Taliesin West

[JimM]

Is Jim correct in surmising that the bell-tower door might be post-Wright ? Sorry that my familiarity with TW history isn't what it could be . . .Not to be utterly pedantic, but two of the doors are irregular hexagons, the other two irregular pentagons---I believe.S

Stephen, the bell tower is Wright... still surmise the door was added later, maybe due to AC?

[SDR]

Jim sent a classic Pedro Guerrero photo of the Bell Tower at T West.




Here are three photos of the Living Room; a door is seen at the far wall in two (?) of them.





photos © Pedro Guerrero





photo courtesy Peter Maunu

[capie]

perfect I meant this door ... did you happen to see any drawings?

[SDR]

No. But there is this 1950 photo of the Garden Room (also called the living room ?) showing the large door. This seems to be a persistent feature; have we seen that door open, in any photo ?




Further photos: Wright's office, photographed in 1951 by Ezra Stoller, shows one opening with no door (yet), and in the foreground another door in the open position.




Here's a photo, also by Stoller, of the passage at the Cabaret Theater, where to maximize the clear opening the bottom of the door has had to be bent:




The only drawings I found are building sections. One of them shows a door opening. All of the images seen in this post are found in Taschen II.

[Roderick Grant]

Under the stairs next to the bell tower is (or was) a space where vegetables were kept on a large open concrete shelf with a perpetual spray of water keeping the veggies cold and fresh. Details like that are what made T-West magical. Many of the alterations over the years seem to have tried to civilize what was basically a Neolithic camp, turning it into a suburban house.

[capie]

I would have a jpeg image of the open door but forgive me I can not insert it ..

[SDR]

Capie, you can send a jpeg to me if you like, and I'll post it . . .

S

[Tom]

Love the thread.

[SDR]

. . . or you could sign on to a web host, who will provide your images with the URLs they need to be visible on the Internet.

The Dobkins house thread linked elsewhere here today is filled with images Dan C sent me for posting . . .

S

[SDR]

Capie sent me this photo of the Garden Room door open. I failed to look at my PM file so did not find it until this week.

[Tom]

Where does the water come from at TWest?
I guess I mean in general, as in where does Phoenix get water, but also is there a specific place on site where the water originates?
Have to imagine that this was a major concern when they first started to camp out there.

[Roderick Grant]

Probably the Colorado River.

[Tom]

So the Lake Powell Resevoir I guess.

Two pools of water come to mind at TWest.
Must have been important - can't take it for granted in the desert.
Did Wright ever talk about water in the desert?

[outside in]

I remember reading a story about Wright walking the property and "magically" determining the place to dig for water, i.e. a well. Don't know if they still get water from that source, but initially TWest water came from a well on site.

[Tom]

Interesting - will look for that story.
Anybody know when Air Conditioning entered the picture?