Wright Chat

This past weekend I found time to read some of the Sweeton/Taliesin correspondence and thought others might find this interesting:

The Sweeton's general contractor, Robert Draper was having some difficulty finding piano hinges at a reasonable price, and the largest ones at all. Davy Davison responded in a summer 1951 letter to Mr. Sweeton that,
"...another client of Mr. Wright's, a Mr. Howard Anthony of St. Joseph, Mich. purchased a truckload of piano hinges for his house which was recently completed. You may wish to contact him as I understand he is making the hinges he has left available to Mr. Wright's other clients at his cost."

It would seem Mr. Anthony, the founder of Heathkit, a DIY electronics company, took advantage of his ability to buy in bulk and store product for his own house, and helped some other Wright homeowners in the process.

Where do we find the first continuous hinge in use?

Which client, what year?

Who used it before Wright?

Good question, Dan.

Excuse my ignorance and/or lack of memory, but are piano hinges exclusive to the Usonian period, or are there instances of their usage in any of FLW's Prairie Style buildings?

What was Wright's primary reason for using piano hinges? Was it an aesthetic consideration or the strength of the hinge, any consideration for preventing warping/twisting of materials, or?

It seems that today's cabinetry sensibilities (I'm thinking kitchens and more basic here) find exposed hinges unsightly for the most part...

I can imagine (but not cite) Wright proclaiming that continuous hinges represent the material and aesthetic "continuity" that he sought, during the Usonian era if not before. In addition, the plywood and the discontinuous stacked wood (board and batten) that he occasionally cut doors into would have benefitted from the continuous hinge. Whether the modern one-piece passage door similarly benefits from (or requires) a piano hinge is debatable -- but the aesthetic matter is still significant.

The history of the continuous hinge may remain to be written; I find nothing readily online. I don't recall seeing it in Wright's early work. The modern cup hinge, used universally by the cabinet industry now, was patented in the 'thirties by the Italian maker Salice, I believe. It is not only invisible on the outside of the cabinet but fully adjustable, a great benefit when designers specify close-fitting flush panels -- a practice pioneered by our favorite 20-century architects.

Early in its history, Rolls Royce engineers concluded that many small fasteners produced a more reliable connection (in metal construction) than did fewer, larger ones. The same principle may contribute to the "greater strength" that some find in the piano hinge.

SDR

Three early dining-room buffets of Wright. Note exposed butt hinges.

Gridley

Gilmore

Robie

They do not show up in the very early usonians. But we see them used already at the Rosenbaum 1939.

Lets not forget how they fit in with the idea of clients doing some of the work themselves. They really did not take any woodworking skills to install.
A simple cabinet door or french door with butt hinges would require 4 mortises each. Plus the knowledge to chop the mortises with a sharp chisel.
The know how to sharpen the chisel along with proper layout of the butt hinges were also required. Applying a continuous hinge on the other hand was much quicker.
A scratch awl, screwdriver and hacksaw was all one needed. A real plus that we can not forget is that all cut offs of hinges could be used to hang a door as well.

Yes, they have a inherent beauty, they are simple and clean. The savings of labor costs had to also be a plus factor.

Wright was always trying to simplify construction and as a result to save his clients $.

I can attest for their strength. When re-installing any of the doors at Dobkins including the 12, 13 foot tall french doors of the widow wall in the living space
I would normally install just two or three screws per door so I could readily make final adjustments.

And yes, they have only been used in the usonian period.
I could be mistaken but they were not used at Jacobs one. No pics of them in use at Hanna?

This photo of the Hanna library shows both butt hinges (french door) and piano hinges (cabinet, center right). The library (and this cabinet) were created in 1956-7, so there is no proof here that the cabinets in the original construction were similarly hinged. I find no reference to continuous hinges in the Hanna's book (where this photo appears.) The glazed door shown wasn't here in the original construction, either -- but it may well be an original.

The original published plan of the house shows numerous sets of multi-panel bi-fold french doors, on both sides of the house. The 1957 plan shows none, with conventional pairs (or double pairs) of hinged sash instead. Is it known whether the bifold (accordian) french doors were installed, and if so how they held up ? Managing many linear feet of glazed sash, hinged together (like the modern Nana doors, but without the benefit of floor and ceiling track) (?) would be a trick.

Hanna with continuous hinges for cabinetry; windows and exterior doors standard hinges.

I can find no evidence of continuous hinges at Willey:
http://www.thewilleyhouse.com/details.html

But Stafford would be able to confirmn that...

What's going on at Pope? Hard to tell:



Rosenbaum, continuous:

From some photos I have:

Jacobs I: 3 butt hinges on tall LR french doors; no hinges visible at all (!) on kitchen uppers with half-overlay doors

Pew: piano hinges in kitchen

Pope: piano hinge on bedroom door

Baird: cabinet piano hinges

Wall: cabinet piano hinges

Sturge: poss. piano hinge on entrance Dutch door

M Smith: piano hinges on many plywood doors

Willey: butt hinges on cabinet, right; no hinges visible on cabinet, left

Fallingwater: rounded-edge half-overlay doors with visible butt hinges


Mr Wright was apparently not offended by the butt hinge at his very feet, in the private office at Taliesin;
on the other hand, one wonders how that row of upswinging flush cabinet doors is hinged, in the Taliesin
residence dining room.

I was led to believe - probably from tour guides - that piano hinges were less likely to creak and provided greater stability against warping. Maybe those were personal opinions - I'd be interested in what the rest of you have to say about those supposed benefits.

Regarding perf boards: photo evidence seems to indicate the use of butt or utility hinges most often, sadly.

However the sheets I have seen specifically state under HARDWARE notations the following: ALL HINGES SHALL BE THE CONTINUOUS PIANO TYPE.
(I'll send detail of Rubin Hardware notes sheet 6 to SDR as an example.)