Issue 163 August 21st 2019

The Headlines

Boulter House Damaged In Fire

Cincinnati firefighters responded to a fire alarm at the Wright-designed Boulter House (1954) after 9 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15. Early reports by local media say the fire was contained to a front room with significant damage to that room and smoke damage throughout the rest of the building. The homeowners, who purchased the house in February 2019, were not home and no one was injured.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy has reached out to several local contacts for more information. See the news clip here.

Madison Asks For Help To Connect Lake Monona With Downtown

The city of Madison, Wisconsin is planning what's next for a downtown lakeside park. It's working on developing a report on Law Park, which is the green space on both sides of the Monona Terrace.

Law Park first opened in 1843, and since then, there have been many proposals to connect it with the downtown. Now, the city says they're committed to investing in the park and surrounding area. One of the proposals include expanding the park with lake fill and building a public boathouse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. More here.

Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly Magazine Celebrates 60 Years Of The Guggenheim

For the upcoming issue of the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly magazine, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation partnered with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to share an in-depth look at one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most well-known buildings. This special summer 2019 issue coincides with the 60th anniversary of when the Guggenheim first opened its doors to the public in 1959.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Manhattan-masterpiece changed the way we observe and interact with art, light, architecture, and each other. Articles in “Standing Out in a Crowd: 60 Years of the Guggenheim,” include a 1957 writing about the Guggenheim by Frank Lloyd Wright, a photo essay by Andrew Pielage, exclusive illustrations by graphic artist Max Dalton, and more! Read about the issue here.

David Henken-Designed Usonian House Asks $810K

Less than an hour north of Manhattan, in Pleasantville, New York, a 100-acre enclave boasts an impressive number of Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired organic homes.

Curbed informs us that the Anderson House, a 1950 three-bedroom, one-bath structure designed by Wright engineer and designer David Henken is on the market now for $810,000. The home is modest in size at just 1,856 square feet, in harmony with Wright’s philosophy to serve the middle class with comfortable, affordable homes. But the structure isn’t diminutive in stature, making a dramatic visual impact with angular overhanging roof lines that jut into the forest. See it here.

National Endowment For The Humanities Awards $29 Million To Preservation, Virtual Reality Projects

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced $29 million in awards for 215 projects across the country relating to all things humanities, from education programs to cultural preservation, film, exhibitions, virtual reality, and architecture.

“NEH grants help strengthen and sustain American cultural life in communities, at museums, libraries, and historic sites, and in classrooms,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. “As the nation prepares to commemorate its 250th anniversary in 2026, NEH is proud to help lay the foundations for public engagement with America’s past by funding projects that safeguard cultural heritage and advance our understanding of the events, ideas, and people that have shaped our nation.

Some highlights of the grant recipients include the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which received $50,000 for storage improvements for its collections housed at Taliesin West; the Chicago Architecture Foundation, which received $170,000 for k-12 workshops on the development of the skyscraper; and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which received $10,000 for saving the School of Architecture design project archives. More information here.

Wright's Norman Lykes House Asks $2.65 Million

The Norman Lykes House, built in 1967 in Phoenix, Arizona, is on the market for $2.65 million. That's roughly $1 million less than its 2016 list price of $3.6 million. Wright, who was commissioned by Norman and Aimee Lykes for this residence, passed away in 1959, before the design for this house was finalized. His apprentice, John Rattenbury, was left to refine the drafts and submit the final version to the clients. Rattenbury was called back in 1994, when new owners sought to make considerable changes and expansions that maintained the integrity of the original drawings. All of the changes had to earn approval from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation before they could be installed. The redesign was completed in 1995, when the home was registered with the Wright Conservatory.

The 2,849-square-foot house has three bedrooms and is situated on a 1.32-acre property. Perched on a desert plateau overlooking Palm Canyon, this futuristic-style house resembles prominent work from later in Wright's career. Reminiscent of the Guggenheim, this home is composed of rounded walls and circular buildings. From a distance it looks like a series of tan spindles. Geometric details, which are another trademark of Wright's later work, can be found throughout the interior. Triangles and circles are cut-outs on many of the rounded exterior walls, some of which enclose a half-moon swimming pool area. See the photos here.

R.M. Schindler's Studio City Lechner House Sells For $4.9 Million

A landmark Studio City home by modernist architect Rudolph M. Schindler, fresh from a decade-long restoration project, has sold for $4.88 million. The boomerang-shaped residence that Schindler built for client Richard Lechner in 1947 was restored by Pamela Shamshiri, one-half of the sister-and-brother design firm Studio Shamshiri.

The 3,539-square-foot, four-bedroom house is perched on a hill that overlooks Laurel Canyon. Glass walls and clerestory windows offer treetop views from nearly every room, from the galley kitchen to the great room with its angular stainless-steel fireplace, built-in sofas and pull-out dining table and chairs.

As the listing pointed out, the Lechner House is one of the largest designs in the architectural oeuvre of the Austria-born protege of Frank Lloyd Wright. But it’s not exactly as Schindler left it. Shamshiri created a master bathroom with a cedar soaking tub. See the photos here.

ModTexas Aims To Save MCM Architecture One Hashtag At A Time

Amy Walton has teamed up with statewide preservation organizations to create modTEXAS, an Instagram crowdsourcing campaign. Texans are encouraged to photograph and share midcentury modern homes, commercial buildings, signs, furniture, and decor using the hashtag #modtexas. When paired with a geotag, the photos create a midcentury modern map of the state. Walton suggests creating awareness could also make tourism bureaus aware of the robotic benefits of architectural tourism, too. Devotees of Wright and other architects travel the country just to see a singular site. Ultimately, though, the goal is just to get people involved in preservation and “sharing the joy of design.”

But civic engagement may not be enough to save them. In June, the Dallas City Council gave the Dallas Theater Center control of the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, the only performing arts space in the U.S. designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. But preservationists, including Walton, were disappointed by the move, preferring the city and other local groups invest in rehabilitating the Turtle Creek theater to make it not just a performing arts center but a tourist destination, an architecture fan’s dream. The Dallas Theatre Center, which commissioned the building in 1959, will now need to appoint a 13-person steering committee to overhaul a master plan to restore the theater. Their lease lasts five years. Read more about this movement here.

Penwern: The Next Chapter

Author and photographer, Mark Hertzberg, recently posted an update to his blog Wright in Racine in which he provides some exciting restoration work being done at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fred B. Jones Estate (aka "Penwern") in Lake Delavan, WI. Check out more here.

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