Issue 439  November 27th 2024

Coming To The Rescue Of Wright's Walser House

Preservationists and an Austin neighborhood organization are rallying to help save an architecturally-influential — but seriously deteriorating — Frank Lloyd Wright home on the Far West Side.

The groups are seeking to rescue the J.J. Walser House, 42 N. Central Ave., a 1903 stucco residence and Chicago landmark that is a template for the architect’s more celebrated Prairie School designs.

The home has been physically distressed for the last 25 years. But its condition worsened after the longtime owner died in 2019 and foreclosure proceedings against the home were begun.

Heirs of the late owner are in possession of the unoccupied home, but lack the funds to care for the property.

Barbara Gordon, executive director of the Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy — one of the organizations attempting to save the Walser house — said her group worked with the family to have portions of the home boarded-up last month to help keep out the elements. “Before the winter sets in, and all the rain,” Gordon said. “It’s the kitchen wing that is really showing the most signs of water infiltration.”

“It’s a very valuable asset for the community from the standpoint that there are not many communities that can say they have a Frank Lloyd Wright home,” said Darnell Shields, executive director of Austin Coming Together. “It’s a cultural asset.” And one far too valuable to lose.

It takes a little work to really see the Walser house, and not just because of rotting exterior woodwork and crumbling stucco. A wide, four-story apartment building crowds in the home’s southern side, and an unruly mix of bushes and trees obscures its facade.

But keep looking. The home’s beauty — and design elements that would become hallmarks of Wright’s early work — becomes apparent, from its horizontal lines, deeply overhanging eaves and the band of windows on the second floor.

Wright would later repeat this approach with larger and more noteworthy homes such as South Bend, Indiana’s K. C. DeRhodes House, from 1906, the Barton House, built in Buffalo, New York in 1904, and the 1910 Horner House, which stood at 1331 W. Sherwin Ave., until it was wrecked in 1952. “So you can kind of see this progression of his ideas of this,” Gordon said.

Kendra Parzen, advocacy manager for Landmarks Illinois, said the group wants the city’s law department to place the home in Demolition Court. The maneuver wouldn’t open the door to the building being demolished, but it would place it in a court where a judge would have the power to force the bank that foreclosed on the house to make repairs. And a Demolition Court judge could also hear any motions to appoint a receiver, who could then at least get the home stabilized. “So far, the city has been receptive to our requests,” Parzen said.

Gordon said the home “needs to be absolutely dried out inside, outside — and then [to begin] reexamining its structural integrity, reexamining the building envelope.”

Restoring the home — and that would be a bit down the road — could be $2 million or more, Shields said, adding the group is up for the task of raising the cash. “It’s definitely not something we’re shying away from,” Shields said. But once it’s set right, the home could be converted into a house museum on its first floor, with office spaces on its second floor, he said.

The restored home would help efforts to uplift Central Avenue while contributing to the wealth of fine architecture in community, including the magnificent residences of the Austin Historic District. And the home is a mile east of Oak Park, which has the world’s largest concentration of Wright buildings.

“It’s part of this story of Wright in this area, and that’s why it’s so important to continue to save it,” Gordon said. “And it’s really important to keep it in Austin and have Austin celebrate it as one of their assets.”

Click for more details: suntimes.com  

Wichita State University Wright Building Closed Following Flooding

Wichita State University has temporarily closed one of its buildings after flooding. That building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, one of only two of his designs residing in Wichita.

“He designed those many years apart but both in Wichita so we’re very fortunate to have them,” said Nancy Davis, a Frank Lloyd Wright expert.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Allen House was designed in 1916 and the Corbin Education Center at Wichita State University was designed in 1957. Corbin has been open since 1964 but now- it's closed. At least for the rest of the school year.

“We were devastated to hear about the damage to Corbin,” said Davis.

The university announced in a statement last Friday a chilled water line broke and flooded the basement of Corbin harming electrical and HVAC systems.

“There was no damage to the Frank Lloyd Wright designs. It’s all contained to the basement with the mechanicals, which unfortunately is causing the building to be closed but yes we were very relieved to hear that there was no damage to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed portions of the building,” said Davis.

All classes that took place in Corbin have had to relocate.

The earliest the building could reopen is September, but this is bad news for the Allen House as well.

“We were getting ready to start combination tours with the Allen House and the Corbin Education Center next month. We were planning to start that,” said Davis.

But those plans will have to wait. This year also marks the 60 year anniversary of the building, which was supposed to be celebrated this semester but those celebrations have been postponed until fall.

Click for more details: kake.com  

How Fallingwater Gave Frank Lloyd Wright A Second Wind

Frank Lloyd Wright was an architect known for his innovative designs that blended nature with modern architecture. One of his most famous creations is Fallingwater, a stunning house built over a waterfall in Pennsylvania. Wright’s bold vision for this home was to make it feel like part of the natural environment, with the house seemingly growing out of the rocks and trees around it. Fallingwater became an iconic symbol of Wright’s style, showcasing his talent for creating spaces that were not only functional but also beautiful and harmonious with their surroundings.

The architectural wonder re-established the designer as a titan of his generation and shifted the public’s view of Modernism from a foreign movement to a part of the American character. His designs weren’t just about buildings—they were about creating a whole new way of thinking about space and the relationship between people and nature. This made Wright a revolutionary figure in the world of architecture, and Fallingwater remains a masterpiece that continues to inspire both architects and visitors today.

Click for more details: smithsonianmag.com  

The 10 Best New Architecture And Design Books Of The Season

Che Baez of W magazine has offered a list of the 10 Best New Architecture and Design Books of the Season. Included on this list is a book about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.

"Taliesin West, Wright’s beloved winter retreat and desert “laboratory,” where he mixed architecture with a dash of desert magic. Established in 1937, this place was a masterpiece that Wright and his apprentices spent years carefully crafting, each stone and beam infused with his vision. Nestled in the dramatic foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taliesin West is as much a product of the desert as it is of Wright’s genius.

With its sweeping curves, earthy materials, and a certain “prehistoric” grandeur, Taliesin West feels like it belongs both in the future and the past—like a perfectly preserved secret from an ancient civilization that also had a thing for clean lines and open spaces. Built and maintained almost entirely by Wright himself (and his loyal apprentices), it’s easily one of his most personal creations—a true blend of home and workspace, where the man and his art lived and breathed in harmony.

Taliesin West: At Home with Frank Lloyd Wright invites you to step inside this unique desert sanctuary, exploring the spaces that made up Wright’s daily life—from the serene Garden Room to the glamorous Cabaret Theatre. The book offers a glimpse into the many stories and quirks of this architectural wonderland, shedding light on how Wright turned a dusty patch of desert into a living, breathing canvas for his creative genius. Available now from Rizzoli.

Be sure to check out the rest of the list for more interesting perspectives.

Click for more details: wmagazine.com  

David Hanks Curates “Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright”

“When I first thought of creating an exhibition on Wright’s own photography and the photographers who documented his architecture, I found there was no book, no exhibition out there. Frank Lloyd Wright had a fascination with photography, viewing it as a hobby as well as a way for his architecture to reach a broad public,” said David Hanks, on curating “Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright,” his show as Consulting Curator at the Driehaus Museum which runs through January 5, 2025.

With photos that appeared in publications such as LIFE magazine and Architectural Forum, the exhibition offers insights into how photography influenced public perception of his work. In addition to the architectural photos, the exhibition also includes examples of Wright’s decorative designs, demonstrating his concept of design unity.

Hanks worked closely with the Driehaus Museum team and two well-known Chicago experts — Tim Samuelson and our very own Eric O’Malley. Much of his research was done in New York, where the Avery Library at Columbia University holds Wright’s archives, and the Museum of Modern Art is the repository for his models. These collections are owned jointly by the Avery Library and the Museum of Modern Art.

A St. Louis native, Hanks came to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1969, where he served as a Curator in the Decorative Arts for five years. “At the Winterthur Summer Program, I had studied eighteenth-century decorative arts, which was then the Art Institute’s American decorative arts focus. I became more and more interested in the 19th and 20th century because of all the Chicago material I discovered. Members of the Antiquarian Society helped build the Art Institute’s collection of Wright and other Chicago architects. I remember Mrs. Philip K. Wrigley donated a Frank Lloyd Wright window and Zibbie Glore made possible the acquisition of architectural fragments.”

In 1980, Hanks was invited by the Stewart Foundation in Montreal to assemble a collection for the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, and he continues to divide his time between New York and Montreal to continue his work with the Foundation. “It’s an hour’s flight, much quicker than the commute my friends take out to the Hamptons,” he said.

“My Chicago connection will always be a strong one. It has been great working on shows at the Driehaus Museum with the help of friends whom I worked with when I was at the Art Institute — such as Tim Samuelson and John Vinci, who know so much about Wright and Chicago’s architecture,” he said.

For More information about “Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright” at the Driehaus Museum visit driehausmuseum.org

Click for more details: classicchicagomagazine.com