Wright Chat

Thanks for the great article! It was also great to meet you last week. Mrs. Elsner is absolutely right about the Bogk house, a real gem.

It is so nice to follow some of these threads over time and thank you Mr Minnich for supplying the missing link from our conjecture. I was wondering who supplied the prototypes for the HH designs and now some of the actual pieces and the maker have been identified. Wonderful work!

Is there only one fireplace in the Davenport House, perhaps there was another one that was not much used. On the other hand any one that collects makes some mistakes, and Museums tend to have more objects than they can really study.

Kalil is the Usonian Automatic in Manchester New Hampshire, the Zimmerman House is a Usonian and does have some small gallery windows that are set in concrete blocks, but the house is primarily brick and glass with cypress door and window frames and interior paneling.

I have worked on the barrel chair at Fallingwater, it was in the guest bedroom and qualifies as a boudoir chair. The cherry has developed a nice dark patina and the price is still pretty low. When they were available I'm sure they sold for more than that.

I realize this is not a direct reply but you may be the person who would know. Palli was looking at a book this morning that gives a taxonomy of the various forms of curtain walls, and it struck me how foreign the term is to FLW's architecture, even though under Louis Sullivan's steel frame support ...

Palli and I were talking about this this morning and I need to mention that FLW grew up with outdoor toilets. Indoor toilets were cutting edge technology in some of his early buildings and I think they were still listed as Water Closets. Grand Master baths had to wait for one of his short term appre...

This has been a really good discussion and I mostly agree with the content, except a few minor points. The Usonian Concept came about in the depths of the depression and belonged in Broadacre City. I think FLW's concept, was an update of the Homestead Act of an earlier period. Acres of land could be...

I have been wondering for some time about the absence of double glazing in FLW Usonian buildings. A very few used thermopanes when new but Mr. Wright soon abandoned double glazing for 1/4" plate. Was this because of price or design considerations or both. The Museum here in Oberlin has replaced...

The chair sits pretty well, but upon rising I exert pressure on the arms with my elbows and hands, that is when the chair bucks forward a little. It is heavy enough to settle right back where it was but it is always reminding me that this example did not have the little feet.

The way that it looks is the very reason, amongst others, that I had to try and build my own copy. This chair was designed long before ergonomics became any consideration, but the discussion of the narrow seat back has made me wonder if the lower back pain I'm afflicted with might be for the very sa...

Taliesin is chosen for various projects, like the Monona Terrace in Madison Wisconsin. On the other hand Robert Venturi is, I think, the dean of Philadelphia architects. He and his firm have had a long successful career designing iconic buildings and additions, as for example the Allen Art Museum in...

Thanks for the heads up, Palli and I will be there.

Attribution of wood type is always questionable at auction and in Museums. Rarely are the microscopic examinations actually made and one wood type may easily be listed for another. Wood dye and the patina of age and the compulsion not to loose any of that which may remain make most wood ID's suspect...

Hi Jeff, it is always nice to hear a new voice on Wrightchat. The Building Conservancy is a small overworked and underfunded group that desperately tries to encourage FLW homeowners to properly maintain their increasingly antique homes. Education and persuasion being their stock in trade. When a hou...