Issue Jun 19th 2024 June 19th 2024

Announcements

Corrections & Questions Department

We do our best to curate the choicest bits of Wright-related news each week, but we rely on our brilliant readers to make sure we stay factual. Case in point, reader Stephen Ritchings found a couple of errors and had some clarifying questions from the articles from last week we wanted to pass along to correct the record. Stephen writes:

"Good morning ! I always enjoy the weekly updates to your Wright Society newsletter. It does trouble me a bit, though, when I see misinformation included in the material you quote. It seems a shame to propagate questionable assertions. Two examples in this week's offering:

Is Tim Fischer certain that Wright took the Hagan commission only after assuring the clients that he would not visit the property? While it is true that many of his designs were built without his having seen the site in person, it seems wholly unlike him to have insisted on that before taking the job. [WS: We're not sure of this--does anyone else out there know?]

In the Rosenbaum story, the claim that Wright "insisted on the family using his furniture in the exact spots he saw fit" is repeated. Yes, there were instances of his rearranging furniture while visiting one of his properties, but I know of no evidence that furniture placement was more than a preference and a suggestion by the architect.

Common to both of these examples is that an anecdote has morphed into a generalization, and thence into a likely exaggeration of the facts. Docents at Wright sites dote on these tales, it seems, and they proliferate, leading to false impressions. While these titillate the public, they do not help us better understand the man and his work."

Thanks Stephen, we appreciate the feedback as always. If anyone has further information to help answer some of these queries, your insights would be appreciated!

The Headlines

Graycliff Moves Visitor Center Project Forward

Empire State Development (ESD) today announced the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Graycliff Estate will be adding a new visitor center to complement the recently renovated historic home and surrounding property, improving the 8-acre site’s visitor experience, and better telling the story of Darwin and Isabelle Martin’s spectacular summer home on Lake Erie. The project, located at 6472 Old Lakeshore Road in Derby, includes a complete renovation and expansion of the existing visitor center building to create a new 4,400 square foot, state-of-the-art building that will significantly increase Graycliff’s capacity to offer additional and year-round programming, events, and amenities for the steadily growing base of visitors, as well as support staff and volunteers in a variety of ways.

“The magnificent Frank Lloyd Wright properties are an important part of New York's rich architectural heritage and scenic beauty. The Graycliff Visitor Center project builds upon Governor Hochul’s efforts to grow the tourism economy in New York by supporting and expanding our unique destinations,” said ESD President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight. “Thanks to investment from New York State, along with many individuals and charitable foundations, the new Visitor Center will complement the completed Graycliff restoration projects and add to the number of sightseers drawn to Western New York from across the state and around the world.”

The Visitor Center project has come together with extensive state support from a variety of sources, including $1.25 million from the New York State Council on the Arts, $1 million from Empire State Development and more than $1 million from the New York Power Authority. New York State previously helped set the stage for the new Visitor Center by investing in the renovation of the house and grounds. Photographs of the Graycliff Estate restoration project can be seen here.

In addition to this funding, New York State Senator Sean Ryan recently added $300,000 to an earlier award of $250,000 to help bridge the funding gap and ensure a groundbreaking for the Visitor’s Center.

Overall, the $4 million multipurpose addition (nearly 2,800 square feet), leverages an existing concrete block gymnasium building that was built by the Piarist Fathers, who purchased the site in the 1950s. The former gymnasium serves as the current visitor center, and in the new design it will be upgraded to house an expanded gift shop, ticketing area, exhibit space, an indoor-outdoor cafe doubling as an event space, an administration area that includes a docent lounge and restrooms. Extending outward from the original structure, an open, light-filled lobby space creates a new face for the building and center for rotating exhibits, workshops, lectures, presentations, special events, and meetings. The plan is to have a groundbreaking in the fall of 2024 and open the new building during the 2026 season, in time to celebrate the centennial anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design for the property.

The Frank Lloyd Wright House That Never Was

Frank Lloyd Wright’s distinctive works dwell in cities across the world: the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, the Yamamura House in Japan. But North Carolina is strangely devoid of Wright’s work — sort of. In the mountains near Asheville, the Thomas C. Lea house sits as a monument to a Wright design that was never built.

Wright designed the two-story house in 1949 for his son-in-law’s friend, Thomas C. Lea. Elaborate plans show a large hexagonal room with a fireplace at its center; a rectangular wing juts off the hexagon to accommodate four bedrooms. Similar to two other unbuilt designs, the Lake Tahoe Summer Colony and the E.A. Smith House, the partially conical roof line is striking, and even in the renderings created by David Romero of Hooked On The Past, the home is splendid.

But the remoteness of the mountains proved a challenge back in the midcentury, and the project was plagued with poor communications and delays. Wright was aware that he wouldn’t be present to supervise, the current owners told Romero, so the eventual adjustments seemed inevitable.

The original design is extravagant, and despite having plenty of resources, Lea started scaling back as soon as he got into town. The eventual result removed the conical roof line and the wing, but it did try to adhere to signature Wrightian features. It has a large fireplace, two bedrooms, and even a swimming pool (dug by hand, with a boulder remaining as part of the floor).

As with many of Wright’s unbuilt designs, the Thomas C. Lea house occupies a pretty obscure space in architectural history — but in some sense, Wright can still inhabit the pantheon of architects who contributed to the man-made beauty of Asheville.

There isn’t a lot about the house out there, but you can see how the design came to life and check out more of Romero’s renderings at Hooked On The Past.

A Lloyd Wright-Designed Home Is Up For Grabs Again In L.A. At $3.6 Million

Though Lloyd Wright had huge shoes to fill as the eldest son of the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, he still managed to pave his own way as one of California’s best-known architects. Not only did he head up Paramount Studio’s set design department in the mid-1900s and create the Hollywood Bowl’s first orchestral shell, but he was also responsible for several notable early modern buildings throughout Los Angeles, including the landmark Wayfarers Chapel on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Standing out as well is this sprawling midcentury residence that recently popped up on the market in the leafy L.A. suburb of La Cañada Flintridge, asking just under $3.6 million. It last sold in August 2023 for $3.8 million, which was $835,000 over the listing price. “Unfortunately, the seller’s career plans changed and they never got to move in,” according to Heather Scherbert, who holds the listing with Lisa Zastrow, both of Coldwell Banker.

Built in the late 1940s and first occupied by pharmacist Emmanuel Gainsburg and his family, the Usonian-inspired dwelling is still known as the Gainsburg House. Updated in the 2000s by Corsini Stark Architects and resting on almost one-third of an acre of newly landscaped terrain sporting a “nature garden,” the redwood stone, concrete, and glass home offers four bedrooms and a matching number of baths spread across a little more than 3,100 square feet of living space on a single level marked by a plentitude of built-ins and horizontal lines, ribbed concrete walls, and vast expanses of glass overlooking picturesque views of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Highlights include a six-sided living room sporting an oversized fireplace encased within a cement block wall and wood-framed glass French doors spilling outside, plus an angular dining area with an integrated hutch and a kitchen outfitted with black walnut cabinetry, stainless countertops, an eat-in island, and a six-burner Viking range. There’s also a shelf-lined library with a built-in sofa, a laundry room, and a secluded bedroom wing featuring a primary suite holding a private patio, a walk-through closet that flows to a separate fireside sitting area, and a bath equipped with dual vanities, a soaking tub, and a shower.

Outdoors, the park-like grounds host a diagonally scored patio that’s ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining, as well as plenty of room for a pool should the next owner decide to add one. An attached, covered, and solar panel-topped carport with room for two vehicles also can be found on the premises; and as an added bonus, the property will transfer with a Mills Act contract, meaning homeowners are eligible for reduced property taxes in exchange for preserving the historic house.

FLWBC 2024 Detroit Conference Registration Now Open

Registration is now open to the public for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s annual conference. Taking place in and around Detroit, Michigan, September 25-29, 2024, the conference will bring together around 200 attendees from across the country, including Wright homeowners & building stewards, preservation advocates, scholars, and design enthusiasts.

Tours will showcase six Wright-designed houses across southeast Michigan: Affleck House (Bloomfield Hills, 1940), Goetsch-Winckler House (Okemos, 1939), Palmer House (Ann Arbor, 1950), Smith House (Bloomfield Hills, 1946), Turkel House (Detroit, 1955), and Schaberg House (Okemos, 1950). We will also visit landmarks by notable architects including Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Paul Rudolph, Alexander Girard, William Kessler and more. Many of these are private homes not regularly open to tours.

Talks will focus on the conference theme, Frank Lloyd Wright & the American City Today. Speakers from a variety of disciplines and perspectives will examine the relationships of Wright’s work and legacy to historical and contemporary issues of American cities and suburbs through a critical lens.

Celebrations build community and strengthen support for the Conservancy’s mission, the ongoing preservation of Wright’s work. Festivities begin Wednesday night with a reception at the Book Tower, and culminate in a Saturday night gala at the Westin Book Cadillac, allowing us to toast two major preservation success stories in downtown Detroit. The gala, which features an online silent auction, honors the recipients of the Conservancy’s annual Wright Spirit Awards, individuals and organizations who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to preserving Wright’s legacy.

Complete information about tours, events, speakers, rates, and registration can be found here.

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