Wright Chat

Hi All, I am very new here and found your wonderful conversations when searching for some specific information about Laurie Virr. Laurie was my mentor, and I have been asked to write an obituary for the Australian Institute of Architects after his sad passing. Reading your conversation has lifted m...

I've come across two more Usonians with both gabled (or hipped) and flat roofs. Keys: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/85/5d/47855d113fd58176971b207eb17bcd0c.jpg Erdman #1: https://www.pennlive.com/resizer/83i5bOy9arWClFrxbUdDZreMNVk=/1280x0/smart/advancelocal-adapter-image-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com...

Saddened to learn of Laurie Virr's passing. I've loved reading his comments on this site. And on the instances we got to see his work, ahh, what great pleasure.

Wow, what a great story about Laurie Virr and Malcolm Wells. I had no idea... One can dream about a Wells & Virr firm..!

Understood, fellas.

But we're getting off topic of the Dabney house, so I won't carry it on.

We can all agree that Wright played the PR game to a degree... And we agree he cared deeply about his exteriors... No question... But to disregard the architect's oft-repeated design philosophy as exaggerated and "PR" is, I think, a pretty lousy study of his work. "As Phil Allsop and ...

If Wright centered his designs interiorly, with schemes that used expanding ceiling heights for effect, his dilemma was how to achieve that under one uniform roof. There are plenty of examples where a Usonian's roof seems to shift relative to the interior needs, with an acceptance of an exterior 'me...

Yeah, and to defend Geiger, the "schizophrenic" comment was omitted from his narrative, included as a supplemental note from whoever posted the writing. I might add that if the Mossberg mixing of flat and gable roof is acceptable, Dabney goes a step further with a row of clerestories divid...

The original Mossberg plan, which was single story, had its flat roof portion in an L shape, covering the dining nook as well: https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/28526393;prevRouteTS=1631363337887 https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/28526394;prevRouteTS=1631363337887 I certainly agree that a more u...

In that Geiger commentary, he says "The relationship of the dining area to the bedroom gallery would have been interesting and survived in the first Zimmerman design"... Here's a scan of Zimmerman #1 that SDR uploaded in a different thread: http://sdrdesign.com/Zimmerman1Plan.jpg One criti...

Nope.. the old links aren't working... Found this great piece by John Geiger on the Zimmerman house (with a couple sweet construction photos): https://jgonwright.net/ep03Geo.html He writes a little about the Dabney-Zimmerman connection. At the bottom of the piece was an interesting note: –– Note 1: ...

peterm shared this comment on a Zimmerman thread in 2013: Post by peterm » Wed Aug 21, 2013 12:15 pm An analysis and history of the Zimmerman house: Mobile version: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=plpp&v=gyEYTG4pPIk Standard: (is this correct, egads?) http://www.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=...

The 'general & electrical' version of the plan shows a service door into the kitchen...and also a nifty planter box that backstops the dining nook. https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/28526384;prevRouteTS=1631234682547 The way the Dabney "garden loggia" and the kids bedrooms are arrang...

An interesting plan which I'd never seen before: https://library.artstor.org/#/search/dabney%20wright;page=1;size=48 Appears to be a large, mostly-flat suburban lot (.75 acres, with a '4 foot slope from front to back'). Unique features include the wide "garden loggia"; the built-in dining ...

Looking more.... McCallum seems to be a sloping site with the hill highest in the rear of the property. The "caste block" plan seems to have an almost pre-Usonian layout, with the living room "open side" facing the street. I'd suppose this is the reason for the shielding nature o...

The 9-seat dining table in the first drawing of the set is....wild.... Perhaps the table is intended to be pulled out for large gatherings. (But the thought of so many people sitting in that arrangement is just bizarre.) Also, the "plan in caste block" is very interesting..! https://librar...