Wright Chat

Hi all: I was approached by a local realtor who has a YouTube channel - he visits historic homes in the area (not for sale!) and creates a video for his audience. I allowed him into The Stuart Richardson House a few weeks ago, and he posted his video on YouTube yesterday evening. It's about 13 minutes, but you can fast forward through any parts you feel are too slow/repetitive. I think he did an OK job capturing the home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAOWSs2wF8&t=23s - Best, Todd

Thanks for posting this tour, Todd. It's great to see the home again - and, so well cared for, too! My wife and I had the pleasure of touring Richardson about 10 years ago with Mrs. Payne. The video does the home justice, showing how beautifully Wright's design and use of materials all came together to create such a wonderful home.


David

What dropped my jaw when I visited in 2002 was the living room ceiling. A one-off if ever there was one.

When John Geiger remodeled his apartment, he found that the clerestory windows that he added didn't do a good job of evacuating hot air, so he had to add fans. If the perf clerestories at Richardson are operable, I wonder if the ceiling helps usher hot air through them?

That raises an interesting question, to wit: how many Usonian clerestory windows were operable ?

Jacobs sets the tone, one would think, and its street-side windows---some of them, anyway ?---are openable. But I would bet that the majority of Usonian clerestories, at least the inaccessibly high ones, are not.




A third of the way through this sweet video we get a good enough look at the Richardson clerestory windows to see that every second one is hinged and latched. One (or two ?) of the kitchen and bath clerestories are elaborately mechanized to be openable from the floor; I'm aware of few other Usonians equipped with this sort of operating hardware.

S

What a delicious tour of the Stuart Richardson residence ! The camera is employed in a way not found in another Wright-house video that I have seen---smoothly and continuously exploring the space, raised and lowered at times to take in a variety of views. Mr Levin must experience a sort of architectural paradise when at home in this house . . .

One observes that the drop in the ceiling of the main space seems to have been calculated precisely so that, standing anywhere around the perimeter of the room, the clerestory band opposite the viewer is just visible; the inverted pyramid doesn't obscure Wright's perforated ranma.

S

Study of the roof framing and reflected ceiling plans reveals a complexity of solutions to the roofing of this hex-module design. In the roof framing plan of the main space, one is unsure whether the stickwork shown is that for the flat roof or the inverted-pyramid ceiling---or both. Wright cannot apparently bring himself to show a conventional (and most efficient) orthogonal array of joists and rafters, preferring to follow the skewed planning grid (for aesthetic consistency ?). But the bridging of a triangular space with the shortest possible primary load-carrying members seems to have suggested or dictated an asymmetrical solution:

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 6083386346

Note the small triangular pier that occurs at the middle of the inboard side of the triangle, at one corner of the utility space in the Sundt plan and outside the kitchen at Richardson; the roof framing plans shows that this little pier is indispensable for the support of the main roof truss.

Sundt

Richardson


Compare these framing plans to the reflected ceiling plans; a determining factor in the direction of the framing members would be that none of them can run parallel to the finished ceiling boards, which need to be nailed to rafters that cross their path, as it were.

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 6084303149

S

The Stuart Richardson House clerestory windows are indeed all operable. But as I installed powerful HVAC cold enough to grow stalactite-like icicles indoors the moment I bought the home, I am pleased to say there is no need to do so!...

Heh. Well, that's good. Do the ventilating mechanisms in the kitchen and bath still work ?

The house looks so good, Todd. I imagine Mr Wright would approve completely, including of the healthy growth of grass between the house and the street---a real rarity, still, in suburbia ? Does the stream or brook beside the entry walk have a history, or is it recent ? All very pleasant---and such a healthy contrast to the conventional neighbors, on a lovely street that I don't think most of us have seen before, illustrative of the difference between Wright's vision for happy and inspiring living and the norm to which most of America aspires.

The music in the video is a pleasant and appropriate improvement over most such fare, setting and enhancing the mood. Altogether a delight . . .

S

SDR: Indeed - there are three skylights, one is fixed, the other two are absolutely operable (thought I've had no reason to do so). In terms of the landscaping, I took the entire half acre lot almost to dirt - except a couple of old-growth trees. Then we first did the hardscaping - the original planned driveway which was never completed, the original planned garden terrace which had never been built, an additional terrace surround for the in-ground pool (a later addition), an expansion of the stream/pond/waterfall system (which was not original either and a later addition), and a whole house generator. The second step was a complete swaling of all grounds and the addition of French drains to allow proper drainage to stop water from heavy rains consistently creating a lake around the rear of the house. The third step was the planting of some 40 mature evergreen trees - firs, cypress, evergreens, and pines of mixed sorts. The final step was the planting and management of all the meadow grasses that you remarked on... Best,, T

OMG..!! This is something I've been waiting for. Beautiful house, complex house. I think that I prefer to gaze it than living it (those angles, other furniture there, etc). Anyway. Could someday have a video tour like this of Wall house (Snowflake), Arnold Friedman, Baird, Fredrick or Lewis house and those "lesser know" houses..?

It's the best house tour I've had yet. (Imagine Real Estate sales videos this good ! The industry should be so lucky . . .?)

Todd, your care for the property, throughout, is exemplary. I'm so pleased. Investments in the long-term care of structures and landscapes of architectural significance, at this level, are still rare, though there's been hopeful development in recent years. Perhaps the Conservancy can be proud of their part in this improvement ? But it's the concerned and spirited owners who bear the burden---and I hope the joy---of their stewardship. Richardson is in good hands.

S

I just learned that the TV program This Old House has started doing a house in Glen Ridge, NJ. - to be shown as part of their next season (#45). I don't have an address for the home yet, though.


David