Wright's "Margaret Schevill House" design, 1941

[jay]

I was scrolling through the Vision of Wright webpage, looking for something unrelated, and came across this design:

https://visionsofwright.files.wordpress ... =640&h=753

It caught my attention as a potentially great early Usonian variation. The public wing seems to resemble Euchtman, while the loggia extending down the bedroom wing brings to mind the Brandes house of sorts.

Does anybody know more about this design? Where the site was, etc? (And has this design been discussed here before?)

Also, it's tough to make out the details of the plan, as the image file is low-res, but what is happening in the space to the right of the dining? Is it an open "study"?

[SDR]

Can you link us to the Visions of Wright page ? Is the name of a client given ? If so, I can look this up in Taschen to learn more; perhaps the Monograph will have a more legible plan in black and white . . .

S

[jay]

The client name is Margaret Schevill; here's the page:

https://visionsofwright.wordpress.com/2 ... ouse-1941/

[SDR]

Here's the published record. The differences between the Monograph and Taschen entries for the house represent an ideal example of Bruce Pfeiffer's use of the two publications,
the Monograph in 1986 and the Taschen volume in 2009, to maximally enlighten his readers about a given project.















© 2009 by TASCHEN GmbH and by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (items 1, 4, 5)

© 1986 A.D.A EDITA Tokyo Co., Ltd. and by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (items 2, 3)

[SDR]

A couple of things strike me about this plan, dating to the time when the initial blossoming of Usonian activity has been accomplished. The dining table
ensconced in its own "pod" is reminiscent of early works; Jacobs I comes to mind. More unusual -- and awaiting explanation -- are the extraordinarily
thick masonry walls, and the row of French doors opening from two bedrooms (at right on the plan), not onto a terrace but apparently to the hallway or
gallery next to them.

S

[Matt2]

Desert masonry...reminiscent of the Pauson house in its long form.

[SDR]

Looking at the elevation on the plan sheet, I see desert masonry as a base -- but the walls and piers overhanging and rising from that base are drawn like brick, and even bear a red tint -- don't they ?

S

[jay]

Thank you SDR for posting these scans. If the house was to be built with adobe bricks, as the narrative describes, that'd explain the thick walls....

Is that a clandestine doorway in the master bedroom...a secret escape out of the house?

[SDR]

Ah -- I missed the material description. ("I don't read em; I just post em.") That makes sense, and explains perhaps the slight irregularities of profile to the upper masonry ?

Thanks for alerting us to this unusual project.

S

[Roderick Grant]

The elevation appears to be adobe brick, but both perspectives look more like standard brick. The first perspective, with its wing perpendicular to the main axis is a different animal entirely from the inline plan. The second perspective, with the 30-60 terrace differs from the plan not only in the semi-circular terrace, but in lacking doors to the dining area.

The plan and elevation are extremely rough sketches; the inline perspective appears to be more carefully thought out; the L-shape version is the slickest drawing ... by? This all adds up to the obvious chronology of a commission that didn't go far. It looks like one of those jobs where the client couldn't make up her mind what she wanted.

I have a vague recollection of meeting an elderly woman named Mrs. Schevill in Palo Alto around 1987-8. Considering the timeline, it could not have been Ferdinand's (1868-1954) widow, but she may have been a daughter-in-law. She had an original perspective that she seemed eager to sell to an appreciative audience. (It was an event at Stanford focusing on the Hanna House.) I don't recall specifics about the drawing, though it was in colored pencil, and appeared to be a well developed scheme. The above drawings don't ring a bell.

[Daniel Dominique Watts]

There are 9 drawings in the archives of Artstor for the Columbia Univ. Collection from Taliesin.

It is shown in 2 extr perspectives to have been built in Tuscon, AZ with desert stone thick walls & triangular terrace, but similar to Rose Pauson for construction. The plan reminds me of a cross between Goetsch-Winckler & Pauson. The interesting cascading open wall behind carport is different as are the tapered roofs under the carport and at the other end of bedroom wing.

The steps Going up "do not go to a roof" but clearly shown on the side elevation as a 2nd flr room (see the dashed lines) that ends with the higher roof over living area. By seeing the width of that room it appears to be a 2nd flr master bedroom with balcony, especially since the word "balc" is written by Wright beside the steps to 2nd flr on the plan.

The desert stone thick walls appear to change. I DO NOT SEE ANYWHERE IN THE TALIESIN FILES ANY PLAN OR ELEVATION SHOWING AN "L" PLAN (OR) "T" PLAN.

IT CLEARLY SHOWS ONLY AS IN INLINE PLAN LIKE GOETSCH-WINCKLER & PAUSON.

Note: I will try to add images. It also has perforated panels on upper L.R. roof and on room next to carport. The pattern is almost clear enough from 3 images of them in end elevation, carport end elev. & extr perspective.

The "L" shape perspective shown above doesn't appear in Taliesin files & it seems is from a totally different project. Tuscon, AZ doesn't have scenery like that.

[Daniel Dominique Watts]

https://library.artstor.org/#/search/ar ... e=1;sort=1

[Daniel Dominique Watts]

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB4uuo

[Daniel Dominique Watts]

https://flic.kr/p/2phK5iN

[Daniel Dominique Watts]

https://flic.kr/p/2phHVBV