Wright Chat

By the way, it is pine "bough" not "bow". I was using the Old English variant from the 5th century.

pharding wrote:

guestnow wrote:I'm really surprised that the NO vote percentage is so high. Are the casino spammers logging votes?

As of February 23 at 8 am, one person voted NO. The percentages are skewed by the incredibly small sample of 3 votes total.

You are quite wright. I overlooked that.

ed jarolin wrote:erban,

Good question. What would Wright do in the era of massive urban

sprawl and multi-hour commutes? Would he still restrict his residential

commissions to those people who had acreages? My guess is no.

Perhaps he would have developed a residential solution that turned

inward. One along the lines of the Larkin and Johnson Wax buildings.

Spaces oriented around an interior open courtyard or atrium with

with clerestory windows atop screening walls facing the tumult of the urban environment. In other words, create your own slice of nature and

turn away from the rest.

An interesting problem to ponder.

I read one of Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer's books, which discussed how Wright almost built a city home and studio in Chicago. It was after he and Mamah came back from Europe. As we know, it never happened and he moved to Spring Green instead. The drawing and description of it are along the lines of what you mention above.



Thank you to all who have provided their comments. Sounds like many of you Wright homeowners are daily blessed by the magic of Mr. Wright's design genius.

Erban, the townhouse that FLW designed in 1911 would stand as a masterpiece today if it had been built (just a short walk from Charnley). The closest any other architect has come to it is the house on East 64th Street in Manhattan designed in the late 60s by Paul Rudolph. Although these days there are a number of fine architects, like Williams/Tsien, who are designing wonderful townhouses.



Mobius, I too would like to own the Pratt House, but I think the problem most people have with it is its location several mile outside Kalamazoo, which is not exactly a major urban center. I saw the house before Arlene bought it, and it looked good then. She has subsequently done a great deal of restoration work. I hope it eventually is bought by someone who will take care of it.

rgrant wrote:Mobius, I too would like to own the Pratt House, but I think the problem most people have with it is its location several mile outside Kalamazoo, which is not exactly a major urban center. I saw the house before Arlene bought it, and it looked good then. She has subsequently done a great deal of restoration work. I hope it eventually is bought by someone who will take care of it.

According to the realtor's page for the Pratt House (which has some excellent photos, especially of the exterior), a sale is pending: http://www.precar.com/property_detail.h ... =292632113. However, that designation has been up there a while. And, as one who grew up among the small Michigan towns and villages west of Kalamazoo, I can assure you that "major urban center" is a relative term: Kazoo was to us as Madison is to Spring Green!

Mobius, as long as Michigan is in your thoughts, if you like Michael Rust's work, his house for the Whites (shown, along with Collinst3's house, on Rust's website) is for sale for a mere $1.6 million (or roughly $2.4 million NZD):



http://www.coldwellbankeronline.com/sea ... =0&IsCBO=1



However, it is in an even smaller urban area than Kalamazoo, so you may not want to stop construction and pack your bags just yet.



BTW, I am curious...is "boil your head" a common Kiwi saying?

It's interesting....the interior shots of faux Frank houses are far more telling than their exteriors. You would think that amount of large would buy some interesting space.



Nice entry, though, if cumbersome. No need to cram every ubiquitous element into one place in an effort to outFrank the master.....



Perhaps the client brought in Plan#3 from Joes' House Plan's, and he did the best he could with what he had to work with?

Although we are not living in the house yet, I will share my thoughts as an owner of a FLW House being restored. Our modest size 2,050 sf house, built in 1901, was designed for a middle class family with moderate means. The cost of this innovative house was a modest $3,300. This was comparable to its peers in 1901 based upon construction costs listed on building permits for nearby generic houses. The Davenport House is incredibly pleasant to be in, even during restoration. I look forward to living in a FLW house that vastly overachieved its modest budget and size.

[quote=I look forward to living in a FLW house that vastly overachieved its modest budget and size.[/quote]



Need any more be said? This was the effect on nearly all Wright clients, from pauper to prince. While some Wright homes may be more "livable" than others, it should be considered a privilege to experience living in any of them.

Just curious. I took a look at the Eric Pratt house web site. Does anyone know if that is the original color of the light colored cinder blocks? Or were they ever painted?

They were painted. I was in the house in December.

Paul,



What was the original color? I thought it looked odd.



Richard

Anonymous wrote:Paul,



What was the original color? I thought it looked odd.



Richard

The adjacent FLW house with crumbling retaining walls that is unoccuppied, had its painted 24" x 24" cmu stripped of paint. It was originally a pink cmu with aggregate that was a substitution by the owner. FLW hated the color. The celebration to mark the completion of all of the FLW houses was the occassion of FLW's first visit to the site. The owners of the pink CMU house asked FLW what he thought of their completed house. He said "If I thought you would willing to tear down the house and rebuild it, that is what I would recommend." Upon seeing another completed house, in front of the Owners, FLW told John Howe to bring the gunnite gun from Taliesin and use it on the exterior of the house. Gunnite was dutifully applied to the exterior. Two days later FLW had an operation on his gall bladder, because of gall stones? The homeowners who worked 8 years to realize their dream of a community of FLW houses in a beautiful forested environment concluded that his gall bladder problem was the source of his mean spirited comments. There is an adjacent FLW House in pristine condition that was obviously built as designed by FLW. It has 24" x 24" site cast CMU with a buff matrix and exposed aggregate with smooth finish. It is quite beautiful with mahoganny, stained concrete floors and brick. I suspect that the Pratt House started out life with a similar CMU.



The orientation of these houses is quite interesting. They not follow FLW's preference for living rooms with a south orientation. Each living room and dining room is oriented for a beautiful forested view and does not look at any other adjacent FLW House. This plus the manner in which each house works in concert with hilly topography is rather amazing.

I think it would be nice to live in a home by FLW, but isn't it a hassle? I mean it seems that these houses require so much work. Is it worth it? Do any of you owners of FLW houses agree or disagree?

Anyone who lives in an older home has to contend with restoration and maintenance. Tackling such problems in a Wright designed home requires a little extra thought and research, but often leads to new understanding about Wright's design and/or building process. (This, in turn, leads to interesting dinner conversation. . .) While the extra effort may be considered a "hassle" by those who live in condos or new construction, we enjoy a good challenge.



It's also quite rewarding to complete any project that returns the house closer to the way it was intended to be, or which integrates upgraded technology, systems or materials in an aesthetically sensitive way.