Carlton D. Wall House (SNOWFLAKE) - Plymouth, Michigan

[juankbedoya]

Hello Wrightians, Could you please share us, info, details, stories, plans, of the Carlton House, better known as SNOWFLAKE? I found its floor plan a very few pictures and that's it. It's a very and beautiful design an complex as well. Hope you can give us more about this lesser-known gem.

[Roderick Grant]

There isn't a lot written about it. Go to Google Maps and look up:

12305 Beck Road
Plymouth, MI

...and you will see that there are two major additions, seemingly done in the same style, one to the south of the house, and another (detached) to the northeast.

The owner (at January 2008) is the daughter of Lewis H. Goddard, whose FLW-designed house is at 12221 Beck Road, due south from Snowflake, across the lawn. That house is even less well-published than Carlton Wall.

[juankbedoya]

There isn't a lot written about it. Go to Google Maps and look up:

12305 Beck Road
Plymouth, MI

...and you will see that there are two major additions, seemingly done in the same style, one to the south of the house, and another (detached) to the northeast.

The owner (at January 2008) is the daughter of Lewis H. Goddard, whose FLW-designed house is at 12221 Beck Road, due south from Snowflake, across the lawn. That house is even less well-published than Carlton Wall.

Thanks for your contribution. It's a pity that there is not much information about it. Yes, I saw the google earth picture. Hope somebody have more details or interior/exterior shots. I have seen just a little about Goddard. Indeed is harder to find something about it.

[SDR]

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photos © Juergen Nogai

Carleton Wall in his living room, 1949



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photos © Yukio Futagawa


© 2009 by TASCHEN GmbH; © 1986 A.D.A EDITA Tokyo Co., Ltd. and by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

[juankbedoya]

© 2009 by TASCHEN GmbH; © 1986 A.D.A EDITA Tokyo Co., Ltd. and by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

OMFG..!!! YOU HAVE EVERYTHING..!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH X 1000000..!!!!
I am so intrigued with this house.

By the way I read details of "aquarium in dining room" What is this..??

[Reidy]

I like the Art Deco bas-relief. Was it built in?

[SDR]

Of the three hexagonal units in the dining room, one is a "small pool for fish, another an aviary for birds, the third a terrarium for plants." Which one is the aquarium ? Must be the fish pool . . .

Not sure that's Art Deco, though it might resemble certain public murals associated with the era -- but whatever it is, I've never heard it mentioned. Anybody ?

S

[juankbedoya]

Of the three hexagonal units in the dining room, one is a "small pool for fish, another an aviary for birds, the third a terrarium for plants." Which one is the aquarium ? Must be the fish pool . . .

Not sure that's Art Deco, though it might resemble certain public murals associated with the era -- but whatever it is, I've never heard it mentioned. Anybody ?

S

Woow, very interesting about the hexagons... thanks for your knowledge..!!

[SDR]

Just reading the script.

It's true that little can be found online for this house.

http://www.michiganmodern.org/buildings ... wall-house

(Storrer and the Monograph have the name as Carlton; in Taschen and on Wright's drawings it is spelled Carleton.)

S

[juankbedoya]

Just reading the script.

It's true that little can be found online for this house.

http://www.michiganmodern.org/buildings ... wall-house

(Storrer and the Monograph have the name as Carlton; in Taschen and on Wright's drawings it is spelled Carleton.)

S

Yes, I already read the info of michiganmodern, that's it, info and pictures. Hope somebody have more shots.

[Tom]

Probably becasue there is not a lot published on this house it's always been on the periphery for me.
But stepping back to understand it - one way is that it must be put in the category among the pre-WW2 Usonians.
That time coming out of the depression with Willey ...
just an explosion of creativity.
Wright was extraterrestrial.

[Roderick Grant]

Another bit of trivia: In his FLW-Collecting heyday, Wall was bought by Tom Monaghan. Whether he or the current owner added the new construction, I don't know.

I agree, SDR, the relief looks more like something from the WPA, or even USSR realism, than Deco. Noting how the relief is fitted into every nook and cranny, including the ceiling, it obviously was installed permanently.

One detail I think must not have been executed as designed is the master bed being just a 2"-thick wall from the servant's bed.

[HOJO]

I like the Art Deco bas-relief. Was it built in?

In the picture labeled 'Carleton Wall in his living room, 1949' one can see on the very left 3 shelves, against a brick wall and a skylight above (also drawn in plan).

In the next picture one sees the same wall but now in front, with the bas-relief, and the 2 top shelves and the skylight are gone .

Is the bas-relief built in stone, or is it a very thin plate? (brick imprint visible through the plain part?) Strange how horse and the man's leg are horizontally cut by some plain ribbon.

[Rood]

Floor to ceiling windows, doors without mullions, and corner windows are used throughout the house. This brings the "outside in", which is the case in all Wright houses. From 1943-44, Milton Horn collaborated with Wright on a wood relief mural for the house. In 1947, a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) bedroom wing was added to accommodate the Walls' growing family. It is located to the west of the original house. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_D._Wall_House)

Also see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Horn

[SDR]

The three-ply wall doesn't give great promise of acoustic privacy, whether between family members or between the classes . . .


Stafford Norris kindly forwarded eight new photos for our delectation. I begin with images of the relief beneath a skylight. The relief is carved wood, surely ?


E


G


A


B


C. . . . F


D


H



Four tent roofs have joined the original two: