Issue 267 August 18th 2021

The Headlines

Original Chair Returned To Laurent House

A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed chair has been returned to the Laurent House in Rockford, Illinois. A fundraising campaign to “bring the chair home” was launched earlier this year.

The chair was among the pieces of furniture Wright designed for the home of Ken and Phyllis Laurent; however, in 2011 faced with financial difficulty, the Laurents reluctantly auctioned six pieces of furniture including the Wright chair. Earlier this summer the current owner of the chair offered to sell it back to the Laurent House Foundation at his cost of $11,700 which the “Bring the Chair Home” campaign was able to achieve.

With the acquisition of the chair, the original Wright-designed furniture collection at the Laurent House is nearly complete. Only a pair of ottomans remain missing. More here.

Western Reserve Historical Society Acquires Frank Lloyd Wright House Drawings

Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) has just announced that it’s received a donation of a new architectural collection that documents the historic Mr. and Mrs. Karl A. Staley House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in North Madison, Ohio.

Owners Susan and Jack Turben donated original drawings, photographs and other materials documenting the design, construction and history of the house, which is one of only ten known in Ohio that Wright designed. The Turbens bought the 1950 home in 1983 from the original owners Mr. and Mrs. Karl A. Staley.

Designed by Wright in 1951 at the height of the Usonian (or owner-built) movement, Mr. and Mrs. Staley built the home using indigenous and natural river stone approved by Wright from Mill Creek in Madison.

The Turbens donated a preservation easement on the house to the Conservancy in 2014 with the vision to preserve the house in perpetuity, and the Conservancy recognized their “exemplary stewardship of the property” by honoring them in 2020 with its Wright Spirit Award. In 2019, the Turbens generously gifted the home to University School, Jack Turbens's alma mater, in a life estate. In the meantime, the home is available to University School for art classes, workshops and small gatherings.

"This completes our dream of putting our house and drawings under the stewardship of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, University School and the Western Reserve Historical Society along with listing on the National Register of Historic Places — a perfect partnership," says Jack Turben in a statement. More here.

Sacred Spaces Photography Exhibit to Premiere at Beth Sholom Synagogue

Since its founding, Beth Sholom Preservation Foundation in suburban Philadelphia, has been dedicated to educating and engaging the broader community about Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and legacy.

Together with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Beth Sholom Preservation Foundation is hosting an intimate exhibit, Sacred Spaces. The photography exhibition will feature works from acclaimed photographer Andrew Pielage.

The exhibition launched at Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park, PA, and will be on view from September 19, 2021, through January 17, 2022. The exhibition focuses on exploring his work through the lens of scared spaces and how Wright interpreted this notion through his architecture and design. Guests will have the opportunity to view images of Wright-designed buildings and to purchase limited-edition, hand-numbered prints directly from Pielage. More here.

Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Home Sells For More Than $1M

A historic Ogden Dunes, Indiana, home designed by the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright sold this spring for $1.02 million in April, according to property records.

The house was built for the family of Andrew Armstrong, an advertising director in Chicago. It was the first home Wright designed in the Chicago metro area since the 1920s, according to the Ogden Dunes Historical Society. It featured an organic design tailored to the sloping site, a multi-level layout

The 3,696-square-foot home is nestled on landscaped, wooded lots on a sloping sand dune with a hidden entrance tucked away behind the carport, and the obtuse angles for which Wright was known. It stands two stories tall with four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a retro carport. The brick home has two brick fireplaces, a sauna, a large recreational room, lots of natural lighting and a screened-in porch that showcases the surrounding wooded environment.

"This special home has been carefully maintained," the Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy said. "Original Wright features include classics like board and batten woodwork, built-in bookshelves, and clerestory windows." More here.

Sullivan's Krause Music Store For Sale

The owners of a nearly 100-year-old building in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois are holding out hope they will find a buyer after more than two years on the market.

The Krause Music Store building, 4611 N. Lincoln Ave., has been a retail storefront, a funeral parlor, a boutique, and a marketing business since it was built in 1922. It’s possibly the last building in Chicago designed by famous architect Louis Sullivan.

Owners Peter and Pooja Vukosavich bought the building in 2005 and renovated it for two years before opening Studio V Design there. They closed the business in July 2019 and have tried to sell the building since. Read more about it here.

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