Issue 61 September 6th 2017

The Headlines

Aaron Green's Belvedere House in Historic Status Debate

Arguing that it should be preserved as a historic resource, architects are rallying to stop the demolition of a Belvedere, California home designed by a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright. The house is the work of architect Aaron Green, who helped complete the Marin County Civic Center after Wright’s death. Though some argue that Green is not considered to be a "master", Alan Hess, an architect, architecture historian and critic from Irvine, said that the Golden Gate Village in Marin City, also by Green, is an example of his architectural mastery. That building, a public housing complex, was recently nominated by the state Historical Resources Commission to gain national historic status. Hess said that is proof that Green’s work is significant. Read more.

Drawing Up the Past of Taliesin West

The preservation team at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is working to enable the National Historic Landmark to continue to serve as a laboratory and living space. They need documentation for reference to ensure their efforts remain true to Wright's original vision. University of Texas at San Antonio students are helping to advance the preservation of Taliesin West by creating award-winning, computer-aided design (CAD) drawings of the space, using Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) standards. Read more.

A Look At "Yesteryear" in Kankakee

A couple of former Navy cooks, Marvin Hammack and Ray Schimelideal, were looking for the ideal restaurant space when they purchased a large riverfront house in Kankakee, Illinois that was both elegant and historic. The early 1900s building was one of the first of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie House designs. On Feb. 1, 1953, they opened the doors of "Yesteryear" at 701 S. Harrison Ave. Now several years after the restaurant closed, the B. Harley Bradley House is owned and operated by a local nonprofit group, Wright In Kankakee. The house is open to the public, with guided tours offered Thursday through Sunday. The organization also sponsors many educational, artistic and other types of events. Read more.

Herb Greene Returns

Paul and Joy Baresels reached out to Herb Greene's office in Berkeley, California, even before closing on the home known as the Cunningham Residence, designed for Oklahoma City orthodontist Earl Cunningham and his wife, Martha in 1962. The Baresels were looking for any guidance Greene could offer them as homeowners and stewards of his legacy. Greene, now 88 years old, offered to stop-in while nearby for the Architects of the American School Symposium at the University of Oklahoma's College of Architecture. Greene had studied architecture at OU under Bruce Goff.

An artist, as well as a designer, the house Greene created holds its own, even as it embraces the landscape around it. Rounded walls flow into a curving, cedar-faced ceiling, the whole space following the natural slope from the street down to the back, offering a spectacular view of Quail Creek Golf Course. Read more.

FLW150: The Celebration Continues

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's The Whirling Arrow has a collection of highlights from the 150th Frank Lloyd Wright Birthday year celebration so far. Read more.

A Mid-Century Lakeside Home Fit For a Fairy Tale

Situated in the heart of Wisconsin is a mid-century lakeside home designed by Architect Russell Barr Williamson, who worked in the early decades of the 20th century with Frank Lloyd Wright. Williamson was chief draftsman of Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo before heading out on his own and becoming a well-known Wisconsin architect in his own right. The owners have thoughtfully renovated the home over the last eight years, and the project is definitely something to be proud of, a visual feast for the eyes. Read more.

Lessons to be Learned at FSC's Usonian House

On the campus of Florida Southern College, where the 150th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth in 1867 is a year-long celebration, there is an opportunity to experience the three-dimensional genius of a master designer. In addition to walking past buildings that are part of a functioning college campus, you can tour a house that was completed in 2013 from a 1939 blueprint by the man considered by many to be America’s greatest architect. Built as the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center, the house is a wonderful example of Wright’s “Usonian” ideal come to life. Read more.

Frank Gehry to Design Museum for Famous Architecture and Model Trains

Curbed reports that Frank Gehry has signed on to design a new offbeat cultural institution for the town of North Adams, Massachusetts: the Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum. The brainchild of former Guggenheim Museum director and a Mass MoCA founder, Thomas Krens, the $65 million, 83,000-square-foot museum will feature models of famous buildings from the last 150 years, including the work of 71 famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and six structures by Gehry. These buildings will be recreated at the same scale, with the Empire State building rising to the height of 35 feet. Oh, and apparently there will also be model trains! Read more.

Columbia Professor Talks about Wright, Race, and Education

Mabel O. Wilson, a professor of architecture at Columbia University, will speak at the Martin House Complex in Buffalo, New York next week about a never-built school Frank Lloyd Wright designed in 1928 for African-American children in the South. Wilson is one of the curators for the Museum of Modern Art's retrospective exhibit, "Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive," which celebrates the 150th anniversary of Wright's birth. Wright's little-known Rosenwald School plan is among the exhibit's 450 works on display. Wilson will speak at 7 pm Friday, September 8, 2017 in Martin House's Greatbatch Pavilion, 125 Jewett Parkway. Tickets are $35; $25 for members. Read more.

Wright's Roots

The newest issue of the Journal of Organic Architecture + Design is now available and features an essay by The Cultural Historian for the City of Chicago, Tim Samuelson. In honor of the sesquicentennial of his birth, this issue explores select aspects of the often misunderstood early life and career of "Frank L. Wright" (as the young architect presented himself and signed his drawings). Through progressive education, strong family ties, learning from talented mentors, and experimenting with a variety of styles, this is the story of Frank before the "Lloyd." Read more.

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