Want to build Usonian - Advise?

[SDR]

You're certainly welcome. If anyone is looking for the definition of "Usonian house," -- well, as the Old Man himself said, "There you have it."

There are several items in the early (Prairie-era) "recipe" that relate directly to the Usonian one, namely broad roofs which provide a "sense of shelter," and the fire "burning deep in the solid masonry" of the house. And one finds, in the last sentence of that earlier writing, the word "organic" -- uttered (or committed to paper) for the first time (?) along with the interesting term "plastic," used in connection with the continuity of forms, surfaces, and trim.

SDR

It might be useful to flag the fifth page of this thread, somehow -- as it contains those two passages, from the Autobiography and The Natural House, that convey succinctly what Mr Wright was trying to do in his residential work, in the two defining periods of his career. . .

[DRN]

Whilst flipping through a Taschen book from my father's collection about Arts and Architecture Magazine's Case Study House Program, I was struck by house #5 by Whitney R. Smith. The house was published in the April 1946 issue of the mag, not built, and showed a remarkable sensitivity to the principles of the Usonian house. The photos of the model depicted a house that looked like a later all masonry Usonian on a rectilinear grid, and the plan seemed to be reminiscent of the Jester plan concept, though translated into right angles.

[SDR]

I've always found this to be a particularly lovely design. (DRN's analysis seems right on.) Until now I've had to make do with this illustration, found in Blueprints for Modern Living, the volume that accompanied the 1989-90 Case Study exhibition at MoCA in LA.

[Roderick Grant]

The plan is also published in Esther McCoy's 1977 book on the Case Study Houses, although she seemingly didn't notice a connection to the Jester Project.

[hypnoraygun]

I wonder if "JohnAdams" fullfilled his dreams by constructing his Usonian?

[SDR]

Paul Ringstrom was kind enough to assemble some additional material related to the Whitney Smith CS#5 above.
First, an artful view of a model of the house (from the perspective opposite to the one in the original drawing shown
earlier ?), then the architect's presentation plan * , at good scale. Then, a portion of page 48 of "Blueprints for Modern
Living" (MoCA, LA, 1989) in detail, and then the whole article on #5. Put it all together, and . . .





Thank you, Paul !






© 1989 by the Museum of Contemporary Art [Los Angeles]

* Or is it . . .


SDR

[Deke]

I've also been a fan of this design. I think it's the wide eaves on the house that gives it a sense of shelter. Smith's archives were acquired by UC Santa Barbara. I have been tempted to dig into them and write a monograph on him. The work deserves it.

Deke

[SDR]

I have no ready excuse for not including this second rendered view of Case Study #5. This drawing appears (in black) in Esther McCoy's Case Study Houses 1945-1962 (©1962, 1977 by Esther McCoy):

[Paul Ringstrom]

You could fairly easily adapt this plan for a less temperate climate by enclosing the Loggia with a moveable glass wall like Nanawall.

[DRN]

The plan of Smith's Case Study #5 house is an elegant composition in and of itself, as some of Wright's Usonian era plans are. Remove the furniture and other representational bits of the drawing and the plan becomes a pleasing abstract composition in any media. Wright's Jester, Goetsch-Winckler, Laurent, and Bush plans to name a few, have a similar effect to my eyes.

[SDR]

I agree, DRN. Sondern belongs in the group, too, I think, and Alvin Miller, where the thickness of the stone walls contrasts strongly with the thinner plastered ones, is especially pretty -- if that's the right word.

SDR