Wright Chat

Does anyone know why the Lykes house (W. on the market) has slate tiles on the floor? I've never seen these used before.

The current owner installed them. When she gave a presentation at a Conservancy event, many of the restoration/remodelling decisions she had made caused controversy. An unfortunate comment to that effect was made at that time resulting in the owner walking off in a huff and the then-president of the Conservancy resigning. While the quality of the tiles is very non-FLW, it is her house and it was her decision to make. This sort of situation has arisen before, and it is a difficult one to deal with politely. Some owners (like the notorious Mabel Ennis) do horrid things to their properties even from the start, while others are religiously sensitive. The owner of a non-FLW house of significance has so swamped her house with chinoiserie that it is hard to find the architecture at all. But at least that one could be resurrected by just moving the stuff out. Restoring the floor of the Lykes house to its original concrete would be extremely difficult and costly. How necessary it would be to do so, considering that much of the house is post-FLW anyway, and the remodelling was supervised by TA, is questionable. But the essence of the house is intact. Meanwhile, nearby, the Adelman House has been so scabrously remodeled that it should be listed in Storrer as "demolished."

The owner needs to understand that she took a $3M house that is now worth $2.5M becuase of her "restoration."