Inside the Hobbit House (Architect designs modern-day cottage based on mythical literature)

FineBuilding ^ | May 1, 2007 | Deb Silber

[jakewashere]

Soon after, the senior Jordan chose a pinnacle rock south of Taliesin to build a parody of Wright's fancy-pants architecture, a strange "Japanese house."

The location was picked specifically because after the house was built, FLLW couldn't drive from Spring Green to Madison anymore without having to go by the place and look at it at least once... and if Wright decided he didn't want to look at the damn thing any more he'd have to go twelve miles out of his way to avoid it.

[Grammy]

Hehehe

Now that’s some serious inyourface payback.

[AnAmericanMother]

The online list I found shows two houses in Mississippi, both rather early. I don’t see the house I’m thinking of on there. We know it was in the Delta or near the river because of the “gumbo” soil!

[AnAmericanMother]

Our current house is "Wright-ish" in that respect too -- all the wood is that dark walnut color, including the exposed beams in the living room. Unfortunately not real walnut . . . we could lighten that up. It's all white wood and pine stained black walnut, and a hard lacquer on top of the stain, which makes it the very devil to refinish. We are picking away at it, but more important things (lethal cracked furnace, water in the crawlspace, leaky roof, gutters falling off) have demanded our attention first.

But Wright would never have painted the dining room MAUVE. Ugh.

Our problem is, once you have built your own place, you're never satisfied living in a house somebody else built. This was a custom architect-designed home, and it looks very much like the one we built before that we outgrew (that's one of the reasons we bought it - that, and it had been vacant and neglected for 2+ years . . . the only reason we could afford it). But nothing is exactly where I would have put it . . .

. . . and, oh, yeah, the master bedroom is PINK . . . and the guest bathroom has op-art blue and red wallpaper with silver bows all over it.

Our predecessors had either NO taste, or the worst possible taste. My kids refer to the former owner as "Mr. Toad."

[AnAmericanMother]

You have to go to Rock City in the proper spirit. The underground "Mother Goose Village" (I kid you not) is a riot. Black light heaven.

And don't forget to buy a birdhouse . . . we have two, one for the front yard and one for the back . . .

[SuziQ]

My kids refer to the former owner as "Mr. Toad."

ROTFL! Yeah, there's no accounting for taste, is there? We like finding those nasty looking houses; you can get them for a good price because everyone else sees them as major work and don't want to bother, so they sit, and sit.

[SuziQ]

I just went to the Frank Lloyd Wright entry on Wikipedia, and it showed two homes in Ocean Springs. One was completeley destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and the other, which was next door was gutted. Both were hit by a 30' storm surge.

My older sister lives in Ocean Springs so I'll ask her where in town they were located. She lost her home in the storm, too, though their's was not an old wooden structure; it was a concrete block bungalow sitting on a concrete slab. Both their house and their neighbors' were 15' above sea level, but her neighbor's was sitting on top of 10' pilings. Since his first floor was also gutted, they guessed the wave must have been at least 30 - 35' high.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, contemporaries are a drug on the market in Atlanta (which makes it good for us, at least when we're buying!) I grew up in a 50s contemporary, which my parents built (it was designed by an architect friend), we built our first house, a tiny passive solar contemporary, and my parents have moved and built ANOTHER contemporary house (and much stranger looking than their first one - it looks like a paddleboat that's run aground in the marsh, it's on a tidal island on the GA coast. My dad's nickname is Bubba, so the kids call the house "Bubba's Ark in Jurassic Park"!)

When we were looking at this house, I did a little mild espionage - I dressed in my running clothes, took my blister kit and took off one running shoe and sat on the curb catty-cornered from the house for several hours one nice sunny weekend as though I were ministering to a bad blister . . .

. . . the whole time I sat there only one person stopped. It looked like a real estate agent (from her bright red suit to her funky shoes); she pulled in the driveway, got out of her car, stood there for several minutes contemplating the place . . . then got back in the car and drove away! I figured then we could get the place with a lowball offer, and we did!

[AnAmericanMother]

My recollection is that this was inland, because the house was sited in a wooded area . . . I will look in my Fine Homebuilding index and see if I can find it!

It was not one of his massive Prairie Style homes - I think both the houses in Ocean Springs were early 1900s - this was one of his late designs, very angular, flat roof, tall narrow windows, etc.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's rough about your sister losing her home. My daughter's best friend's family lost their home near Slidell LA, and one of my coworkers lost HIS family home in Pass Christian. Both were old houses that had been there since around the Civil War and had survived numerous hurricanes, but this one was too much for them.

My people are all from northern Alabama -- we lose homes in tornados instead.

[Grammy]

Hehehe

When we moved to Tennessee, that was the first thing we bought! It was way high in the front yard and all our friends thought it was hysterical. That was 20 years ago, and the poor old bird house has since bit the dust.

[AnAmericanMother]

LOL!

They'll sell you more! (they're not as well built as I remember though - cheap press board now.)

[Stonewall Jackson]

When you have a doctor spending $750,000-$1,000,000+ on a 7,500-square foot house, they aren't going to put a $250 stock door on the front of their new home. Personally, I can't see spending that much on a door, but that could be because it represents a huge chunk of my annual salary.

I am very happy there. I've been working for Lowe's for over ten years now. The benefits are great and it is usually a very enjoyable place to work.

[AnAmericanMother]

I have no idea what our front door cost - it was here when we got here!

But I'm pretty sure it's a lot closer to $250 than $10,000!

[SuziQ]

the whole time I sat there only one person stopped. It looked like a real estate agent (from her bright red suit to her funky shoes); she pulled in the driveway, got out of her car, stood there for several minutes contemplating the place . . . then got back in the car and drove away! I figured then we could get the place with a lowball offer, and we did!

Tricksy, you are!

[SuziQ]

There is another Wright house in Jackson, but there wasn’t a picture of it linked on Wikipedia.

[gorush]

Here is my modern day, poor man's hobbit house.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's yours? Neat!

Our solar house was earth-insulated on the back side, too.

What did you specify for uphill drainage?

[AnAmericanMother]

I think the house was in or near Jackson - my grandmother lived there for many years, probably why it stuck in my head.

[SuziQ]

My people are all from northern Alabama -- we lose homes in tornados instead.

Yep, they're much more prevalent there.

Along Hwy 90, from Biloxi through Gulfport, there were so many older homes that had been there for over 100 years. When the storm was over, there were only four houses along that stretch that were still standing, and even those were damaged. From looking at Googlemaps, the stretch from Bay St. Louis through Pass Christian and Waveland was wiped out at least two blocks inland. There was nothing but timber left.