Arthur Dyson house

Kelly Johnston · Post by **Kelly Johnston** » Tue Jan 02, 2018 7:45 pm

Here's the Rietz residence, a Minnesota house with many angles by apprentice Arthur Dyson. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/O ... 9415_zpid/

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:18 pm

Here's something that's never quit fit for me....the use of stucco or dry-wall in a Usonian house. I'm so accustomed to that limited pallet of masonry, glass, and wood...that the introduction of drywall on the wall or ceilings just rubs me the wrong way.

Kelly Johnston · Post by **Kelly Johnston** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:24 am

Fay Jones sometimes used Homasote board on ceilings as an alternative to stucco/drywall.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:37 pm

That's interesting. Homasote has a texture on each face, one slightly different from the other. I imagine he painted it ?

Looking at the Larry Brink house on another thread here, I notice that the architect sheetrocked all vertical interior surfaces, and even some horizontal ones (the "tray" window, for instance). I wonder what the effect would have been if some of those surfaces had been clear-finished or stained plywood . . .

SDR

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:52 pm

In 2000, when the FLWBC met in Minneapolis, I tried to get the bus trip to Owatonna (to see the Sullivan Bank) to include a trip to Rietz, but apparently they couldn't arrange it. I think it's a fascinating design; the exterior is architectural jazz.

vortrex · Post by **vortrex** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:04 pm

SDR wrote:That's interesting. Homasote has a texture on each face, one slightly different from the other. I imagine he painted it ?

Looking at the Larry Brink house on another thread here, I notice that the architect sheetrocked all vertical interior surfaces, and even some horizontal ones (the "tray" window, for instance). I wonder what the effect would have been if some of those surfaces had been clear-finished or stained plywood . . .

SDR

I've often thought of subtracting some of the drywall in my house. The large wall in the LR and the tray window portion were my first targets. The large wall in the LR has been freshly drywalled since I spray foamed it. I thought about topping it with something like lauan. The drywall is all gone from the tray window area now so when that gets rebuilt plywood is an option there. I do not like drywall.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:17 pm

Vortex, I think you should proceed cautiously with that plan. The interior seems to be an essay in folded plates, for which the drywall is a perfect material. Photograph the interiors and photo-shop them with what you are considering before you leap into the breach.

Kelly Johnston · Post by **Kelly Johnston** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:29 am

Yes, Fay Jones painted the Homasote board. He covered joints between adjacent panels with wooden battens to his design advantage.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:59 am

It's an inexpensive and unprepossessing material, made of newsprint and paraffin. It has little stiffness, so it would need to be nailed at close intervals. It makes a good sacrificial floor cover in the workshop, for slab floors.

SDR

goffmachine · Post by **goffmachine** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 12:20 pm

The handrail is stunning.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:25 pm

Indeed. One imagines a spectacular water show, in a downpour . . .

SDR