Robert Evans House 1908

[Tom]

RG mentions this house in a previous post.
It's one unknown to me so thought I'd bring it up:



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

[Tom]

Section (A-B) taken through bay at south end of living room and Bedroom #3 above.
Fun with load paths!

[Roderick Grant]

This is a brilliant house, largely overlooked. Unfortunately, it has been resurfaced on the street-side façade with the fake stone we all love to hate, the porch has been enclosed, and there is an addition on the back. I don't know what shape it is in inside. It is in a stable neighborhood, and looks to be restorable, however.

There was some fine furniture for the living room and dining room, long gone, of course. See the "Early Work" book.

[SDR]

That would be "A-B"; see these Wright lettering samples from 1907:






The three corners of the house that are symmetrical about a diagonal axis become asymmetrical in a couple of plan drawings.

S

[Roderick Grant]

The "E"s look like they are yelling at the letters next to them.

[SDR]

This "font" was used with remarkable consistency, from the Cooper drawing of 1890, through Brigham, 1915 . . .


Storrer plan:




The sole interior photo in the book Roderick cites:



That is undoubtedly Wright's most admirably severe brick fireplace. No lintel; no hobs.

[Duncan]

The last image in the Artstor set shows a much different (and more "standard") fireplace.

[SDR]

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/284 ... 0181666010

When I ask Artstor for "Wright Evans" I get a file of 72 images---many irrelevant. But there's a photo of this library table, which isn't identified as belonging to the Evans house---but there it is, dated 1908; here's another image, also unidentified:

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/34200/library-table

[Roderick Grant]

The photo of the Evans House living room above shows a very different design with no spindles and cabinets at either end.

[SDR]

Eric O'Malley kindly forwards these images, found at the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries online image repository.

https://digital-libraries.artic.edu/dig ... nn/and!all

[Tom]

Wow. Gorgeous. What idiot put fake stone on this house?
Glad to learn about Ryerson and Burnham too.

The front elevation has such long classical symmetry, one almost expects the interiors to align on axis, but the living room does nothing of the kind. It's almost like saying the front of the house is really a side elevation. The living room is facing the other way. Ha!

[SDR]

Yeah, this one is a good example of Wright uniting exterior form and interior spacial arrangement---but with a (literal) twist.

There is a strong affiliation with the "Fireproof House" form, obviously, but he isn't afraid to "give up" the fourth corner, as needs must. The rear view is like a Dave Anderson photo: showing us a side of the building most don't bother to seek out and record.

The slot windows at the corners can be seen in one of the interior photos; disappointingly, these aren't expressed as floor length or full-height recesses inside.

S

[Tom]

The slot windows at the corners can be seen in one of the interior photos; disappointingly, these aren't expressed as floor length or full-height recesses inside.

Yeah. I assumed full height before you brought this to attention. Yet they do seem to coincide with some of those dark wood horizontal "trim" planes on the exterior.

The living room interior shot facing out through the window wall to the porch - to the right is the corner between those slot windows. There, above the cabinets, things get knick knacky. Makes me wonder in a general way if to some degree living in such a completely conceived house is too much for most folk. Here - even a Frank Lloyd Wright client is not able to defer to the room and de-clutter.
...or maybe all I mean to say is that corner above the cabinets seems out of place with the attention paid to composition and clear areas (especially the desk) in the rest of the shot.
But where else does one put one's pictures? Alas.

[Duncan]

Somewhere I previously read that there was a carriage house/garage that is no longer extant. And, voila, there it is in the R & B photo #3 beyond the porte cochere.

[SDR]

Yup. We'll take all the pics we can get, of any Wright building ! There's always something new to see. What other Prairie period house were we just looking at, with a completely sympatico original (?) garage . . .?

Look to Griffin's Rule house for a cabinetry solution to a solid corner like that

Rule
"Fireproof"

Rule