Article: Western Reserve Historical Society acquires Staley House drawings - North Madison , OH

[DavidC]

Western Reserve Historical Society Acquires Frank Lloyd Wright Drawings


David

[SDR]

https://www.clevescene.com/blogs/scene- ... e-drawings

?

[Tom]

I've sent an email request to several of these folk on the banner asking for all the Staley House documents to be added to their digital collection for public accessibility:

https://www.wrhs.org/about/staff/

[SDR]

The original drawings which the Turbens acqired from the Staleys were likely prints of ones in the archive:

https://library.artstor.org/#/search/Wr ... =1;size=48

Of course it is possible that other drawings---hand-colored perspective views, supplementary construction drawings and the like---as well as correspondence with Taliesin, may be in the collection as well; these would in some cases not be duplicated in any other form or location.

S

[Tom]

Thanks for link - some very clear drawings in this file (my fave is the "truss construction instructions").
Article says they've got a stash of construction photographs.
I like the roof details on this house too.
The photograph from article about the WRHS gift seems to indicate that the owners went all out on wood preservation.
Probably a good idea.
Wonder if they did the Sikkens treatment?

[SDR]

Isn't that truss thing great ? The fly in the ointment is that the designer expects the maker to drive nails through 2x truss members into 1/2" plywood, in such a way as to draw the plywood and the lumber tightly together. Good luck with that; better to lay the truss members on the plywood sheets as a control of shape, and glue and nail the second layer of plywood to the lumber---then (after the glue is cured) turn the thing over and nail the first sheets to the opposite side of the truss. I'd like to think that's how it was done . . .

S

[Tom]

Yes - very cool .. and very unusual for an architect to specify method of construction.
I just noticed that the entire ceiling height in this house is 6'-7" except for the part above the living room.
am I wrong about that?
Anyway - I like it, part of the strength of the house - and that's not even regulation door height by contemporary laws.

[SDR]

You're late to the party, aren't you: yes, a characteristic of Usonia is tight spaces alternating with (relatively) expansive ones. Remember, the Artist can get away with much in the name of his Art---providing he can carry the nay-sayers along with him by sheer force of personality. Once you have a taste of that kind of success, it must be hard to relinquish the tools . . .

S

[Tom]

No, silly - what strikes me as unusual here (but maybe not) is that the ENTIRE* house is at 6'-7" except for the "release" over the living room.
Usually there are other areas of "release", like a lantern down the bedroom wing or some such.
But this is not a quantitative judgement. I've not made a list.

*Excluding kitchen. Hard to tell but looks like kitchen is as high as livingroom "release" area.

[Roderick Grant]

Winn is a uniform 7 feet throughout. No release whatsoever. I'm not quite tall enough to scrape my head on a 7' ceiling, but I still would find it confining. 6'7" would be claustrophobic. If you can tamp down your cowlick by jumping up and down, hitting your head on the ceiling, it is too low.

What is the maximum height of the Staley ceiling in the living room?

[Tom]

Called out as 11'-9" on Sheet 8:
https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 8873956681

[Tom]

Wow.
Winn @ 7'-0" throughout.
Didn't realize Wright ever did that.

Sections:
https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 8873432730

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

[Rood]

The plan detail I find particularly curious is that the Study is equipped with a full bath, while the Guest Room has only a lavatory. Was the house really built that way?