Ted Bower

Unbrook · Post by **Unbrook** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 7:41 pm

I seem to remember a discussion about Ted Bower, the Taliesin apprentice who worked on the Weltzheimer house. Does any one know if he had an archive and where one can access it?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 8:51 pm

If Palli is still with us after the debacle of her recent thread, she will likely have the most useful info on Ted Bower . . .

SDR

Unbrook · Post by **Unbrook** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 9:03 pm

She is still with us, but off doing her own thing now, so I don't run into as often. I thought that someone who actually knew Ted had posted on this forum, shortly after he passed on. Thank you for the suggestion.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:37 pm

The most material on Bower that I've encountered, by far, is found in the Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin College) Bulletin, Volume XLIX, Number 1
(1995), which is concerned with the Weltzheimer house. This may have been Bower's only assignment as apprentice-in-charge of a Usonian; I'm not quite
clear on that. The Bulletin contains very extensive coverage of the several ownerships of the house, and of its restorations. Palli provided me with my copy
of this publication.

SDR

Unbrook · Post by **Unbrook** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:09 am

Thank you. That publication is my Bible. After the Weltzheimer project, Ted went on to work with Le Corbusier's cousin in India, and then on to a career as an architect on the West Coast. There are considerable differences between Wright's design for the Weltzheimer and the as built. I wonder if these were Ted's doing, or were influenced by the Weltzheimers. The Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin does not address that topic. I was hoping to find out whether there is a Bower Archive somewhere.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:59 am

Can you give a short list of the "considerable differences" . . . ?

SDR

JimM · Post by **JimM** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:32 pm

We've talked about Ted a time or two. On a long ago thread I may have described his home and a few interesting conversations with him. He had a very contentious relationship with Wright and boy did he have a lot to say about Olga! Our brief acquaintance resulted from my doing some work with him when we both lived on Lopez Island, in the San Juans of Washington State.

I'm not aware of anything specific as far as an archive, but I believe his wife, Diana Bower, may still reside on Lopez Island and should be easy to contact. Her daughter had an exceptional seasonal bakery in the village for years.

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 5:37 pm

(the following links all mention Ted Bower):

Ted Bower

For sale: Ted Bower home in Seattle

OPEN THREAD: Apprentice Arch. Responsibilities

Request aid completing Survey of Usonian Perforated Boards (p. 15)

Request aid completing Survey of Usonian Perforated Boards (p. 26)

Request aid completing Survey of Usonian Perforated Boards (p. 4)

Weltzheimer-Further Study

Request aid completing Survey of Usonian Perforated Boards (p. 100

NY & Ohio FLW trip photos

David

Unbrook · Post by **Unbrook** » Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:12 am

Considerable Differences
1. The Perforated Wood Screen design
2. The Utility Room is twice as big as Wright's plan
3. The house was intended to be elevated on four steps

I have not found correspondence that account for any of these changes, other than the Perforated Wood Screen design.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:56 am

The elevation of the house above the plane of the site is discussed in the notes to Section One of the Weltzheimer book (Note 3, p 40), though the matter is
not conclusively dealt with: we are told that plan drawings show steps at the entrances which do not appear in the built house.

Drawings seem to have been lost to the Taliesin files: neither Monograph 7 nor Taschen III have more than a floor plan and a site plan. These two
drawings are the only ones to appear in the Weltzheimer publication, as well. Elevations would have been useful in the discussion of the above question.

SDR