Wright-inspired

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:04 pm

The article say that the owner was the designer, but that is not creditable.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhom ... 6801?row=1

3900 N Dixboro Rd, Ann Arbor, MI

jmcnally · Post by **jmcnally** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:33 pm

I'm not a fan of the stone work (it takes away from the simple lines of the wood features), but I really like the furniture and the light fixtures. I wonder if they were all unique designs for this house.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:52 pm

Overdesigned. If an apprentice had presented such a design to FLW, he would have edited out scads of details. The one image I like, #32, is a wall of closet doors.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:18 pm

I like the whole thing, except perhaps for some particularly fussy stick work, including the Jonesian diagonals. And I might have turned those cabinet pulls upside down, in the kitchen and bedroom. The integrated overhead lighting fixtures are juicy, if again overplayed a bit. But the heavy stonework seems to match the scale of everything else, for me. Nicely placed in the landscape . . . ?

SDR

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 2:45 pm

Considering the scads of pale and poorly detailed "Wright-inspired's" we see, this house needs to make no excuses. Mailboxes come and go. The craftsmanship, proportions, and textures seem spot on, it is spatially rich, and the house has that quality that Wright, Jones, and other good architects imbue of creating discrete compositions within a space with the forms, fenestration, and materials.

Given the Ann Arbor address and large acreage, could this be a little scherzo made for Tom Monaghan or one of his pizza buddies?

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:13 pm

DRN,
I also detected a whiff of E. Fay Jones when I first looked at the photos and thought that this might have been one of his. He loved stonework and custom wood light fixtures.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:19 pm

A Google map search of North Dixboro Road lands you almost on top of this house. Nice piece of land.

Article:
http://www.mlive.com/business/ann-arbor ... nsive.html

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:25 pm

Tom,
Can you give me the nearest E/W street that crosses N Dixboro Rd? I can't find it.

If I can get a street number maybe we can track down the current owner's name.

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 5:11 pm

According to the "E. Fay Jones Guide Book" (p 188. Craig Stevens - 2011), Jones and Maurice Jennings designed a house for Monaghan in Ann Arbor (not the subject house, though). So, I wonder if someone else locally contracted w/ Jennings to design this one?

Cancel that idea. I just read the listing link that Tom posted above and it says the home was ..." designed by the homeowner and built in 1995".

David

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 5:19 pm

The absence of the street address on the realtor page, and the note on the map further down the page, suggest that the owner wishes to protect his privacy . . . ?

SDR

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:19 pm

North Ann Arbor just above the major highway perimeter, highway 14.
North Dixboro runs N/S crossed by Warren Road running E/W. Zoom in on that intersection.
This house is located alone and smack in the middle of the S/E quadrant.
Sort of a pinwheel handsome roof plan. Can't miss it.

Warren Road is the first road North that parallels highway 14. This intersection is East of highway 23 and North of 14.

It's not all that far from the Domino Headquarters if I recall correctly.

Although I admire much of this house I agree with RG's critique. Ghastly mailbox etc...

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:38 pm

In this instance, at least, Google will not permit the user to move the satellite view away from the public road. So one can see the house only at a scale of about 200' = 3/4".

SDR

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:55 pm

SDR: I'm not having that limitation at all. I can get right down on top it seems.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:12 pm

Huh. How are you getting to the address ?

Ah -- got it. Now we use our keyboard arrows to navigate. Used to be an onscreen quadrant ?

SDR

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:59 pm

It's interesting from above no? I like the form of the roof.
On the whole I prefer a rougher feel on the interior though.

Then there's the mystery of the "owner/designer". Not sure I really accept that at face value. What architect would not put there name on this if they owned and designed it? The owner may have "designed" it but if he or she was not an architect then they had an architect who knew their way around Wright's work.