's work to Fascist architecture was uncalled for. (She does chatter, doesn't she?)

If every house FLW designed had been initially for, and subsequently bought by, owners as astute as Dan Nichols, whatever problems they accrued would not have been serious. Most home owners don't know much about how to keep architecture alive, and that isn't exclusively a problem with FLW-designed houses. Corbu's Villa Savoye (which had leaky roofs from the get go) was a mess by the time it became a public structure. Mies' Farnsworth House ended up with an enclosure of the entrance terrace with a screened porch! while Tugendhat's marble floors were covered by linoleum when the Commies took charge. Many Schindler houses, often built with spit and a promise, have been horribly mangled by subsequent owners.

I suppose there may be some justification for holding FLW to a higher standard, considering his stature.

DavidC · Joined: 02 Sep 2006 Posts: 7176 Location: Oak Ridge, TN

Whoever this Dan Nichols individual is, he certainly seems like a good fellow!

Wink

David

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18262 Location: San Francisco

Sweeton photos courtesy of Dan Nichols

jay · Joined: 02 May 2016 Posts: 219

Nice!!

I especially enjoyed your segment, Dan, with the imagery of the movement through the house. (These types of videos often do more of a still-shot-and-pan effect than the experiential POV effect...) Was that something you suggested to the film crew, or was it their idea?

DRN · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 3833 Location: Cherry Hill, NJ

As an acknowledged cinematic clod, I gladly deferred to the cinematographer and did as I was told.

JChoate · Joined: 04 Feb 2016 Posts: 979 Location: Atlanta

Bravo Dan. That's a keeper.

Matt2 · Joined: 30 Dec 2018 Posts: 165

The roofline on Sweeton is sure thin. Was this a different roof system than other Usonians?

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18262 Location: San Francisco

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18262 Location: San Francisco

. . . .

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18262 Location: San Francisco

This photo by our David C is my favorite interior view of the house . . .the area just inside the front door, a surprising luxury of space in a small house, and an ambience totally
unlike, say, the average ranch house of the day ?

Matt2 · Joined: 30 Dec 2018 Posts: 165

Thanks for the drawings. So FLW angled the fascia so that it is basically invisible, giving the look of a very thin roof plane. Not sure this is entirely successful to my eye as it makes the roof seem too thin. It's very Japanese, but I do like the heft of his beefier facias.

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 18262 Location: San Francisco

The two-board fascia on Sweeton is identical, in form and angle if not in width, to that found on many another Usonian; I believe it to be the single most commonly-used fascia detail in the catalog of pitched-roof Usonian houses.

One of the design habits which brings me closest to Wright is his use of whole numbers. The 1:4 and 2:3 roof pitches indicated on the Sweeton drawings are examples of this tendency . . .

S

Roderick Grant · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9582

I like the heft of the bookcase shelves. They don't need to be that thick to function, but by making them thus, they make the bookcase more of an architectural statement.

jay · Joined: 02 May 2016 Posts: 219

An opportunity to link the great Sweeton restoration thread:
http://wrightchat.savewright.org/viewtopic.php?t=7523&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=sweeton&start=135&sid=20eba70868c4997e05aeb5eb1ef54121

The video does a nice job of showcasing the entry sequence of the house, but it doesn't capture the sheer dynamics of the ceiling form, how it nearly doubles in height from the front door to the hearth in one continuous progression. The upward expansion is combined with the horizontal expansion of the window wall, which reveals itself the further you move into the main space. Then, when you come to pass the hearth, as the ceiling reaches its pinnacle, the southern wall of windows is revealed in an eruption of "release", its drama reaching into the sky.

Perhaps a way to think of the Sweeton's roof and ceiling form is in its pronounced effect of "floating", similar to houses like Neils, Glore, Olfelt, etc, with its white underside and thin mullion supports.... the ceiling floating like a white pillow-cloud above you....