Black & white photo of VC Morris Gift Shop
I've always enjoyed this photograph of the VC Morris gift Shop. Couple of things:
Anyone know who the photographer was? And, about when it might date from?
Also, if you look at the entryway there are two sets of lights on the ground - one semi-circular and one inside of that. It doesn't look like they are reflections from elswhere. Is it possible that there were/are lights set into the concrete entryway?
David
Black & white photo of VC Morris Gift Shop
In essence, the photo presents a combined day/night view of the building. At night one wouldn't see the texture of the broad field of plain brickwork; one wouldn't see that surface at all. It's been floodlighted for the photograph . . .
Commercial work like this (re)building provides the architect with an opportunity for something close to stage-set design -- and Mr Wright takes full advantage of the opportunity, in his own special way. (Almost) never a minimalist -- despite his statement that "Five lines where three are enough is always stupidity" (p 144, "Simplicity") -- Wright here moves close to the limit, while vacuuming up everything from Richardson to Bel Geddes:
Commercial work like this (re)building provides the architect with an opportunity for something close to stage-set design -- and Mr Wright takes full advantage of the opportunity, in his own special way. (Almost) never a minimalist -- despite his statement that "Five lines where three are enough is always stupidity" (p 144, "Simplicity") -- Wright here moves close to the limit, while vacuuming up everything from Richardson to Bel Geddes:
Re: Black & white photo of VC Morris Gift Shop
DavidC wrote:Black & white photo of VC Morris Gift ShopAnyone know who the photographer was? And, about when it might date from?
It appears to pre-date the installation of the red tile ...
Docent, Hollyhock House - Hollywood, CA
Humble student of the Master
"Youth is a circumstance you can't do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old." - Frank Lloyd Wright
Humble student of the Master
"Youth is a circumstance you can't do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old." - Frank Lloyd Wright
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%2 ... htm#Morris
"An American Architecture," Kaufmann/Wright, 1955, p 20. Photographer, Maynard L Parker
https://leftoverlondon.wordpress.com/tag/vc-morris/
Google is so great. It helps to have the relevant document in-house . . .
SDR
"An American Architecture," Kaufmann/Wright, 1955, p 20. Photographer, Maynard L Parker
https://leftoverlondon.wordpress.com/tag/vc-morris/
Google is so great. It helps to have the relevant document in-house . . .
SDR
Googling "V C Morris publications" very quickly leads to this:
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/1 ... tire_text/
. . . a resource of which I was ignorant. The "celebratory brochure" of 1948-9 might be found in the Bill Schmidt collection . . .? I have never seen it, and I don't find it in The Wright Library (steinrag.com).
I've seen photos in which almost all of the lights in the vertical array at the left of the V C Morris facade are operating. Other photos show a broken brick in that array -- at a surprisingly early date ?
SDR
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/1 ... tire_text/
. . . a resource of which I was ignorant. The "celebratory brochure" of 1948-9 might be found in the Bill Schmidt collection . . .? I have never seen it, and I don't find it in The Wright Library (steinrag.com).
I've seen photos in which almost all of the lights in the vertical array at the left of the V C Morris facade are operating. Other photos show a broken brick in that array -- at a surprisingly early date ?
SDR
SDR, you live in San Francisco so do you see this building often? Do you know it like the back of your hand?
I went to SF on my honeymoon in the 1980's. I remember the Morris shop as a great space with a nice entrance. (I recall walking just around the corner and seeing the small sign for the entrance to Aaron Green's office. I went in and up the stairs but lost the nerve to go in, having no plausible reason for being there.)
Do you have any particular experiences with the building since it's on your turf?
I went to SF on my honeymoon in the 1980's. I remember the Morris shop as a great space with a nice entrance. (I recall walking just around the corner and seeing the small sign for the entrance to Aaron Green's office. I went in and up the stairs but lost the nerve to go in, having no plausible reason for being there.)
Do you have any particular experiences with the building since it's on your turf?
I've been in the building twice, I believe. It's not a magnet for me.
I'm more of an armchair architectural tourist, I'm afraid. Who knows how many wonders and revelations I've missed -- but my structural visualization is well developed, and I generally prefer the perfection of architecture on the page rather than in the flesh. When I visit a building I am more apt to be distracted by what's wrong than inspired by what's right . . .
SDR
I'm more of an armchair architectural tourist, I'm afraid. Who knows how many wonders and revelations I've missed -- but my structural visualization is well developed, and I generally prefer the perfection of architecture on the page rather than in the flesh. When I visit a building I am more apt to be distracted by what's wrong than inspired by what's right . . .
SDR
OH, my 7 year-old nephew loved the place. Once inside he ran up the ramp, then, pell-mell, down again. To control him I had to carry him around on my shoulders. He loved that, too!SDR wrote:I've been in the building twice, I believe. It's not a magnet for me.
I'm more of an armchair architectural tourist, I'm afraid. Who knows how many wonders and revelations I've missed -- but my structural visualization is well developed, and I generally prefer the perfection of architecture on the page rather than in the flesh. When I visit a building I am more apt to be distracted by what's wrong than inspired by what's right . . . SDR
Visiting the city for a week in 1976, I carried my camera into the store on Maiden Lane. Part-way up the ramp I prepared to take my first photo, when a store employee asked me not to do so. I should probably have asked first, in any event.
I recall being able to see past Wright's ceiling development to the old steel trusses and the skylight . . .
SDR
I recall being able to see past Wright's ceiling development to the old steel trusses and the skylight . . .
SDR
-
Roderick Grant
- Posts: 11815
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am
The small, circular space on the ground floor, NW corner, is interesting. The ceiling, a dome, was finished with gold leaf which, when I visited in the 70s, had turned a copper-like patina shade. If you stand in the space and speak, the acoustics will make your head spin; seated (as the space was intended to be used), the acoustics are perfect.
The glimpse of the original structure visible around the edges of the plastic ceiling decoration seems almost a deliberate thing on FLW's part, as if to show that it is indeed a remodeling.
Morris' only design flaw, if it can be called such, is that it is limited in what sort of merchandise works in the building. The long-gone dress shop did not work well. Its original function was a perfect use. As a place to display sculpture, it would also be excellent. Or perhaps greenery? Even empty.
The glimpse of the original structure visible around the edges of the plastic ceiling decoration seems almost a deliberate thing on FLW's part, as if to show that it is indeed a remodeling.
Morris' only design flaw, if it can be called such, is that it is limited in what sort of merchandise works in the building. The long-gone dress shop did not work well. Its original function was a perfect use. As a place to display sculpture, it would also be excellent. Or perhaps greenery? Even empty.