Issue 129 December 26th 2018

The Headlines

Frank Lloyd Wright Kirigami

Looking for an interesting book to spend some gift card money on? Then consider Frank Lloyd Wright Paper Models by Marc Hagan-Guirey—the creative designer and artist behind Paper Dandy—and build some of Wright's most iconic buildings with paper.

Each set of DIY paper models comes with ready-to-build structures inspired by 14 of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic creations. To see them pop up right before your eyes, all you need is an X-Acto knife, cutting mat, and straightedge. Once you have these tools, you’re on your way to mastering two unique art forms: architectural model-making and kirigami, a variation of origami that incorporates cuts as well as folds.

The best part? Each kit comes with step-by-step, photographic instructions that will make building a breeze for people with all levels of paper-making experience. So, whether you’re honing these crafts or starting from scratch, this architectural project is bound to bring out the builder in you! You can pick up your own Frank Lloyd Wright Paper Models set in the My Modern Met Store. See it here.

Looking Back on FLWBC Japan Trip

In November, twenty-five Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy members traveled for their first major tour of Japan, The Great Living Creative Spirit: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Legacy in Japan. More than 40 sites across the country were visited on the 10-day main tour, including Wright’s Yamamura House, reconstructed Imperial Hotel entrance lobby, and Jiyu Gakuen school for dinner, a concert and a presentation by world-renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Read more.

Sleep In Oregon's Only Frank Lloyd Wright House

"It's an experience like no other and an opportunity to help preserve an architectural treasure," says Kathryn Burton, director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Gordon House Conservancy, a nonprofit that supports the property's preservation and ongoing renovation. "What better way to educate oneself about Wright and his architectural principles than to experience it firsthand. Not many people can say they've stayed the night in a Wright house."

Wright was 90 years old when he designed the western redcedar-and-concrete-block two-story house in 1957 for Conrad and Evelyn Gordon. Construction took place from 1963 to 1964 on their farm on the banks of the Willamette River. The kitchen is considered by experts to be one of Wright's best. Paneled refrigerator doors, under-cabinet lighting and the idea that the cook doesn't want to be stuck in a closed-off room away from family and friends are some of Frank Lloyd Wright's ideas that continue to influence kitchen design today.

After Evelyn Gordon died in 1997, the home fell into disrepair. When the riverfront property near Wilsonville,Oregon was sold, preservationists and architecture fans — some of whom would become members of the Gordon House Conservancy — had the home dismantled and moved 24 miles to land outside the Oregon Garden. The house, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was reconstructed and opened to the public in March 2002.

The Gordon House is the only publicly accessible Wright residence in the Pacific Northwest. The new membership, called "Night With Wright," allows four people to stay overnight at the house in Wright-designed beds and receive four tickets to the Oregon Garden. Overnight stays at the Gordon House are typically $750 a night. Throughout the year, the house and gardens can also be rented for events, from weddings to concerts. See the photos here.

Uncovering Frank Lloyd Wright’s Alberta Creation

constructconnect.com tells us that for a historical preservation project, it’s a worst-case scenario: No detailed drawings, no existing structure and a handful of black and white photos. But modern technology and a team of PhD-level minds intend to resurrect a gem of architectural history that was lost in Banff, Canada.

For the past year, Leong and his team of academics have been poring over old photographs, analyzing rock colours, pondering lumber gathering methods and entering data into digital models to reverse engineer a public pavilion in Banff.

Yew-Thong Leong, an architecture professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, specializes in building preservation and conservation. For the past year, Leong and his team of academics have been poring over old photographs, analyzing rock colours, pondering lumber gathering methods and entering data into digital models to reverse engineer a public pavilion in Banff. He and a handful of other world-renowned academics recently wrapped up the first stage to reconstruct Canada’s only public structure designed by influential American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

The structure was an example of Wright’s iconic Prairie School-style which integrated design into the natural landscape and favoured horizontal lines. The pavilion succumbed to flooding and frost in the 1930s. A skatepark and baseball diamond now sit on top of the original site of the pavilion.

Leong and the team have been doing the work pro-bono with the support of Ryerson. The Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative, a not-for-profit that sought Leong’s help, hopes with the blessing of the city, the pavilion can be rebuilt, nearly exactly as it was in 1914. The group then intends to gift it to the city. Read about the peoject here.

Stinson's Plans For Buffalo Grand Include Wright Designs

The final markings and signage which identified the former Adam's Mark Hotel are coming down. New signs revealing it as the Buffalo Grand are going up, and the Canadian developer who acquired the downtown Buffalo, NY hotel has grand plans for its remodeling, including a larger space suitable for conventions and a wedding chapel that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright but previously never built.

Among the customers Canadian developer Harry Stinson would like to attract are sports teams and sports-oriented guests. He also has a vision to tap into the region's architecture and historical tourism by introducing a wedding chapel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for a hotel in California but, after his death, was never built. And there's more from the famed architect's legacy coming to the Buffalo Grand.

"We were actually offered the complete interior of a Frank Lloyd Wright house which is being demolished, I think it was in Minnesota," Stinton said. "The demolition contractor called us and said 'I just had to tear all this stuff out, but it's all the orignial paneling and everything.' So we bought the interior of a Frank Lloyd Wright house to have literal, authentic interior." More here.

Wright's Schwartz House Joins Historic Places List

The Herald Times Reporter relates the news that the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Bernard Schwartz House in Two Rivers, Wisconsin has been named to the State Register of Historic Places on November 30.

The Bernard and Fern Schwartz House, the Wisconsin Historical Society said "is an innovative design and an excellent example of a pre-World War II, Usonian style home designed by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Sheathed with both red brick and Red Tidewater cypress, horizontal board-and-sunk-batten siding, the Schwartz home features the following characteristics common to Wright’s Usonian homes: a planning grid; cantilevered, flat roofs with overhanging eaves; board and batten sandwich walls; in-floor, radiant heating; and a carport. Read more here.

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