Wright Chat

Although it is not part of the official tour, I was privileged to get a glimpse into the basement of the Westcott residence (Springfield, Ohio - S.099) a year and a half ago. It was two things: definitely a basement, and definitely Wright.

Do many of Wright's homes have basements? To me, it was unusual - but again, it's not something that would be on a tour.

The nicest Wright basement I have ever seen is in the Darwin Martin House although the Dana Thomas House isn't bad either. There is a full basement at Graycliff. Many Usonians have a vestigial basement that contains just a water heater and a boiler. I remember one where access to it was thru a trap door in the middle of the kitchen floor under a rug.

Harry Adams in Oak Park has one. Laura Gale does, too, though that may have been an addition.

Hollyhock has what was originally a laundry / canning room under its kitchen and dining room. In the 40s Lloyd extended this by excavating next to the front door, adding a stairway down to a pair of bathrooms.

Unity Temple has some below-grade utility spaces that they have recently started giving tours of.

They were ubiquitous in the Prairie Houses which typically had them a half level below grade.

Hillside (Price House, Bartlesville, OK) has two basements - one under the main house; the other under the addition by William Wesley Peters. Both are cavernous.

Hollyhock also has a small basement under the gallery, which originally housed two guest bedrooms. The access is a very steep stair through a door next to the south entrance to the gallery, across the hall from the library entry. One cross-section (M4/141, bottom) does not show the basement, but another on pg 152 shows the door with "basement" written next to it.

Gillin has a 5,000 sf basement.

Buehler has partial basement under living room and part of kitchen.

Fallingwater has a small, dingy basement that is included on in-depth tours but not regular tours. Its most (only) interesting feature is that one wall is comprised of a subterranean face of the boulder under the fireplace. There is a small powder room, storage lockers, and a stove that is used to reheat food for special events in the house.

Kentuck Knob has a fairly large basement, also included on in-depth tours. One room contains the boiler, piping, and control valve system for the gravity heating system, and washer/dryer. The other room, at the bottom of the cherokee red concrete steps, has cypress storage cabinets just like upstairs, with enough counter space to display the Palumbos' seashell collection. There is a small square porthole window to the outside for light and ventilation.

An earlier post on Affleck showed a ridiculously low-ceilinged passageway to a basement utility room. Does anyone know more about that?

We were told leftover concrete during construction was dumped there and it raised the floor level- that laundry room is reason enough for the requesting a second house design in 1952!

Both Palmer and Marden have basements. I believe that Reisley has a basement as well.......a wine cellar at the very least..........

EP

Sander, Jacobs I are 2 I know of fully. Samara I think I had a plan basement but it was taken out of the final.

Rubin & Staley in Ohio, Lovness in Minnesota

Edwards and Karen Johnson as well.

The Reisley basement is under only the original construction. The extension of the bedroom wing was built as a later stage, and does not have a basement.

Lovness Residence does not have a basement; Lovness Cottage, built in 1976 to a plan that did not include a basement, does have one.

Are you sure about Staley? Where is the point of access? Some houses, like Jacobs I have minimal furnace "pits" that can hardly be regarded as basements in the generally accepted definition.