Wright Chat

Did not know until now that the Steel Cathedral contains cable suspended ascending and descending ramps top to bottom.
Wright calls it a "roadway" to the garden at the top.
They are drawn and called out in the darkest note in the middle of this fist sketch:

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 3727057000

Strong was two years before

... also , not sure, but there seems to be a very large something or other called a "pendant" hanging to the bottom from the top.

Note comparison to height of Eiffel Tower.

The other two drawings in the Artstor file under "Wright Guthrie Cathedral":

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 3838482216

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/285 ... 3838482216

S

Even though the probability of constructing Steel Cathedral - as well as Mile High - was always zero, I bet FLW had a lot of fun drawing it. Geiger said Wright avoided work that wasn't fun, dumping onto "the boys" to do.

I've seen the color drawing of the plan. It's beautiful. Would love to see the other two in the original color.
Steel Cathedral and Mile High share concept: tripod and cables in tension.

Good point, Rod. Lots of playfulness in FLlW. Funny how many people--especially academics--take these fantasies seriously. I often remember a fellow who insisted the "Mile-High Illinois" could have been realized with its "nuclear-powered" elevators and had been actually commissioned by "two men in suits."

Well, Beth Shalom was built with this concept.

Beth Shalom is a perfect example of the usefulness of FLW's 'playful' projects. The Synagogue is a speck compared to Cathedral. It is easier to take a large project and reduce it than to do the reverse. Price is the rational realization of Mile High, Wingspread of House on the Mesa. In the Mike Wallace interview, FLW's responses to every question Wallace asked, except when it came to Mile High, were immediate and well thought out. He hesitated when trying to justify his 'scheme' to replace all of NYC with 4 Mile Highs in Central Park. It is a brief fumble, he caught himself, but if you pay attention, you can catch it. FLW was no fool.

Need to review that interview. It's hard to watch, if I remember correctly, because Wallace is such a show boat - waving that cigarette all round. I'd never heard of a 4 Mile Highs scheme - puts Corbusier to shame.

... I also think the house for Stanley Marcus is direct descendant of House on Mesa.

Your right about that. I think Marcus is not a very good representation of the wood/brick Usonian. it would have worked better if all brick.

Beth Sholom:

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/286 ... 4083934116