Robie
Just took a tour of the Robie House. Old guy who spoke a lot and gave terse answers said wright was the most influential architect of the 20th century.
Er... If so, why are there no wright buildings in Europe? There was clear exchange between Europe and America in terms of architects. Usually going west. Old guy says "their loss" but that doesn't really answer the question...
He seems like the most prolific and influential modernist in American domestic architecture, but I'd hardly give him the crown of the most influential in the world during the 20th c. Aside from the fact that trying to pick one for the whole century is stupid, as is time magazine or whoever who described miesian' searcey tower as "building of the millenium" (yawn)
Lit Up,
I am by no means a...
Lit Up,
I am by no means a Wright expert, but from what I remember in books I have read regarding modernist architecture, Wright did indeed have a profound influence on many young European architects of the early 20th century. I know that Gropius and Van Der Rohe were definitely influenced by him.
Yes, that's right.
Wright's early work was published by a German firm in 1910; the portfolio of drawings and a subsequent book with photos had a huge impact on European architects. But Wright saw himself as an architect for his native land, creating an indigenous new architecture that was uniquely American -- whatever that might mean. His chief accomplishment seems to have been at the residential scale, where he pioneered the open plan and invented what became the norm for suburban housing.
The Robie house was far ahead of its time, in 1909; elaborately decorative by today's standard, it was built for a young and successful inventor and manufacturer, on a nice corner site which originally had nothing but parkland across the street. The journey from the entrance, more or less hidden at the rear, up through the stair and into the living room (which originally had a screen and seat next to the fireplace -- a final delay to the revelation of the space and the view) is typical of Wright's planning.
Like the May house, Robie was recently restored from top to bottom. The original dining table and chairs -- the table has planters and lanterns at its four corners -- resides in a gallery; replicas are intended for the dining room. Were they there for your visit ?
The Robie house is unique, even today; Meyer May might be a bit more recognizable as a suburban prototype. Even more typical is the design below, created for a manufacturer of pre-cut homes -- in 1916. The street view could be mistaken for a post-war house in any suburb in the country. That makes it 30 to 40 years ahead of its time ! (The porch has been enclosed, a common alteration to many a home, historic or otherwise . . .)
Enjoy your tour of the US . . . and keep us informed of what you see.
Thank you for your detailed...
Thank you for your detailed answer.
The furniture was gone. One wonders why they don't just put some replicas in there in the meanwhile, rather than leave it empty. The exterior of the house, with the clean modernist lines was just fantastic.
The other day I went to Farnsworth House by Mies..... nice on the eye, sure, but not overwhelming. Tiny and impractical; not bad as a writer's getaway perhaps, but not useful for ongoing inhabitation unless you're a loner. I was told that Lord Palumbo had a place in Plano where his family would sleep, mainly using the house during the day. Kinda defeats the point.
Corb is more of an artist than Mies. I was blown out of the water by the Villa Savoye when I went, last year. The Villa Savoye has delightful surprises, a formal vocabulary, alluding to things like ocean liners, with unexpected curves and various other attractive features.
I'm flying to Denver tomorrow, anything there or in Boulder that's worth seeing? Art wise I heard there's a Clyfford Still museum
Lit Up,
Since you are...
Lit Up,
Since you are currently in Chicago and interested in FLW houses, might I recommend a rare chance for the public to go inside the Heller House, just a short walk away from the Robie House in Hyde Park. It went on the market last year (still not sold), but has open houses schedule fairly frequently on the weekends. I went to the first open house last year (not knowing how long it was going to be on the market), and the family was still living there.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5132-S-Woodlawn-Ave-Chicago-IL-60615/3...
In Denver...
The Kirkland Museum is interesting if you're in the neighborhood anyway; it's a few blocks from the Denver Art Museum.
It's decorative art, mostly -- furniture, ceramics, glass. There's plenty of Modern, but also lots of Art Deco and some Arts and Crafts.
There's also a bizarre little neighborhood in southeast Denver called Krisana Park where someone built a couple-hundred exact Eichler replicas -- flat roofs and all, in a town that gets 5 feet of snow every year.
You won't see much in the way of Modern architecture in Boulder.
I found this link to Krisana ...
I found this link to Krisana Park images. The houses look as cool as their snow covered rooves. I don't live in the U.S. but I can say that buildings by Louis Kahn (see http://designmuseum.org/design/louis-kahn) and John Lautner (see http://www.johnlautner.org/wp/) would be at the top of my list.
Have a great trip.
Cheers,
Tick.
http://milehimodern.com/krisanapark.php
Lit Up, I believe
you got to Chicago a bit too early to see the Robie house completed. The effort has been a multi-year, multi-million-dollar process, starting on the exterior and continuing into the interior. Furnishings will come last. I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw.
The house was almost destroyed, at least once. It went through some hard times.
Those of us in the Wright community continue to rail against the practice of separating an historic property from it's architect-designed furnishings -- which in Wright's case are often intimately related to the architecture. Houses do come on the market with their original effects -- even Wright drawings, sometimes -- but all too often the furnishings have been sold. Every year new pieces come onto the auction market, where they bring exaggerated prices from "collectors." These pieces belong in their original environments . . .
(For "collectors" read "investors.")
Thanks all. I did indeed...
Thanks all. I did indeed pass the Heller House, which has an open house every Sunday. Alas I visited on a Tuesday or something so didn't get to see inside.
It's an interesting neighbourhood. Barack Obama's house is nearby, as is Louis Farrakhan's! Plus lots of interesting, architect designed houses. I wonder how they feel having a black-supremacist, anti-semite in their midst.... I was moved on by the security for the nation of islam. And the secret service, outside Obamas.
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