Wright Chat

I am very thankful that Rood, many years ago on this site, recommended the book "An American Proceeding, Building the Grant House with Frank Lloyd Wright"(2010), by Donna Grant Reilly. It along with "Growing Up Wright"(2020), by Lonnie Lovness are two of my favorite hands-on cons...

SDR, Yes, actually masonry heaters that are top vented do have a sliding section of chimney! When the masonry refractory core heats up it will move up at least 3/8" or more. I have seen terra-cotta tiles lift a chimney cap (that should have had a slip joint at the top) an inch or more on conven...

John, I have been doing some fact checking and I am so wrong about the clearances for pellet stoves. Since the combustion chamber is way above floor level they do not need the 20" non combustible floor in front of them, and you can get the rear clearance to a combustible wall down to as little ...

John, You will need to have 20" of non combustible floor in front of the stove and some substantial amount of clearance to any combustible wall behind the stove (depends on the manufacturer). If you made this area (including the wall) into a central all masonry core/hearth component it might el...

A masonry heater, instead of the pellet stove might be a good investment. The thermal mass could add a sense of permanence and the quiet operation using cordwood only could provide a sense of security if the grid went down. There are several good custom masonry heater designer/builder/masons in Cana...

I wish there was more written first hand recollections by some of the tradespeople (besides the apprentice project managers) who worked on Mr. Wright's designs. I recall reading somewhere that more than once there was some friction between the masons and the project managers concerning the fireplace...

Thank you SDR, for "The Unkind Fireplace"reference. I thought I had remembered reading somewhere about a fireplace learning to draw. This amusing little story is found on pages 522-525 of the "Autobiography" edition that I have. Is this topic what Hendrickson meant when he mentio...

You are correct Roderick, I was thinking of the architectural history of fireplace placement in colonial America (pre Wright). I should have made that clearer. I think designers/builders back then had to be much more aware of climate conditions around them than they do now. If I was going to guess w...

It is interesting that in US residential architectural history, that central chimneys are predominately found in the northern climate zones. As you travel farther south the chimneys are moved farther outward. Along the Mason Dixon Line many have the fireplace/chimney built only partially outside the...

"The smoke will learn", was Wright's answer to one client who called him up to complain about the fireplace not drawing.

I wonder if he really believed that!

Wonderful and very appropriate graphics as usual, thank you SDR. From the basement to out the chimney, what a great flow of content! The following may be pure hearsay, but I think it is probably true. This comes from a friend of mine who recently retired from the hearth products industry. He said th...

There are several unique circumstances that are necessary to make a chimney backdraft naturally. One is being short, as many usonians were, another is a wind effect causing a negative pressure at a lower level, such as at the hearth. In 1952, prior to mechanical air conditioning becoming mainstream,...

It seems that both the heating and cooling of an entire structure has always been a distribution problem. I believe that Mr. Wright intuitively understood the role that thermal mass could contribute to organic architecture and applied it with great success, for both heating and cooling. I have been ...

There is an interesting book published in 2014 entitled "Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything" by Salvatore Basile. It's a fairly quick read that moves right along, as that history is not a very long story to begin with! I would love to find a good unbiased book that traces the hi...

Roderick, radiant hot water is a quiet, even, and very comfortable way to heat a space, but, I believe, you are correct that it does not have a promising future for mass marketed housing. But, I can't imagine the concept ever disappearing completely, especially for slab on grade construction in the ...