Davenport Exterior Construction Photographs - October 2007

pharding · Post by **pharding** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:58 pm

1901

1931 Alterations

2007 Restoration

West Facade

View from Northwest

Detail at Bay

Siding on Left is Newly Installed Recovered Cypress which is Same Age as Original Cypress Siding on Right

Door Prior to Restoration

Restored Door with Cypress Dutchmen and Epoxey Filler Prior to Staining

Photographs are copyright 2007 Paul Harding FAIA and may not used without written permission.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:47 pm

I must say I like your west facade better than the earlier two -- including the second-storey window. The trim running around the base is so fine. . .

It must have been a trick to restore the roof to its original configuration. Congratulations on an elaborate restoration and a labor of love.

SDR

pharding · Post by **pharding** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:36 am

The trim at the base of the second story window will be added when we do the balance of the lime plaster work and install the cedar roof.

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:20 am

WOW!
The house looks fantastic. The details really do make it, your attention to them is inspiring.
I will face french door bottom stile repairs at Sweeton in the next few years, I hope I can ask you the occaisonal question about how you accomplished yours.

Oak Park Jogger · Post by **Oak Park Jogger** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:57 am

Thanks for posting the photographs!

How are you and your local government doing relative to recreating the original enclosed verandah? Do you have thoughts as to why Wright originally built such a high wall? Of course it offers privacy, which is important, but wouldn't the height also prevent breezes from entering the house or cooling the occupants of the verandah? I've always been a little puzzled by these enclosures.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:09 pm

Guenzel and Drummond, River Forest Women's Club, 1913. Photo by H A Brooks, from his "The Prairie School."

William E Drummond, John A Klesert house, River Forest, 1915. Photo by Thomas M Slade, ibid

pharding · Post by **pharding** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:33 pm

Oak Park Jogger wrote:Do you have thoughts as to why Wright originally built such a high wall? Of course it offers privacy, which is important, but wouldn't the height also prevent breezes from entering the house or cooling the occupants of the verandah? I've always been a little puzzled by these enclosures.

The wall is approximately 32" above the top of the wood deck. The top of deck is approximately 2" beneath the the finished floor elevation of the living room. This partial height solid wall around the veranda is relatively common in Prairie houses of the period. I have been on many of these elevated verandas and they are actually rather wonderful for the occupants. They are not tall enough so as to block daylight or cooling breezes from entering the house, yet they provide visual privacy to users of the deck from people walking by on the sidewalk. Other owners with whom I have discussed these elevated verandas are quite happy with them.

This solid wall around an elevated deck carried over FLW's residential projects for the next 58 years of his long illustrious career. Apparently he was quite fond of this idea and received positive feedback from his clients.

The River Forest Womens Club is right down the street from the Davenport House and has been recently restored. Mrs. Davenport was president of this wonderful organization. The dedicated new owners who restored the building and converted it into a residence were given a very hard time by the citizens of River Forest, neighbors, the village, and the local violin teacher wanna be preservation expert who led protests in front of the project. Then when it was all said and done, the neighbors were happy about the positive impact of historic preservation on their property values with The River Forest Womens Club and the Davenport House. No good preservation deed goes unpunished.

Ed Jarolin · Post by **Ed Jarolin** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:55 pm

Mr Harding,

Nice photos. Nice job.

One question. I notice a difference in the trim at the second story windows as shown in the 1901 photo vs. the as restored photo.
Would you give us the story behind this restoration choice.

pharding · Post by **pharding** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:19 pm

Ed Jarolin wrote:Mr Harding,

Nice photos. Nice job.

One question. I notice a difference in the trim at the second story windows as shown in the 1901 photo vs. the as restored photo.
Would you give us the story behind this restoration choice.

Thank you for the compliments. The trim at the base of the second story window will be added when we do the balance of the lime plaster work and install the cedar shingle roof. This Japonisme detail is an important part of the story of the house. It also acknowledges the influence of the Japonisme on Frank Lloyd Wright and other fine architects of this period, including Greene and Greene. This trim will most likely be constructed in 2009. Reconstructing the 1921 vernacular garage is one of the major projects for 2008 along with screens and storm windows.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:32 pm

The new color photos reveal this as perhaps Wright's most overtly "Japanese" design -- while also evoking the Alpine and the local Arts and Crafts, of course ? The extremely restrained and rectilinear glazing motif elicits faint echoes of shojii ?

SDR

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:28 pm

Thanks for posting the photos, Paul. Your home looks wonderful! The re-extention of the front roof-line makes such a dramatic (and great) change to the overall look.

Did you have to do much repair/replacement of the exterior siding? I especially like the look of the bottom siding - closest to the ground. The way it flares out-and-down looks wonderful and really 'anchors' the whole building to the ground.

Do you plan on recreating the wall surrounding the veranda at some future point?

David

JimM · Post by **JimM** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:36 pm

Beautiful! Wow, talk about drama. The roof lines are incredibly vibrant as originally designed; this restoration is important since the 1930's changes turned it into a completely different house.

Interestingly, compared to the 1901 photo and without the terrace, the exposed vertical bay uplifts and accentuates the roof even more. It is also interesting how much more drama there is, due to scale, of the barely earlier Bradley and Hickox. Wrights seminal prairie influences could hardly be more obvious.

Can you say Hooden?

Really, really nice.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:48 pm

It's great to see the front as it is. Do you actually intend to recreate the walled terrace ?

SDR

pharding · Post by **pharding** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:44 am

TnGuy wrote:...Did you have to do much repair/replacement of the exterior siding? ....

The 106 year old Cypress siding on the house appears to be all original except for a few locations. The bottom flared based on the driveway side is cedar. It looks like it was replaced after someone ran into it with a car. Half of the horizontal window sills for the basement windows were replaced. On the west facade we used Cypress that was disassembled from the 1931 alterations plus recovered Cypress that we purchased from a vendor in Florida. Recovered Cypress is from old growth logs that are recovered from the bottom of rivers and lakes. Not only did this approach yield robust high quality wood that was a great match for the original Cypress on the house, this was a sustainable design strategy.

...Through centuries of adaptation, Bald Cypress has developed an inherent resistance to destructive forces, including water and insects, not found in other woods. A favorite building material of Frank Lloyd Wright, heart cypress is a natural building material for flooring, furniture, exterior walls and many other special projects. ....

The recovered Cypress took approximately six months to eight months to dry out in Florida. After it was dried out it was shipped to an extremely dependable mill-work shop in Lemont, Illinois to be fabricated. We stained the wood on all faces before it was installed. In 1901 the Cypress was stained with Cabot's Stain. We used their stain custom colored to match the 1901 color of their 1901 creosote based stain product. Original Cypress and the Recovered Cypress that we installed are indistinguishable form each other on the walls of the house.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:04 am

The match in your photograph is truly remarkable. You must be very gratified.

SDR