Mark is a photographer, so he is an appropriate commentator on the exhibit of Teske’s photographs (I saw the exhibit a year ago in Michigan, and we’ve established that I’m no photographer — though I did enjoy the exhibit, I suspect the artistry that went into the creation of the images was largely lost on me).

Some of Wright’s drawings for Hollyhock House and the larger, unbuilt arts complex are also part of the exhibit, and are just as interesting as you would expect.

The exhibit, while modest, is well-done, but Mark is a far better judge of these things, so go check out his post.

From the Price Tower website :

In 1919, Aline Barnsdall commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to assist with her plans for Olive Hill, her property in Hollywood that was to be a grand performing arts center. The scheme was never realized, yet Wright’s sketches and plans provide the only evidence of the patron’s ambitions vision. This exhibition presents more than two dozen drawings for the Olive Hill project, which includes the famed Hollyhock House, as well as two dozen photographs by Edmund Teske, a Chicago native who lived and worked on the Olive Hill property during the late 1940s. Teske’s ability to manipulate photographic printing to produce atmospheric images stretches the medium and helps to define both artist and architect

Of the six Wright designs on West Burnham Boulevard (four duplexes and two single family homes), the group has bought two — one duplex and one single family — and has been restoring the home and offering regular opportunities to see the interior.

The Historic Preservation Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, helped research the house’s original condition, Lilek said. Its work, along with that of Italian conservator Nikolas Vakalis, can be seen in swatches of color on the walls that show the original paint.

Vakalis had 17 samples of finishes, plaster, stucco and paint analyzed by a lab to determine the composition so they could be replicated. They will try to restore as much as they can, but not if it won’t hold up, Lilek said.

Eventually, they will also have furniture made, based on Wright’s drawings. Wright saved space by adding a folding door to the kitchen, a built-in kitchen table and chairs and built-in closets, which are all still there.

[ … ]

The group eventually wants to refurbish the exterior of the duplex, which is now a rental property. But what will be done, if anything, to the remodeled interior has not been decided, Lilek said.

Their intent isn’t to make each house into a museum. “We’re going to try and turn these back to owner-occupied buildings,” he said. “I don’t know if me or you would move into a building in its 1916 condition.”

The single-family home is open one Saturday a month (the next dates are April 14 and May 12) and more information about the homes on West Burnham is available on the group’s website, including an article by Michael Lilek.

If you happen to have the $3.75 million, remember that I still have contacts, and can get you a discount on your title and escrow services (or, we could taunt them with the deal, pointing out that they should not have laid off a guy who can pull in $4 million sales).

An exhibition of drawings, plans and photos will run at the Carlton County Historical Society June 12 - Sept. 11; A symposium featuring an architect who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright on the design will be held August 7 and on that date there will be a community celebration at the station.

The station was designed for Cloquet after the Lindholm family (related to the McKinneys) first commissioned Wright to design a home for them in 1952.

The station’s design was based on Wright’s futuristic Broadacre City plan of 1934, which sought to create a new decentralized urban landscape. The station, however, was the only one ever constructed.

From its inception in 1958, the station’s gasoline came from Phillips 66. That changed last summer when Phillips 66 decided to pull its brand out of Minnesota altogether. The looming Phillips 66 sign was removed and it now operates as a Spur station.

The McKinneys lease the site to Terry Chartier, who has operated an automotive service station called Best Service at the site for more than 25 years.

“It’s been a thrill,” Chartier said of working in the famous building. “I’m in everybody’s vacation photos.”

David Bradley, a competitive skier at Dartmouth College, graduated with honors in English. He was the the US champion in the Nordic Combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), chosen for the 1940 US Olympic team, went to Finland was a war correspondent in 1939 after the Russian invasion. He then attended Harvard Medical School and subsequently entered the army and served as a medical officer.

His 1948 book, No Place to Hide was an early warning of the potential horrors of atomic warfare, and was praised by E. B. White in a New York Times review (White said Bradley had “eyes and ears of a poet”).

He served in the New Hampshire state legislature, taught, worked with the US Nordic ski team for the 1960 Olympics, and wrote more books (on Finland, on skiing and the work of Robert Frost).

Tickets are $7, reservations are required and can be made by calling (612) 250-6965. The money raised will go towards the restoration fund.

The home is available for overnight rentals, and tour opportunities are not common.

And, Mark Hertzberg’s Wright in Racine blog has some news from Racine. Norman Foster (architect of the Gherkin, the Towering Inuendo or, properly, 30 St Mary Axe in London) has designed an addition to the S. C Johnson campus, and Mark includes some renderings to give a feel for how the new building will look (looks kinda cool, if you care what I think). and he throws in some Edgar Tafel news too — gotta love the Edgar Tafel news.