E. Fay Jones House for sale

[Paul Ringstrom]

Hilton Head
http://www.hiltonheadislandlifestyle.co ... ce=message

[Roderick Grant]

As much as I admire E. Fay Jones, sometimes he goes overboard with the detailing, which makes some of his houses, like this one, too busy. It's a beautiful house, but just a bit overdone.

[peterm]

The furnishings and the wall to wall carpeting are not helping matters. I could imagine Nakashima pieces and a nice collection of 60s mod furniture...

I find the detailing to be unified and beautiful.

[Tom]

The space is monotonously scaled. Don't get me wrong. I could force myself to live there, but "jus sayin."

[peterm]

One of the major goals of real estate photography (as opposed to artistic architectural photography) is to emphasize square footage. What we are looking at here is a sales brochure. "Bigger is better" syndrome. I would suspect that many of the spaces would in reality seem much more intimate than what is reflected here.

And notice that every light in the house is turned on in the middle of a sunny day. The only fear of an American realtor greater than too small is too dark...

[Education Professor]

This is the Weston and Anne Wilhelm residence at the Long Cove Club on Hilton Head Island: http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollecti ... ct=WIL1987

Long Cove is one of the most exclusive gated neighborhoods on the island. The house is oriented very nicely toward Broad Creek which essentially runs through the middle of the shoe-shaped island. I've glimpsed the exterior of the house on many occasions during our visits to Broad Creek Marina in order to catch the Daufuskie Island ferry.

The copper roof has a nice green patina. I'm glad to finally see some interior photos of this very elusive design.

EP

[Wrighter]

I would echo peterm on the question of scale. I wouldn't judge by the photos. There are spaces in Jones homes that, intellectually, you just know to be massive. You can measure the square footage, and it tells you the space is massive--but when you are in the spaces, you don't experience them that way at all. Quite the opposite--they do indeed feel small and intimate.

I'm only an amateur, so I can't quite explain how it is accomplished. I think part of it is accomplished by the old compression/release trick. Part by creating smaller spaces within larger spaces. Part by shifts in ceiling height (or more likely shifts in floor height that create the same effect.) Part by the views that Jones creates both from within the space (to other parts of the home, and the exterior, and from without--by the way he is able to make walls disappear.

Intimate is the right word to describe it--human would be another.

[Tom]

I think you guys are probably right.

[DRN]

It is my belief that Jones' ornamental detailing seems to become more extensive as his projects increase in scale...and not just because the client can better afford it. Jones' ornament, which at times borders on tessellation, is a means of articulation of large expanses of a material or surface to create shadow and texture as an abstraction of natural forms and surfaces. Nature just doesn't have large blank surfaces in the environment in which Jones built. His larger work needs the relief to avoid the "acres of drywall" appearance we all seem to rail against. The smaller scale objects such as light fixtrues, cabinetry, railings, and the like reinforce this concept and tie the large to the small.

I have yet to find a Jones' project I don't like....even his outhouse at the Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, MS. has proportions, scale, and detailing commensurate with capital "A" architecture. See pic here:

http://savewright.org/wright_chat/viewt ... c&start=75

[Roderick Grant]

I would say that Jones "eliminated the inessential" to a lesser degree than FLW, until Thorncrown Chapel, which is perfect. Also, that some of his spaces, due to a more direct approach to symmetry, or 'obvious symmetry,' to use Wright's term, seem less dynamic than FLW's. Yet, like DRN, I have never found a Jones' project that I disliked. My first encounter with his work was the 1958 Bain House (HB Oct. 1959, pp 244-5, 298-9), which, as an early, relatively modest work, is simpler than much of his later houses.

[DRN]

...a more direct approach to symmetry, or 'obvious symmetry...

A very interesting point. Though Jones was a consistent user of the cantilever, his buildings maintain a greater level of stillness and serenity than Wright's work, which though firmly grounded, always had a degree of dynamicism. Possibly, the "obvious symmetry" was a factor.

[Wrighter]

Another factor might be Jones' fondness for revealing structure--of making it part of the design's beauty. A cantilever that appears to float, defying gravity, has a different affect than a cantilever extending from a massive stone column, or large interpenetrating beams, or even the disconnected supports of Thorncrown.

[Paul Ringstrom]

Another factor might be Jones' fondness for revealing structure--of making it part of the design's beauty.

...an astute observation, Steve.

[Paul Ringstrom]

http://clark.m.rhr.com/XTN1515983

[Wrighter]

Jones working with a triangular module!

Says it is being sold "as is," which suggest condition issues. But the house hasn't been painted, interior or exterior (something of a miracle). Built ins seem intact, and some original free-standing furniture.

Smells like a bargain . . . .