Wright Chat

Are there any examples of FLW living rooms or partial living room spaces with floors that are recessed and accessed by continuous steps?

i don't have all my books and stuff handy, but maybe the house in lafayette, in?

Yes, the Christian house in West Lafayette, IN does have a recessed living area and there are good photos in Storrer's book.

I'm not sure that this is what you mean by "recessed", but the living room/dining nook and workspace areas in the 1940 Usonian Pope-Leighey house in Alexandria, VA are reached by a set of three or four steps leading down from the entry foyer. The steps follow the slope of the hill that the house is built on. The spaces themselves are actually at ground level, with several doors opening directly onto the terrace and patio. If you're referring to something more akin to a "conversation pit" type of thing, I believe that the 1958 Gillin House in Dallas has such an arrangement in its living room, although I've only been in it once several years ago and I don't remember it exactly. (Gillin also has a copper cupola-type roof that bears a strong resemblance to the classic Howard Johnson hotels!)

Mossberg house, Alsop house, Neils, Price, and Sunday houses all seem to have this convention to one degree or another based on Storrer's floor plans or photos. May be some others as this was a quick pass. Paul, also note Storer's photos of the Schaberg house. Mix of mullions and no mullions; J. Howe was the lead guy accordingly, as well.

The Greenberg home in Dousman, WI (1954) has a recessed living room. You walk down about half a story or more from the entrance to the living room.

The first may be Hardy, which is half a flight down from the entry. Hollyhock is one step down from the loggia. Erdman prefabs, one and two, but not the tiny unbuilt version. Richard, Mossberg is actually raised several steps from the loggia. swmdal, if there is now a conversation pit in Gillin, it must have been added; in 1988 when I saw it, there was no pit. There was enough room to convert it into a roller rink, but no pit. The Gillin bedrooms are actually like 4 small apartments (including kitchenettes), one of which has a sunken living area.

Millard in Highland Park has a split-level entry hall, from which you go half a story either up or down to the rest of the house. I don't recall which level the living room is on, though.

Millard is up 3 or 4 steps. So is Glazner.

The Price House in Bartlesville Oklahoma, which is of magnificent proportion, has a recessed living area. When you step into the long, capacious foyer onto a Wright designed carpet, the entrance to the living area is at first obscured.



Once you step around the brick wall to your left, you descend 6 shallow steps into a fabulous, large rectangular space bordered on one side with nearly 2-story high glass that walks out onto a terrace. On the opposite end, the same glass wall wraps around and opens onto a remarkable cantilevered terrace that is punctured in the center by a round parapet. Below, a fountain happily plays. Whether inside or out, the composition of this room (much less the entire house) is symphonic.



"Hillside" as the house is known, has rarely been publicized and recently changed hands from the original owner who kept it in impecibly preserved condition. Kudos to the Prices on 50 years of superb care of this enviable Wright mansion.



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