Posted on 02/27/2025 3:42:08 PM PST by mairdie
There’s one of FLW’s houses in Yellow Springs Ohio. When I saw it in the mid 80’s, it was pretty run down had been made into crappy apartments. It was saved from demolition and completely restored in the early 2000’s.
You are right on the money. I want a boudior the size of a high end hotel suite.
I agree completely with you. My late mother & my husband love his work, it just leaves me cold.
“”””Frank Lloyd Wright’s design skills sucked.”””
Growing up in the home building business I learned that the designers decide how it should look but don’t always have a clue if it will work. Engineers and architects have very different roles.
It had an oil furnace, hot air. Then when I bought it it was switched to a super efficient gas furnace, which was terrible. The realtor convinced the seller to remove the oil burning furnace. It also had a gigantic basement that was about 1500 square feet of living space. My high school girls basically had their own suite, and could enter and exit in the garage.
Good thing Howard Roark didn’t design it, he’d take one look at that kitchen remodel and dynamite the whole house.
I northern Wisconsin you don’t need cooling.
I appreciate your posting of this Wright house I’d never heard of. The concept, layout, composition of forms, proportions, interior and exterior spaces, the treatment of light and shadow, high and low, the materials (giant, ill-proportioned, untextured concrete blocks - ugh) are just not up to Wright’s normal standards. I have to wonder if Wright did this, or if he parcelled it out to accolytes.
The Robie House is wonderful.
Bkmk
AMEN! HORRIBLE DESIGNER A ND HORRIBLE PERSON!
“Looks like a medical/dental office building”
The commercial/industrial vibe runs through a lot of FLR’s designs......most people just don’t put it together that, that’s what makes them unique.
I don’t know a lot about the man but apparently according to some on this thread he was overrated and not a nice guy......never knew any of that.
I do think some of his homes are very interesting and have a way sort of drawing you in.
“There’s a neighborhood near us with a few Lloyd Wright designed homes. For the most part, even though the designs are interesting, they’ve been allowed to deteriorate and the whole neighborhood is pretty shabby.”
Those houses were built when I was a child, so I had friends who lived in them and I have been in quite a few. Even though we knew there was something “important” and “expensive” about them, (what do 8-10 year olds know about architecture ) as kids we always considered them “weird”. I don’t recall ever feeling “cozy” in any of them. That said, I’m sorry they are now “shabby”.
And a target for the birds 5,200 panes of glass.
Hope I didn’t offend. Upkeep on such homes, is probably more difficult and expensive than in conventional wood frame construction. And I can see where “cozy” wasn’t anything Wright considered. That neighborhood remains something of a local attraction because of the homes.
“In another [anecdote] instance, Jones’s wife was dashing around the living room during a torrential downpour, using pots and pans to catch the various leaks.”
Proof it is a Frank Lloyd Wright design! Every one of his houses I’ve ever heard about had roof leaks.
I have a unique jigsaw puzzle I intend to put together sometime.
The manufacturer printed on both sides of the material before cutting the pieces on it.
On one side is a photo image of the Falling Waters house.
On the other side is the blueprints of the house.
I will glue it after I put it together and frame it with glass on both sides, so it can be hung with either of the two images facing out.
His work just isn’t your cuppa.
Not mine, either.
But he was a genius.
Excellent idea!
I know that works because I framed a letter that way.
“Hope I didn’t offend. Upkeep on such homes, is probably more difficult and expensive than in conventional wood frame construction. And I can see where “cozy” wasn’t anything Wright considered. That neighborhood remains something of a local attraction because of the homes.”
No offense taken! This was very near my neighborhood growing up and we roamed around freely. It was right behind my elementary school, so it was easy to get to. Even as a kid I recognized there were issues with upkeep. Cozy was never considered, even on the outside! The whole neighborhood just felt “prickly” to me. Interesting.... but prickly.
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