Wright Chat

Aren

Recreating demolished buildings or unbuilt projects is not historic preservation.

Maybe FLLW should have never have rebuilt Talisen after if burned down?

[quote="RJH"]Aren

RJH wrote:Maybe FLLW should have never have rebuilt Talisen after if burned down?

He didn't, actually. While there is familial similarities between Taliesin 2 and the original, each was unique to its own program. Emulating Frank so "inspiredly", which appears to be popular with many on this board, only indicates to me a lack of originality, but more importantly, a lack of respect. You really can't hold clients to account for architects willing to give 'em what they want, but that is not how Frank viewed or practiced architecture.



Speculating whether Frank should have rebuilt Taliesin to justify design thievery is wierd, and to compare Wright's art to those who have no original thoughts is even wierder. I'll assume you were kidding.

Allow me to clarify. The way I see it, the more FLLW buildings and structures that are built further preserves Mr. Wright

[quote="RJH"]Allow me to clarify...... Mr. Wright

Would there be any merit in rebuilding the Wynant house?

therman7g wrote:Would there be any merit in rebuilding the Wynant house?

Yes.

Just build it in a better location than Garry, IN!

RJH wrote:Just build it in a better location than Garry, IN!

The only time I've been through Gary was on my first trip to Taliesin. I thought my draft number had been called up and I was in a war zone!



It can't still be that bad 24 years later.

Gary, Ind., again murder capital title



Gary, Ind., has regained the dubious title of murder capital of the United States, displacing Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, a report said.



With 60 homicides in 2005, an increase of five from 2004, Gary had the highest murder rate of any city with more than 100,000 residents, WBBM-TV in Chicago reported.



Gary had a 2005 murder rate of 58 per 100,000 people. Outside the city, the northwest Indiana counties of Lake and Porter registered 95 homicides last year.



Gary police said Hurricane Katrina likely skewed murder statistics in New Orleans, the city with the highest U.S. murder rate in 2004.



"There's no way to keep records of anything down there now," Gary police Sgt. Thomas Branson told the TV station. "Hospitals were in disarray. Funeral homes in disarray.



"So it (New Orleans' homicide rate) could be artificially low. It could very well be," Branson said.

The Pfeiffer House is an example of why FLW projects shouldn't be constructed posthumously. Based on the Jester Project, one of FLW's most original and exciting designs, the scale, materials, construction and environment were changed to accommodate the client's needs and desires. Bruce Pfeiffer, whom one might expect to be sensitive in the extreme, built the house for his father on the grounds of Taliesin West. Since his father was exceptionally tall, the scale was changed, both vertically and horizontally. That alone disqualifies it as authentic FLW, since scale is one of the most important features of any of his buildings. The massive stone columns were replaced by stuccoed tubes; why is anyone's guess, considering all the readily available stone and concrete. The swimming pool, a vital part of the original scheme, was eliminated, probably for cost reasons. Perhaps one of the reasons the cylindrical drums containing the rooms were not built of bent plywood was because TAA couldn't figure out how to make it work structurally, plus the fact that plywood does not like the desert and the feeling is mutual. Instead they are stuccoed studs. In fact, everything is stuccoed. Stucco, stucco and more stucco. Pink! Starting with Ocatillo, FLW's buildings tended to be made of two basic materials: Ocatillo's wood and canvas; Fallingwater's stone and concrete; Jacobs I's bricks and wood; Pauson's desert concrete and wood; etc. TAA didn't even notice that. So there it is, this overscaled pink stucco box plopped on the desert floor, with just a hint of the genius that FLW infused into the original. Compared to the stuccoed, tile-roofed tract houses marching up to the gates of Taliesin West, with their cathedral ceilings and bonus rooms, it is a wonderful house. The least of FLW's designs, even when they are abused masterpieces, are better than Builders Emporium suburbia. But the Pfeiffer House does Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy no good.

I would like to comment on some of your opinions. I have done quite a bit of research on FLLW authentic houses and I think a lot of what FLLW enthusiasts believe is incorrect.



You have to keep in mind that when many of these Usonain houses were built they were experimental designs. Furthermore, the talent to construct many of these Usonain houses didn

There is a difference between quibbling over minor details (especially those made while FLW was still living) and accepting wholesale alterations that change the entire nature of the thing. It is not just the "site" of Jester that was changed, but the "environment." Jester started as the Pense Project in Hawaii, an environment similar to Southern California where Jester was to be built. It was not intended for the desert. It doesn't relate to the nature of the desert. Buildings in the desert that don't blend with the surrounding (the talus and dotted line, as FLW saw it) stand out like sore thumbs; there isn't the same type of verdure to soften the imposition of structure onto nature. Every time FLW reinterpreted that particular design, it was specific to the nature of the environment. One of the reasons Jester was not built is that the client could not get permission to construct the swimming pool FLW designed; that particular pool was much more integral to the overall design than virtually any other pool Wright designed. Jester is practically a pool house. However, Pfeiffer not building the pool is understandable, though regrettable. Adding the pools to Glore and Cooke would greatly enhance both structures, and it is not too late to do so.



What is troubling about Pfeiffer is the altered scale (more than a 4" adjustment to the ceiling height) and the heavy-handed use of materials. If Bruce had asked Mr. Wright for an original design, he would have got something entirely different ... and undoubtedly better.



As to the "hick" vs "sophisticate" quality of construction of FLW houses, I think you're on shaky ground. Hagan is about as hick as they get, but it was the hick contractor who discerned Davy Davidson's error in the plans, corrected it and produced one of FLW's best built houses.



Every drop of paint Vermeer applied to his canvas was under his control, and if there are any bloopers, they're his fault. The same cannot be said for achitecture, ungainly works of art left out in the rain. Too many people are involved in the creation. Everything FLW got built had changes major and minor; the minor changes are often negligible, but major changes can ruin the whole opus. I believe that's what happened with Pfeiffer.

RJH wrote:I would like to comment on some of your opinions. .....

I have yet to come across an authentic FLLW Usonian where something was not changed or built differently then the original FLLW working drawings.

I think this was addressed to rgrant (who is spot on about the Pheifer House), but I have a comment. I think you are off on a tangent of inconsequential hypotheses. What is so diificult to grasp about the fact that a FLlW design is of consequence and attribution only if he had some involvement in its evolvement and/or construction? Regardless of changes in specifications or "remote" locales, Wright was very concerned about outcome and attribution.



Reisley's honest accounting in his Usonia, New York book clearly shows what happens when others meddle with his intents. As consultant he agreed to review and approve designs for the cooperative. He was critical of specific designs and rejected some, contributing to his eventual disenchantment with the project due to the quality of the architecture. These were not even his own designs, yet they would negatively impact the architectural success Wright demanded of the project. If you see some of the designs, you can understand why. This is exactly what is still happening.



I had the opportunity to work and talk with the former apprentice who was involved, and he still shows bitterness at 84 years of age over Wright's attitude towards him and the improper architecture he was contributing for Wright's approval. Albeit he was only a very young man at the time and temperamental in his own "Wright", these conflicts were real time issues and show how Wright consistently was protective about his art and attibution.



He is no longer here to dash off the requisite dismissive volleys when malligned, so someone has to do it for him.