(via PrairieMod):
$485,000 - 86 Grayrock Road, Clinton NJ 08809
David
For sale: Usonian-esque in Cinton, NJ
The Wright genius of the exterior walled gallery is so evident in this Usonian-type house.
In 1916, Wright opened the bedroom hallway to the outside in the W.S. Carr Summer Residence and at the grander Henry J. Allen Residence second floor bedroom hall.
A Gallery to Nature.
Is there an earlier structure with this feature?
In 1916, Wright opened the bedroom hallway to the outside in the W.S. Carr Summer Residence and at the grander Henry J. Allen Residence second floor bedroom hall.
A Gallery to Nature.
Is there an earlier structure with this feature?
Which pic illustrates gallery windows to the nature???
The usonian house needs not a single exterior terrace but terraces.
Lack of continuity of material... wood floor interior w/stone and or cement floor on the exterior is one reason why Wright liked a poured concrete mat.
Not to mention that it became a vehicle for scoring his modules.
White drywall w/ little baseboards could not be more conventional.
Don't you love the bottle opener attached to the base cabinet.
The usonian house needs not a single exterior terrace but terraces.
Lack of continuity of material... wood floor interior w/stone and or cement floor on the exterior is one reason why Wright liked a poured concrete mat.
Not to mention that it became a vehicle for scoring his modules.
White drywall w/ little baseboards could not be more conventional.
Don't you love the bottle opener attached to the base cabinet.
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Laurie Virr
- Posts: 472
- Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:32 pm
My interpretation of the images of this house depict a soffit in line with the window and door heads. The ceilings are a spandrel height above the soffit.
This situation may be the result of the local code, but it results in the exterior aspects of the house having scale, and the interior being bereft of it.
These, and many other details, are those of an average contractor, not a competent architect.
This house is not Architecture
This situation may be the result of the local code, but it results in the exterior aspects of the house having scale, and the interior being bereft of it.
These, and many other details, are those of an average contractor, not a competent architect.
This house is not Architecture
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Roderick Grant
- Posts: 11815
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am
It's amazing to me how those going for the Usonian look often get the most obvious things wrong. I'm talking here about the space of wall above the windows and doors. That little strip of drywall is the difference between the Wright style and punching windows in walls.
Matt
www.landmarkmodel.com
Matt
www.landmarkmodel.com
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Paul Ringstrom
- Posts: 4777
- Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:53 pm
- Location: Mason City, IA
We can learn a lot about Wright, and his design techniques by critiquing other non-Wright Usonians.
As mentioned the most obvious exterior problem is the "heavy" roof.
Matt,
Could not the addition of the tradition light deck above those living room windows help solve the problem that you identified?
As mentioned the most obvious exterior problem is the "heavy" roof.
Matt,
Could not the addition of the tradition light deck above those living room windows help solve the problem that you identified?
Former owner of the G. Curtis Yelland House (1910), by Wm. Drummond
I assume by heavy roof you're referring to thick parapet? Wright did this on occasion, I believe. What's the name of that farmhouse outside Chicago? It has a wonderful ship-lap thick parapet roof.
Regarding the strip above the windows and doors: Wright always seemed to put the windows right flush with the eaves...or as flush as he could...even in the prairie houses. Anything else he referred to as punching holes in walls...see Corbu's strip of windows.
I'm no architect, so I don't know the terminology involved but in this house there is some sort of cross beam or support spanning across the top of the windows and doors. I assume the beams of the roof rest on top of this. Wright would not do this but would somehow hide any support within the roof, or have a roof line detail with clerestory windows above. I'm sure it's more complex that this and no doubt involves an overall conceptualization of how the roof is supported/cantilevered.
Matt
Regarding the strip above the windows and doors: Wright always seemed to put the windows right flush with the eaves...or as flush as he could...even in the prairie houses. Anything else he referred to as punching holes in walls...see Corbu's strip of windows.
I'm no architect, so I don't know the terminology involved but in this house there is some sort of cross beam or support spanning across the top of the windows and doors. I assume the beams of the roof rest on top of this. Wright would not do this but would somehow hide any support within the roof, or have a roof line detail with clerestory windows above. I'm sure it's more complex that this and no doubt involves an overall conceptualization of how the roof is supported/cantilevered.
Matt
About Palli's earlier question: the upstairs hallway of the Little house, now in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, would seem to be a case in point from before 1916. See http://www.artsmia.org/education/teache ... m?p=5&v=30
The current setup makes it look like an alcove off a larger room; the b&w at the bottom of the page shows the original configuration.
The current setup makes it look like an alcove off a larger room; the b&w at the bottom of the page shows the original configuration.
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Paul Ringstrom
- Posts: 4777
- Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:53 pm
- Location: Mason City, IA
Matt,
The house you are referring to is the Muirhead Farmhouse. You are right that he used a "heavy" flat roof on that house, but he treated it quite differently than the NJ house in question. He did not cantilever it out four feet from the house, but kept it basically flush (except for the carport). The living room that faces south has a four foot overhang but the roof is "thin."
The other house that has a "heavy" roof is the Robert Llewellyn Wright House. His roofs do have an overhang there. I never liked that house for this reason. A similar house done with a "thin" roof is the George Lewis House.
The house you are referring to is the Muirhead Farmhouse. You are right that he used a "heavy" flat roof on that house, but he treated it quite differently than the NJ house in question. He did not cantilever it out four feet from the house, but kept it basically flush (except for the carport). The living room that faces south has a four foot overhang but the roof is "thin."
The other house that has a "heavy" roof is the Robert Llewellyn Wright House. His roofs do have an overhang there. I never liked that house for this reason. A similar house done with a "thin" roof is the George Lewis House.
Former owner of the G. Curtis Yelland House (1910), by Wm. Drummond
The Pratt house in The Acres outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan also has a "heavy" roof. Its cantilevered portions continue the same thickness as the more flush areas.
Staley in North Madison, Ohio is another, although here the parapets of the lower roofs relate directly to the wall cladding of the high ceilinged living room.
Staley in North Madison, Ohio is another, although here the parapets of the lower roofs relate directly to the wall cladding of the high ceilinged living room.
Alden Dow used a "heavy roof" on his Charch house with similar results...I won't go further to avoid the slap down I got elsewhere on Chat for comments I made about this opus. At least Dow remembered to bury his lintels and headers in the roof plane at Charch.
Wright managed to hide structure above windows and doors in his hip roofs in the early 20thC by setting the exterior soffit at the top of the fenestration and continuing that plane within to create an edge soffit that could be a location for indirect up lighting or simply blend to a sloped ceiling some distance in from the exterior wall. It would seem this gesture would have been possible in the Clinton, NJ had its architect chosen to incorporate it...still, keeping the structure in the roof plane is best as the structural mullions between the windows/doors (if one builds on a grid) allow shallow headers in the spaces between.
Wright managed to hide structure above windows and doors in his hip roofs in the early 20thC by setting the exterior soffit at the top of the fenestration and continuing that plane within to create an edge soffit that could be a location for indirect up lighting or simply blend to a sloped ceiling some distance in from the exterior wall. It would seem this gesture would have been possible in the Clinton, NJ had its architect chosen to incorporate it...still, keeping the structure in the roof plane is best as the structural mullions between the windows/doors (if one builds on a grid) allow shallow headers in the spaces between.
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Roderick Grant
- Posts: 11815
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am
It isn't just the scale of the roof on top of the NJ house, but the fact that it sits on what is visually a rather spindly house; the scale is wrong. Muirhead is a structure that can handle the roof it has. In fact, if Muirhead had a roof like, say, Jacobs I, it would look insubstantial.
The principal thing wrong with NJ is that the bits and pieces of the house don't add up to a unified whole. It's like an assemblage of elements not necessarily related to one another tossed together willy-nilly.
The principal thing wrong with NJ is that the bits and pieces of the house don't add up to a unified whole. It's like an assemblage of elements not necessarily related to one another tossed together willy-nilly.
DNR....thanks so much for putting what I was trying to say into appropriate terminology. I have always looked at this design discipline...to bury those headers into the roof plane...to be a hallmark of Wright, but more than that a hallmark of good design. It is the cleanliness of this discipline that creates a work of coherence and simplicity. Undisciplined designs seem to have all sorts of "spare parts" that clutter up the composition. The space above doors and windows is such a spare part.
There's a good reason for this. Most people want ceilings taller than doors. to make them flush you either have tall doors or low ceilings. Wright did a bit of both, but also employed double height ceilings with that soffit and clerestory windows.
Matt
www.LandmarkModel.com
There's a good reason for this. Most people want ceilings taller than doors. to make them flush you either have tall doors or low ceilings. Wright did a bit of both, but also employed double height ceilings with that soffit and clerestory windows.
Matt
www.LandmarkModel.com