Frank Lloyd Wright

Celebrating Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th

Today marks the 150th birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright. The work of the most iconic American architect is still much discussed today and continues to impact the realm of modern, organic architecture. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth, the Museum of Modern Art is holding Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive. According to MoMA, the major exhibition, which opens June 12, “comprises approximately 450 works made from the 1890s through the 1950s” and is “structured as an anthology rather than a comprehensive, monographic presentation of Wright’s work, the exhibition is divided into 12 sections, each of which investigates a key object or cluster of objects from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, interpreting and contextualizing it, and juxtaposing it with other works from the Archives, from MoMA, or from outside collections.”
So go see this exhibit. Visit Wright’s Guggenheim while in New York. Or go see his masterpiece, Fallingwater. For an excursion closer to DC, check out the Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria. Wright though very highly of himself and his work. He would want you to go see them to celebrate his contributions to architecture.

Wright’s Cooke House in VA Beach Back on Market

Wright’s Cooke House features a 70-foot curved great room. Photo courtesy of the owners.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s mid-century modern Cooke House, a hemicycle structure built overlooking Crystal Lake, was recently relisted for $2.75 million. It was listed several years ago for $4.4 million and then dropped to $3.75 million. If you do not have the funds for this one, you can stay in the staff suite for $140 per night.
Designed by Wright in 1953 and completed after his death in 1960, the current owners Daniel and Jane Duhl bought the house in 1983 from the original owner Maude Cooke, who wrote to Wright in 1951 asking the master to build a house for her and her husband, Andrew. “Dear Mr. Wright, Will you please help us get the beautiful house we have dreamed of for so long?” Maude wrote. The house was in disrepair when the Duhls bought it. They undertook a major restoration, winning a preservation award from the AIA of Hampton Roads. The main feature of the 3 bedroom/2 bath house is the 70-foot curved great room with wall of glass and 40-foot custom Wright sofa. The owners have put together an excellent website with more photos, a history of the house and some of Wright’s drawings. The Cooke House is one of just three Wright designed in Virginia, including the Pope-Leighey House and the Marden House.

Event: Smithsonian to Explore Legacy of Wright

An all-day Smithsonian seminar will explore the life and legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright. The event will be held Saturday, January 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the S. Dillon Ripley Center. $90 for members; $130 for non-members. Bill Keene, a Smithsonian study tour lecturer in architecture and urban studies, will lead the discussion. Participants also will hear from Thomas Wright, grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright, who lives in the Robert Llewellyn Wright House (1957) in Bethesda, which was designed for his father, FLW’s sixth child. Click here for more information and tickets.

Modern Snapshot: Usonia, New York

The Washington area currently has six mid-century modern neighborhoods listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Carderock Springs, Hammond Wood, Holmes Run Acres, Rock Creek Woods, Tauxemont [I originally forgot this one. See comment below. Thanks Kim.] and the five Charles Goodman-designed homes in Takoma Park. Hollin Hills is on track for the designation as well. Other neighborhoods around the country have made the list, including Arapahoe Acres in Denver and Ladue Estates near St. Louis. Another is Usonia Homes in New York. Usonia was built the late 1940s and 1950s as a cooperative community and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed the overall community plans and three of the homes; his disciples designed the remaining 44. The homes are tucked into a 100-acre wooded site in the Town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County. The land was originally purchased for $22,000.
”I think there was a great surge of idealism after the war, which gave us a freedom to do what we wanted to do,” Aaron Resnick, who designed 12 of the homes and lived in the community, was quoted as saying in the New York Time in 1981. ”We were united on several concepts: we wanted natural or organic houses, we wanted a sense of community spirit and we needed homes that could be built inexpensively. And, of course, we were all admirers of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.”
Here are few shots of my recent drive through the neighborhood, which gave me the feel of Hollin Hills Read More >

Chance to Tour Wright’s Three Homes in DC

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy has created a special opportunity to tour all three of the Wright-designed homes in the Washington area. On June 29, the group will start with the Robert Llewellyn Wright House (1953) in Bethesda. Thomas Wright, grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright and the current owner of the house, will personally conduct the tour and answer questions. Participants will then travel to McLean, to tour the Luis Marden House (1952). Light refreshments will be served on the terrace with views overlooking the majestic Potomac. The day will conclude at Woodlawn with a tour of the Pope-Leighey House (1939) in Alexandria. Cost is $185 for members; $200 for non-members. You can register here. Act fast if you want to go since space is limited.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House.

Lecture: Restoring Wright’s Interiors and Furnishings; March 7

The third and final part of the lecture series “Still Outside the Box,” which has highlighted the work of Frank Lloyd Wright will focus on restoring the interior and furnishings of Wright’s work. The event will be held March 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the The Lyceum in Alexandria. The series is sponsored by Woodlawn/Pope-Leighey, historic sites of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. See all the details here.
Interiors of Wright’s Price Tower in Oklahoma. Photos by Don Wheeler, 2006.
In “Wright Restored: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower Interiors,” two experts in the field will relate their contributions to the interior restoration of Wright’s only realized skyscraper design, Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Scott W. Perkins, curator of collections and exhibitions at Price Tower Arts Center, will lead a virtual tour of the building’s historic floors and discuss the restoration initiative.
A night shot of Price Tower. Photo by Christian Korab, 2003.
Pamela Kirschner, a wooden arts conservator, will describe her materials research and conservation treatment of Price Tower interiors, including freestanding and built-in furniture, shelves and wall paneling.
Jane King Hession, former president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and coauthor of Frank Lloyd Wright in New York: The Plaza Years, 1954-1959, will moderate the session.
Get you tickets today.

Event: When a Wright House is No Longer a Home

The Darwin Martin House in Buffalo. Photo Courtesy of Biff Henrich, IMG_INK.
What happens to a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house when it is no longer a home? A panel of experts will explore this question at an event Thursday, Sept. 20 at The Lyceum in Alexandria. Case studies of two houses will be explored in “From Private to Public: New Uses for Wright Houses.” The event, which starts at 7 p.m., was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Interpretation and Education Fund of The National Trust for Historic Preservation. See ticket info and more details here.
Mary Roberts, executive director of the Martin House Complex (1903-05) in Buffalo, New York, will address the restoration of the Martin House as well as the 2009 Toshiko Mori-designed Greatbatch Pavilion visitor center, a sensitive addition to the National Historic Landmark property.
Architect Patrick Mahoney, president of the Graycliff Conservancy, Inc., is the author of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Walter V. Davidson House: An Examination of a Buffalo Home and Its Cousins from Coast to Coast. He has been involved with initiatives to find an alternative use for the once residential property.
Architectural historian Jane King Hession, former president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and author of Frank Lloyd Wright in New York: The Plaza Years, 1954-59, will moderate the session.

Frank Lloyd Wright Influence in Alexandria?

Many agents will describe a mid-century modern home as being in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright. Sometimes the comparison is appropriate but many times it does not fit. I think the agent could have used it to describe this custom 1950 house with pool in Alexandria. Look at the prominent stone wall fireplace with planter and wood-beamed ceilings in the living room. Instead of a mention of Wright or organic architecture, it looks like the house is being marketed more for its 1.5 acres. The property is listed at $850K, down from almost $1 million. See images here.

Living in a Frank Lloyd Wright

The 1934 Willey House in Minneapolis was restored by owner Steve Sikora. Photo by Steve Sikora.
Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright? On March 1, you will have an opportunity to hear from two people who are lucky to have that pleasure. The event, “Original Client and New Stewards,” will feature Roland Reisley, a rare original Wright client, who owns the 1951 Reisley House in Usonia near Pleasantville, N.Y. and Steve Sikora, who rescued and restored the 1934 Willey House in Minneapolis. Jane King Hession, who authored Frank Lloyd Wright in New York: The Plaza Years 1954-1959 and is former president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy, will moderate the panel, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the Lyceum in Alexandria. The event is the first in the three-part “Still Outside the Box,” a lecture series on the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright sponsored by Woodlawn/Pope-Leighey, historic sites of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Read here for more details and ticket information.
The living room of the Willey House. Photo by Steve Sikora.
The 1951 Reisley House (pictured above and below) in New York is still owned by the original owner. Photos by Roland Reisley.

Benefit to Help Preserve Pope Leighey House

The Pope-Leighey House is owned by the The National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Mark your calendars for a June 10 evening to benefit the preservation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House, which was completed 71 years ago (1940) in Falls Church. The Usonian house was moved to Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria in 1964 to make way for I-66 and was the first of only three Wright homes built in Virginia. The evening at the house, which belongs to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will feature martinis, passed hors d’oeuvres, a risotto bar and DJ. Here are the details: Friday, June 10, 2011; 7-10 p.m.; $75 per person. For more information call, (703) 780-4000.

Mid-Century Modern Parking

The slat-enclosed raised parking area in the Bender Building.

The boom in post-World War II car production in the United States created a unique design challenge. Where are all those cars going to go when people were not driving them? The National Building Museum is currently hosting the first major exhibition of parking garage design. “House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage” details the history of the form, with a major emphasis on the growth in construction during the mid-century period. The exhibit includes the designs of modern masters such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen and Bertrand Goldberg, who studied with Mies van der Rohe at the Bauhaus, before designing Marina City in Chicago.

The photos here are of a mid-century parking solution here in D.C. The Bender Building, built in 1959 and designed by the team of Julian Berla and Joseph Abel, features an above-ground parking lot right under the office space. At the time, the building, which faces three streets–Connecticut, 18th and L–was the largest and most modern in the city.
Parking entrance on 18th Street.
Cool concrete cut outs along parking area on L Street.

Fall Travel and Events: Wright’s Auldbrass, Julius Shulman’s Legacy

The new documentary on Julius Shulman byEric Bricker will open in D.C. on Nov. 6.

As you are planning your fall calendar, here a few modern-related events in D.C. and beyond to mark down.

Head down to South Carolina Nov. 7-8 to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Auldbrass Plantation for a tour and lecture of the architect’s largest and most complex project. Wright worked on the National Register-designated plantation on and off for 20 years. In 1986, film producer Joel Silver bought Auldbrass, and with the help of Eric Lloyd Wright, the grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright, he restored the property, which had fallen into disrepair. See images here.

Head north to the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh for Palm Springs Modern: Photographs by Julius Shulman. The exhibit, which runs until Jan. 31, features 100 photos of the late photographer’s iconic images of Palm Springs. I’m going to the exhibit this weekend so I will let you know how it is.

And speaking of Shulman, the film Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman will premiere in D.C. at the E St. Cinema on Friday, Nov. 6. Can’t wait for this.

Event: Pope-Leighy House Lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright

On Sept. 17, the Frank Lloyd Wright Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria will host an evening lecture about the architect by Thomas Schmidt, director emeritus of another Wright home you may have heard of–Fallingwater. The event will be held at 7 p.m. and will feature an interactive discussion, wine bar and hors d’oeuvres for a $50 donation. Click here for all the details and how to RSVP. There is limited space so RSVP now if you are interested.

Speaking of Fallingwater, which was built by Wright for Edgar Kaufmann. Check out this upcoming exhibit in Pittsburgh of the iconic photographs of Palm Springs by the late Julius Shulman. The exhibit, which begins Sept. 19, will include renderings of the Kaufmann House by Richard Neutra.

Event: Wright Conservancy Guggenheim and NY House Tour; June 20

Max Hoffman House (1955). Photo by Steve Maxwell.
Calling all Frank Lloyd Wright fans. Join the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy‘s for Out and About Wright: New York on June 20. Start the day with a lecture at the newly restored Guggenheim Museum and then tour privately owned and rarely open Wright-designed homes in the picturesque Wright-planned community of Usonia in Pleasantville.

Wright carefully sited each house, approved all the plans and personally designed three of the residences within this community. Many of the other homes were designed by architects such as Paul Schweikher, Theodore Dixon Bower, Ulrich Franzen, Keneji Domoto, Aaron Resnick (here’s one for sale by Resnick) and David Henken.

Participants will be able to tour such homes as the Reisley Residence (1951) and the Serlin Residence (1949), while ending the day with a tour and dinner at the Hoffman Residence (1955) in Rye. See the full brochure here.

Post’s Kennicott Analyzes Trust’s Most Endangered List, Third Church Debate

The Post‘s architecture critic Philip Kennicott takes a look at the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s List of Most Endangered Historic Places, saying the list does not always pick “easy” choices and comments on the Third Church of Christ debate. (According to this AP story, “Rebecca Miller, executive director of the D.C. Preservation League, said there are unexplored alternatives that would maintain the historic building. The group will likely appeal the decision, she said.”)
On the Trust’s list and the larger issue of preservation, Kennicott writes:

“[T]he National Trust’s annual list — which reflects increasing concern about the preservation of mid-century modernism — has never been exclusively devoted to the easy issues in preservation. When they hold their yearly adopt-a-puppy day, they don’t slight the mutts, the mangy and the ill-tempered. The list is always way out ahead of public opinion, which is where the Trust should be. And it often serves more as a guide to the philosophical problems of preservation than a simple gazetteer of historic or beloved buildings.
“This year, there’s nothing local on the list. But that doesn’t mean the list doesn’t have clear local import. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, Ill., is a far greater and more essential building than Araldo Cossutta’s 1971 Third Church of Christ, Scientist, on 16th Street near the White House. And the Unitarian Universalist congregants of the Wright’s 1909 temple are desperate to save their house of worship, while the Christian Scientists who worship in Cossutta’s concrete box have successfully Read More >

Redland Knolls in Bethesda

This 1942 Frank Lloyd Wright-style home I blogged about here was featured in a Washington Post story yesterday about Redland Knolls, a Bethesda neighborhood off of River Road. The house sold for $1.275 early last year and is said to have been designed by one of Wright’s students, although that has not been confirmed. There are number of nice mid-century modern homes in the neighborhood (check out the ones along Pyle Road), which the Post describes as an “eclectic” mix of architectural styles.

Post Highlights Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods

The Washington Post highlights Charles Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods in its “Where We Live” column, with writer Andrea Rouda saying that “outstanding architecture doesn’t have to be wildly expensive. … Every resident lives in a work of art, but the average selling price is about $600,000.”
Goodman, whose architecture was heavily influenced by Mies van Der Rohe and Walter Gropius, took great care in siting each of the 76 homes in the Silver Spring neighborhood located here, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
“Like Frank Lloyd Wright before him, Goodman believed strongly that a house should enhance its natural setting without destroying it,” Rouda writes. “Because he insisted on siting each home to take advantage of the rocky topography, the houses all front on slightly different angles, giving them the flavor of tree houses scattered in a forest. The land is hilly and rocky, so each house has a lower level that is partially underground at or near the front, but fully above ground with a patio door and floor-to-ceiling windows at the side or back.”
One of the distinctive features of Goodman’s homes in Rock Creek Woods are the funky color exterior hardboard, or Masonite panels. Elizabeth Jo Lampl, in her research supporting the neighborhood’s effort to be listed on the National Register, writes that Goodman’s firm “developed a color chart to guide the exterior staining and painting of the house and its trim. … Goodman specified that the vertical wall panels, flush Read More >

Wright Road Trip

The Post ran a piece the other day on three Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Pennsylvania a short drive from D.C., including Fallingwater. You can even stay overnight at the Duncan House or have your wedding at Kentuck Knob.

Encounter Row in Columbia

Yesterday’s Post real estate section highlighted Encounter Row, an enclave of contemporary homes from the early 1970s in Columbia, Md.

“Today, the single-level, 850- and 1,220-square-foot Pacesetter houses that line Encounter Row and the four courts that extend from it define the enclave and remain a distinctive alternative to the large Colonial-style houses more common in the region. ‘For very little money, we had an architect-designed house,’ said Phil Engelke, an original Pacesetter owner.
Architect Barry Berkus, president of Berkus Design Studios in Santa Barbara, Calif., planned the homes as prototypes for modular construction. Berkus, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., said in a recent interview that he designed the houses to accommodate a growing population and shrinking lot sizes. … Berkus said he was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes, which were meant to be affordable and mass-produced.”>

Here is a listing for one of the homes located on Encounter Row.

Not Every Mid-Century Modern Home Is a Frank Lloyd Wright

Is it just me or do you hate when real estate agents describe all mid-century modern homes as being in the “Frank Lloyd Wright-style?” Have they ever head of any other architects?
Well, anyway here is a Washington Post piece from today that actually is about a Frank Lloyd Wright home. The story is about AOL co-counder Jim Kinsey’s effort to restore a 1959 FLW home in McLean perched on the banks of the Potomac.