Wright Chat

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Frank Lloyd Wright did not design the chairs for the Seth Peterson Cottage - the restoration architect designed the chairs to be compatible with the cottage, and adapted chairs that Wright designed in the late 1950's. Sorry.....

Wow - so unless Wright scribbled on the drawings in some way he had little or nothing to do with the design?????? Where does that come from?

Mobius - It is highly inappropriate to criticize an owner who has accomplished so much in restoring and maintaining the Jacobs House. The Owner is EXTREMELY knowledgeable about Wright, the design of the house and how it should be maintained - so much so, that he should serve as a model for others. Y...

Wright probably specified Willy Lau as the manufacturer of the Light Fixtures. At his Art Institute show he listed the contributing artists in his early works, and Mr. Lau's name is attributed with the wall sconces for the Bradley and Hickox Houses in Kankakee, which is about the same time as Davenp...

my fear is that without those staff members who were recently fired, (who, by the way, organized last years successful conference as well as arranged for this years speakers) the conference is going to be an organizational disaster. It will be interesting to hear the post-conference comments....

His words apply to construction costs now, more than ever "a million here, a million there, pretty soon you're talking about real money!" There has been nearly a 25% increase in construction costs within the past 3 years. I'm not one to throw around cash, but 5 mil. ain't what it used to be.

Wright hated gutters and downspouts - didn't want to upset the horizontal line!,,the gutter within a gutter had to do with maintaining strict horizontality (is that a word?) while providing pitch to the drain. So, he hid a "real" pitched gutter within a horizontal custom gutter - a detail ...

Sorry Deke, Your point is well taken (i.e. the photos) but have you seen the photos of the Living Room? Something went terribly wrong there. The windows, the volume of the room, the unsightly fireplace - it is not "good space" as you describe. I also disagree with you about architectural v...

Sorry jackless, I've seen a number of photos of the house - enough to convince me that I really DON'T want to visit the place. The stamping of the copper work is weak, barely enough to make the pattern, the stonework is absolutely dreadful - I could go on and on. I would like to make the point, howe...

Its not a matter of being a purist - its just that it was done SO badly! The stonework, the height of the sills in the living room, so much effort with such mediocre results. I think nearly everyone agrees that it is an interesting house (as designed) but the execution was very badly done. Unfortuna...

For this price, FLW must have carved them in his basement after hours! No provenance, and we are to assume it is FLW because they "look like" the Martin House? Why hasn't the owner approached the Westcott House Foundation (if that's where they came from) to see if they can't be placed back...

You will never be able to count the number of Usonians, because the criteria, or the definition, was never clearly established. The early Usonians were easy to identify, but the financial constraints imposed by the clients on Wright became secondary issues. A good idea, but it turned out to be more ...

I'm afraid that the idea of the Usonian was only partially successful. No one can deny that Wright reinvented the idea of the house in the 1930's, but let's keep in mind that Rudolph Schindler experimented with similar framing and finishes in the 1920's in his own house in LA. Regardless, the idea t...

Actually, Russell was a little disappointed with the design of the original "bird" windows - after installing them, and living with them for awhile, he decided that they blocked too much natural light and views from the living room. He took them out and designed new windows that were more ...

Mike, your account of the Kraus house isn't completely accurate. Mr. Kraus was not frustrated with Taliesin's inability to finish the design - rather he took A LONG time to finish the house (it was an expensive building!). He regularly consulted with Wright, and afterward his death, with the Fellows...