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AIA Celebrates Fallingwater

Eastern US, History, Pensylvania Comments Off

Sep 292011

The American Institute of Architects has a page commemorating the 75 anniversary of Fallingwater.

The page is a hub for the AIA’s coverage of the landmark — there’s an interview with Lynda Waggoner (and an excerpt from her book), a portion of an essay by Edgar Kuafmann, Sr. and an interactive graphic about the repairs needed to preserve the building (which, of course, lead other to produce an episode of The Idiot Train on how flaws in a vacation cottage that outlived the clients by decades is somehow cosmically echoes the flaws of the architect (though clearly the result of great thought because the writer used the word “doxology”)).

Also on the page, though unjustly subordinated, are a few links to items related to Taliesin’s 100th.

Sweeton House

Eastern US, Pensylvania Comments Off

Sep 092011

Philly.com has an article on the Sweeton House, a Usonian home designed in 1959 that is on the itinerary for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s Annual Conference this Fall.

The Sweeton family was solidly in the middle, and approached Wright to design a house for them that fit their “unpretentious lifestyle,” according to correspondence. Nichols says the Sweetons paid builders $24,000 to construct the house, which was completed in 1951. Wright’s design fee was $1,500.

He responded with a three-bedroom, one-bath house on seven acres. It has trademark Wright features, including a long, low, sloped roof that emphasizes the horizontal, a cantilevered carport, a gridded red-tinted concrete slab floor, concrete block and glass, and generous windows.

The windows in the main room aren’t just holes in the wall, “they’re a subtle enclosure of the house,” says Nichols, pointing out that no frame connects the panes where wall meets wall. The glass is cut and mitered to fit together neatly so residents can absorb a full sense of the nature beyond.

“When Wright designed the house, he really wanted to give the owner a sense of shelter, but also not confine the owner,” says Nichols.

It doesn’t show up in my browser, but reportedly, there’s a video of the Sweeton House here.

Restoration at Graycliff

Eastern US, NY, Restoration/Renovation Comments Off

Aug 262011

Another restoration story: the interior work at Graycliff is progressing. The Graycliff Conservancy is two months into the restoration of the Sun Porch of the Martin family’s summer house on Lake Erie.

Although it is not the grandest room in the building, Hooper said that the Sun Porch is pivotal to the restoration and that it “sets the stage for what’s to come.”

The ceiling and three walls of the Sun Porch have been redone in their original stucco. A rubber floor and light fixtures will also be remolded to Wright’s intent.

Currently, a state-of-the-art fire suppression system is being installed in the fourth wall of the room. The system is designed to emit a fine yet high-pressured mist in the event of a fire, so that no decorations or artifacts endure water damage.

Cooke House

Eastern US, For Sale, The South, Web Sites Comments Off

Aug 212011

Curbed has a photo gallery of the Cooke House (which went on sale last year), a Usonian in Virginia, currently for sale for $3.75 million.

Even if you aren’t in the market, the website for the house is worth visiting. It includes Wright’s drawings and renderings, floor plan, a photo gallery and a video tour.

Continuing Progress at Graycliff

Buffalo, Eastern US, News, NY, Restoration/Renovation No Responses »

Jul 242011

Graycliff, the Martin family summer home on Lake Erie, can now be added to the list of Frank Lloyd Wright sites that are getting dramatic improvements in 2011. A recent press release listed the current state of the restoration, and future plans.

Exterior restorations of all three Wright-designed buildings — the Isabelle Martin House, the Foster House and the Heat Hut — at Graycliff have been completed. Restoration of the first interior space, the Family Sun Room, is beginning. This restoration will consist of restoration of the stucco floor and ceiling and the lighting fixtures and the installation of a rubber floor that matches the 1928 original. A restoration of eight acres of the estate’s historic landscape is also beginning.

Buffalo is the site for the October, 2011 annual conference of the Nation Trust for Historic Preservation, giving national exposure to recently completed projects at both the Darwin Martin House and Graycliff.

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Annual Conference

Eastern US, Events, Organizations, Restoration/Renovation, Travel Comments Off

Jul 022011

Registration for this year’s Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Annual Conference is open (you can view the brochure here). The conference this year is in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Each year the conference offers spectacular opportunities to see the work of Wright and related architects, and this year is no different:

Highlights of the conference include the rarely-seen Spencer House (1956) in Wilmington, Delaware, the Sweeton House (1950) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the magnificent Beth Sholom Synagogue (1959) and multiple units of the Suntop Homes (1938-1939), a four-unit Usonian design intended to provide a nationwide model for affordable cluster housing. Other tours and special events are scheduled to include works by Robert F. Bishop, Paul Beidler, Alden B. Dow, Frank Furness, Louis Kahn, Richard Neutra, I. M. Pei and Robert Venturi among others. Pre- and post-conference tours will also be available to further explore Philadelphia’s rich architectural heritage.

The list of speakers is equally impressive , and it includes Jane King Hession, Neil Levine, Kathryn Smith, Richard Cleary and Joseph Siry.

Note that fellowships are available to students in historic preservation and volunteers and staff of preservation organizations and employees of properties listed on the Nation Register of Historic Places.

Fallingwater in Modernism magazine

Eastern US, Events, Pensylvania, The Clients No Responses »

May 082011

The Spring issue of Modernism has an article on the Kaufmanns and Fallingwater. A portion of the article appears on the website, but you’ll need to find the print version for the full thing.

Part of Fallingwater’s 75th anniversary celebration, the Kaufmann family and the role of their department store in the cultural life of their hometown is featured in an exhibit at Fallingwater this summer, “Kaufmann’s: Pittsburgh Purveyor of Culture”, June 24 through August 28:

At the center of Pittsburgh’s consumer culture was Kaufmann’s department store, located at Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street. The store’s eleven floors of merchandise made it a hub of commercial activity. However, it was also an institution that fostered public education, where Pittsburghers could attend free exhibitions or lectures on a myriad of contemporary topics. In its heyday during the first half of the twentieth century, Kaufmann’s established itself as a commercial, social and cultural center. The store became a powerful urban presence and a conduit to the world of goods and experiences beyond its walls and the borders of Pittsburgh. This exhibition celebrates the history of Kaufmann’s and the family behind its enterprising management.

Fallingwater at 75

Eastern US, Events, Pensylvania, Web Sites No Responses »

Apr 092011

Possibly jealous of Taliesin’s centenary, Fallingwater is celebrating its 75th anniversary this summer with a full schedule of events and exhibits, a book and, of course, a party (actually, they call it a gala).

One interesting addition to Fallingwater’s website is “Fallingwater, As Wright Intended”, a look at the differences between Fallingwater as built, with suggestions from the Kaufmann’s and Fallingwater as Wright designed it without changes initiated by the clients.

Along with these modifications to Wright’s plans were several rejections of design elements the Kaufmanns viewed as inconsistent with easy-going country life. In early drawings of the living room, Wright proposed rugs laid out on a well-defined grid, barrel chairs for the dining table and partner’s desk, and tall pole lamps to light the room at night. The Kaufmanns decided against all these proposals, arguing they introduced too much formality into an otherwise relaxed space. Wright also defined an orchestrated layout for the living room’s moveable furniture, placing hassocks (ottomans), zabutons (floor cushions), side tables, and coffee tables in asymmetrical arrangements in front of the sofas. The Kaufmanns never conformed to Wright’s intended placements; however, they did maintain the overall feel of asymmetry, just with a looser approach. On the exterior, Wright recommended gold leaf for the concrete, likely drawing on his Japanese experience and knowledge of gilded temples. The Kaufmanns thought gold leaf a bit too extravagant and inappropriate for a mountain house. Wright then suggested a white-mica finish from Super Concrete Emulsions, Ltd., a Los Angeles company. Again, the Kaufmanns rejected this idea, stating that the finish should blend with the stonework. Ultimately, they agreed upon a waterproof cement paint called Cemelith in a light ocher, a color which Wright described as taking inspiration from “the sere leaves of the rhododendron.”

Last Tour of the Pope-Leighey House

Eastern US, Travel Comments Off

Dec 072010

Here is a newspaper article on the last, expanded tour of the Pope-Leighey House for 2010 (tours begin again in May 2011).

The article is the typical newspaper summary of a tour, but may be of interest to completists.

(The original client, Loren Pope, died in 2008. This article from The New York Times profiled him in 2007)

Cooke House For Sale

Eastern US, For Sale, News, Web Sites Comments Off

Oct 092010

The Cook House in Virginia Beach, Virginia is for sale. Even if you cannot afford the $3,750,000 (firm) price, there is an attractive and interesting website for the home that you can enjoy for free. The site includes original Wright drawings, a floor plan and an extensive photo gallery. The House has only been owned by two families, and the Wright-designed furniture will be included in the sale. And yes (as if you had to ask), it does come with room to park both of your yachts.

The Cooke House is also the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in the world located within walking distance of a major center for research on the work of Edgar Cayce, though that’s more of a negative than a positive. And it’s two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and a really nice looking beach (which would make putting up the the spoon-bending Edgar Cayce nutters bearable).

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