June 08, 2005
Happy Birthday, Frank Lloyd Wright
I suspected something was up, late last night, when I spotted this at Google:
I've visited the Robie House in Chicago and Taliesin West in Arizona, neat visits both, although I'm a fan, not an expert. Having seen pictures of it, I'd like to have the house he designed for Ayn Rand's Connecticut residence (it was never built), but even if I could afford to build it, I'd be hesitant to do so:
Wright built 362 houses. About 300 survived in 2005. Only one was lost to forces of nature, a waterfront home in Mississippi destroyed by a hurricane in the 1960s; although, the Ennis-Brown House in California had been damaged by earthquake and rain-induced ground movement. While a number of the houses are preserved as museum pieces and millions of dollars are spent on their upkeep, other houses have trouble selling on the open market due to their unique designs, generally small size and outdated features.
Even the beautiful Fallingwater house in Bear Run, Pennsylvania had its problems:
The construction is a series of cantilevered balconies and terraces, using stone for all verticals and concrete for the horizontals. The house cost $155,000, including the architect's fee of $80,000. Kaufmann's own engineers argued that the design was not sound. They were overruled, but they were later proven to be correct—the cantilevered floors began to sag shortly afterwards. In the late 1990s, steel supports were added under the lowest cantilever, until a detailed structural analysis could be done. In March of 2002, post-tensioning of the lowest terrace was completed.
Still, I'd like to see more of a vogue for Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, and Art Deco than for all the countryfied, Waltonsish pseudo-nostalgia we have going around.
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