Frank Lloyd Wright...

[Bob_Huntley]

In an earlier thread, which for the life of me I cannot now find, mention was made of FLW and his superior attitude to those less fortunate or endowed.

I came across this recently and I must say it has a wonderful ring to it.


"Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and
hypocritical humility.   I chose honest arrogance and have seen
no occasion to change"

[jg7236]

Great topic and a great quote by the late and great Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright.  I hope I can live to learn by his standards.  I have studied this man's design practices for years.  I have also traveled to and studied his finished products from L.A. to Chicago to Pennsylvania.  His prairie style of architecture will be around forever for all to study.

[A_Clay_Man]

Bob- The thread was the 'odieous comparison' one. As for your qoute, It's funny he used the term "honest" Since he stole his early work from louis sullivan. As a native Chicagoan I was exposed to the detail of Mr. Sullivan and have seen, but mostly felt, his influence in most of the older stuff, even in San Francisco.

Like Dick Daley, I am too torn between despising the mans personal actions and his genius with organic design. I believe those fundamentals can/should be used in GCA. And when they are it's amazing how the small stuff becomes important.

[Forrest Richardson]

I have worked with one of Mr. Wright's disciples -- and have become good friends after visiting Russia for a potential project. I have many Wright stories, all told third party...but very rich indeed. Most have been retold in various books.

[Matthew Mollica]

What is it about people with truly creative minds and amazing imagination ?

They can shine in some regards, often seeming to have super-human abilities. Yet, in other ways, they seem to miss the boat...

Many who have studied him may indeed deplore some of his characteristics and many acts throughout his amazing life, but the genius in his works is plain for all to see.

Frank Lloyd Wright's works were amazing, and very different to what the vast majority of his contemporaries were doing. They will be marveled at for generations.

His own home in Oak Park, Chicago is astounding, and the result of gradual refinement and toil over many years. His prairie houses, and his usonian houses are marvelous in their philosophy and design.

The Guggenheim, and the Kaufmann (Fallingwater) House would have to count as his masterpieces.

Come to think of it, with the right inclination, the guy would have been an amazing golf course architect.... He shares many commonalities and personal traits with Tillinghast, Mackenzie and others...

Matthew

[Bob_Huntley]

Matthew:

I have a friend here in Pebble Beach that bought a house on the 17 Mile Drive, about a hundred yards north of Spy Glass Hill Drive. The place is a dump, without heat and he intended to remodel and spend his golden years there. His neighbours, who, if you have been around the fourth and fifth holes at Spyglass own some of the plug-ugliest structures in the Forest are opposing his efforts. One of the the outrageous claims is that the house is in the style of a "Frank Lloyd Wright/Usonina" design and should be preserved.

Tell me, what is a Usonian model?

Bob

[Doug Wright]

Bob,

Here's what I found. I've always been fascinated by my no relation namesake. This is an excerpt from a well written article that I link below. Bottom line--sounds like a little of the FLW marketing BS. quite accomplished at this, you know.

"It wasn't until the 1910s that Wright began to think seriously about designing low-cost housing for working class people. But World War I and then the depression intervened. Then followed a real dry spell. Between 1928 and 1935, only two structures designed by Wright (other than his own house and studio at Taliesin) were constructed.

Then in 1935 Wright received a visit from Herbert Jacobs and his wife Katherine. Jacobs was a columnist with the Madison Capital Times, the city's most progressive newspaper. He was an admirer of Wright's work and wanted the great man to design their house. The problem was Jacobs was far from wealthy. Wright had little else on his plate and agreed to design a house that would cost $5,500, including his customary 10 percent fee. He called the design: Usonian.

What does Usonian mean? Who knows? Some suggest that Wright came up with the name during his first trip to Europe in 1910, when there was some discussion about referring to the USA as "Usona" in order to distinguish it from the new Union of South Africa. (In those days, as for much of the century, it's easy to see how the two nations could be confused.) Wright once said he took the name from Samuel Butler's utopian novel Erewhon. But no one's been able to track it down there. (I did a word search of the online edition of Erewhon and couldn't find it.) Most likely it was a joke. After all, read in a mirror the title of Butler's novel is Nowhere."

http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair0813.html

All The Best,

[hoggmeister]

Bob--

FLW intended the usonian house to be " a house for all people".

The first one actually built was the Jacobs house in 1936 and the last one, I believe, was finished in 1954. Approximately 60 were built in  all. They were his version of affordable housing . The first one was budgeted at $5000 with an architectural fee of $500, but naturally for FLW went over budget.

They were all one story, L-shaped, flat roofed  houses with no basements, no attics, no garages and built-in furniture. This was done  to save money, but also because Frank did not like clutter (or storage ). They incorporated a number of successful innovations like walls of windows and the idea of a "family room'.' They also had  some less successful design elements like heated slabs and no gutters (two of the reasons that they have not typically held up well ).

Some people have created a style" out of small flat -roofed "modern" houses that look like Usonian houses, but that is a stretch in my opinion. There is no reason to preserve that particular house unless it really is a true Usonian house designed by FLW.

Probably more than you wanted to know. Now back to golf course design.

[Matthew Mollica]

Hi Bob, and other members.

The term ‘Usonia’ was first used by Wright in 1925, and is loosely an acronym he applied when referring to houses for ‘true Americans’, or citizens of the United States of North America (USonians). Wright did state that he borrowed the term from Samuel Butler...

As above, the Usonian House design is a small, free-standing, extremely inexpensive home, constructed with wood walls, and a flat roof, of rough crossed timber beams.

These houses offered affordable housing to the masses, after the Great Depression, with most dating to the late 1930’s and 40’s.  In fact, over 100 were built.

Bob, if the house you refer to is in fact a FLW original, it should never be altered, despite the fact that’s exterior is likely to be somewhat ugly, especially in comparison to nearby properties.  It would be like carving up an early Macdonald or MacKenzie original.

It's unlikely to be a FLW, as whoever has bought property in the Monterey Bay area, could almost certainly have afforded to commission an architect to design and construct a house for them.

There wouldn't be much point, one would suspect, in keeping a faux-FLW, as hoggmeister says.

FYI, The Usonian house served as a spur for later construction principles such as pre-constructed / pre-cast housing components, suitable for large-scale housing developments and other building projects.

The Usonian houses also set design trends, in blurring the borders between the interior and exterior, with glass walls and doors, which opened out to gardens, and provided views of outside landscapes.  The interiors of the houses too, were quite flexible, with moveable screens rather than solid interior dividing walls, thereby redefining the interior spaces.

There are many of Wright’s works in San Francisco (especially at Sea Cliff), as well as other points in California, including the Monterey Bay area.


Matthew