Issue 306  May 18th 2022

Third Coast Percussion at Unity Temple

Each year, Third Coast Percussion presents 4-5 concerts of percussion music in their hometown of Chicago. In concert halls, theaters, and art galleries, the ensemble joins with world-renowned performers for programs that include premieres of new works for percussion alongside modern classic percussion music.

This year, presenting David Skidmore’s riveting quartet, Common Patterns in Uncommon Time, composed in honor of the centennial of Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic architectural marvel, Taliesin. Third Coast looks forward to presenting this work at another of Wright’s iconic buildings, Unity Temple, Friday, May 27, at 7:00PM.

The program will also include a conversation with Sidney K. Robinson, Professor Emeritus of Modern Architecture at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and longtime TCP Board Member, who commissioned the work. More info here.

Click for more details: thirdcoastpercussion.com  

Lautner's Wolff House Sells in Los Angeles

Back in early 2020, Joachim Rønning and Amanda Hearst doled out $5.9 million for a historic John Lautner-designed residence towering high above L.A.’s Sunset Strip. Now, a little over two years later, the Norwegian film director (“Kon-Tiki,” Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”) and Hearst — a great-granddaughter of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst, and co-founder of the sustainable fashion e-tailer Maison de Mode — have sold their unique Hollywood Hills home. The buyer, per industry sources, is Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, who forked over exactly $11 million for the place in an off-market deal.

That’s a whopping $5.1 million more than Rønning and Hearst paid for the property, which was designated by the city of L.A. in 2006 as a historic-cultural monument.

Originally built in the early 1960s for interior designer/concert pianist Marco Wolff, and aptly named the “Wolff Residence,” the four-story stone, glass and copper structure is often described as an homage to Lautner’s mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright. The estate has a main house and a Lautner-designed guesthouse that was tacked on in 1971, for just over 3,400 square feet of total living space featuring four bedrooms and four baths.

Tucked away behind a high stone wall, and perched atop a steep and heavily wooded hillside parcel spanning almost a quarter of an acre, the dramatic home is distinguished by a series of cantilevered roofs and balconies. A carport also rests out front, while several eucalyptus trees planted by Lautner himself are thoughtfully woven in and around the house.

A covered entryway topped by a geometric skylight opens into open-concept interiors adorned throughout with hardwood floors. Especially standing out is a double-height living room boasting a massive stone fireplace and soaring walls of glass flowing out to a southeast-facing terrace offering sweeping city lights views. More here.

Click for more details: dirt.com  

A Look At Frank Lloyd Wright's "Westhope"

Frank Lloyd Wright was suffering through a slump in his career when his cousin, Tulsa Tribune publisher, Richard Lloyd Jones, asked him to design a house for a four acre site on the southern outskirts of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1928.

Jones named the estate "Westhope," after his grandmother's home in England. He expected the kind of home that had made Wright famous around the world: a low, horizontal design that seemed to be part of the natural landscape. See what Wright designed by clicking here.

Click for more details: tulsaworld.com  

A Forgotten Charles Rennie Mackintosh Home Emerges From The Scottish Mist

While architect and Frank Lloyd Wright contemporary Charles Rennie Mackintosh is not generally known for his residential projects, the few that do exist are examples of impressive innovation in style. In Scotland, the 1904 Hill House argues that Mackintosh's legacy as an interior designer cannot be overlooked.

From its misty perch overlooking the River Clyde, Hill House appears to be just another of the imposing Scottish baronial homes in the affluent Glasgow suburb of Helensburgh. At closer range, where one can see the simplified Portland cement edifice and absence of gothic ornaments, it's clear that this isn’t just another traditional house. Rather, it’s an early modernist landmark built by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Mackintosh is most well-known today for his sleek, black high-backed chairs, but his highest achievement was in interior design. Hill House was commissioned by Walter Blackie, a prominent Glasgow publisher, and is one of Mackintosh’s few domestic projects, completed in 1904 at the height of Art Nouveau. It possesses typical elements of the style, namely the expression of organic forms in the architectural details, but also Mackintosh made advancements in the introduction of simple geometries. With these innovative motifs, he pushed design toward its modernist future and influenced a wide range of artists, designers, and architects. More here.

Click for more details: culturedmag.com