Issue 333  November 23rd 2022

The Mystery Of "Enwilde"

Lou Zucaro of Modern Illinois explores the mystery of "Enwilde," the Wayne, IL house currently on the market for $1.25 million.

Zucaro writes: "The story of the house starts when Chester Trowbridge, a surgeon of some renown in the suburbs back in the 1950s, hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for him on a piece of property in the west suburbs of Chicago (Wayne wasn’t incorporated until 1958, and Trowbridge hired Wright in early 1955). Unfortunately, Trowbridge and Wright didn’t see eye-to-eye on some aspects of the design or the process, and Wright terminated their relationship via a letter not even two months into the project."

"This leaves us with a mystery, as we don’t know who ultimately designed the house, but we do know that although it wasn’t Frank Lloyd Wright, it was somebody who appreciated Wright’s Usonian designs enough to design a house in a similar spirit, using triangular modules to create a plan with numerous triangular and hexagonal shapes, and no square rooms." Read more about it and see tons of photos here.

Click for more details: modernil.com  

Clark Street Students Reimagine Frank Lloyd Wright

High school students studying Wisconsin’s famous architect took on projects easily described as “Frank Lloyd Wright reimagined.”

They reflected aspects of Wright’s work and love of Japanese prints as they crafted a house model and also created face makeup, dress and lamp designs.

It was the culmination of a class, which is called the Frank Lloyd Wright Seminar, at Middleton’s Clark Street Community School. It included time spent at Taliesin, Wright’s 37,000-square-foot home, studio, school and 800-acre estate in Spring Green.

The annual seminar is open to students in grades nine through 12 who attend Clark Street, an innovation lab school located inside Middleton High School.

The students visit Taliesin to start their research before visiting other sites, depending on the year. The culmination of their research is the development of independent projects, which will be on display with projects from other classes, at the school Monday. Exhibition nights are held twice a year and feature collaborative pieces and individual projects, and sometimes students create interactive displays.

This was a typical year in which students spent a day in Downtown Madison, where they visited the Wisconsin Historical Society and looked at newspaper articles, architectural drawings, various records, photographs and other artifacts. They also visited the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, designed by Wright, and walked past the Robert M. Lamp House, which is another example of Wright’s work.

Caroline Hamblen, director of programs for Taliesin Preservation, said she likes letting students know that a World Heritage Site — which is legally protected by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — is in their backyard. More here.

Click for more details: madison.com  

A Second Chance At The Kellogg Doolittle House

President Jimmy Carter raised the minimum wage to $3.35 an hour, Fleetwood Mac released the Rumors album, Apple sold its first computers, and Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee marking a mere 25 years on the throne. The year was 1977, the same year John Vugrin began designing interiors and fabricating furniture. Much has transpired since then. Yet Vugrin finds himself almost right back where it all began — and he “couldn’t be happier” for the full-circle outcome he never saw coming.

His prehistoric-modern work is embedded into the most extraordinary example of organic architecture in the High Desert — the Kellogg Doolittle House, famously designed by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg beginning in the late 1980s. The original owners, artist Beverly Doolittle and her husband/agent, Jay, bought the lot and handed it off to Kellogg, who in turn found Vugrin. Between the architect’s regard for Frank Lloyd Wright and the artistic leanings of the couple, the chemistry for adventurous aesthetics fell just short of combustion.

From the day in 1994 when Vugrin arrived to work full-time on crafting custom furnishings for the home, he began breathing life into the skeleton Kellogg had erected. The architect worked mainly off-site by that time, leaving Vugrin to collaborate with Jay on handcrafted fantasies to fill the eccentric shell. REad more here.

Click for more details: palmspringslife.com