Wright Chat

[CEP]

the approximately 3 acre Pebble Beach property John Nesbitt purchased in September of 1939 (for $18,000.00) from sportswoman Marion Hollins is now up for sale. at the time, Nesbitt already owned the Ennis house (into which he was about to move) when he initially contacted Wright in July of 1940 about the possibility of designing a beach front home on the Monterey peninsula. the realty ad posting does not list an asking price but one can surmise that it's probably in the high 20s to 30+ million when judged against a few other similar properties in the immediate area. here's the website if you're curious -
http://www.mikecanning.com/ListingDetail.aspx?listing_id=75

[SDR]

Here is a selection of the images found in Monograph 6, along with Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer's text:



Project: House for John Nesbitt, Carmel, California, 1940

It was indeed rare for Frank Lloyd Wright to be given the opportunity to design a house on the scale and magnitude of the one he designed for film producer
John Nesbitt on the rocky coastline at Carmel, California. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the site was a rising cluster of rocks with windswept pine trees
scattered over the terrain, the ground falling away sharply to the sea at one side, and more gradually to the approach road on the other side.

Such luxurious homes as this one, which was unfortunately never built, were the exception in his practice. In his earlier years he had had some remarkable
clients such as Susan Lawrence Dana, the Avery Coonleys, Francis W. Little, and Darwin D. Martin who were able and willing to build extraordinary homes
for themselves. Clients such as Harold McCormick and Sherman Booth commissioned enormous dwellings, but they were not built. Later, Fallingwater and
Wingspread were examples of homes where cost was not the factor. And in this work for John Nesbitt, the complexity of the plan, the luxury of the materials,
and the mere size of the commission attests to another one of those rare instances where cost was no factor.

The Second World War was the factor, however, that deterred and finally postponed its construction. Working drawings were prepared and signed, cost
estimates at hand, and construction ready to begin when suddenly the bomb fear along the west coast sent land values into a whirlwind; no one wanted to
live on a coastline that seemed imminently in danger of attack at that time. Not only the house, but all its construction drawings and documents, are on file
at Taliesin. It is one of the truly grand designs for elegant living. The great hall, an interior garden three stories high, has seven columns rising in stone
masonry, each one capped at the top by a glowing sphere of semi-precious stones, lighted from beneath. The main living area, along with its adjacent "Sea
Lounge" is a space of five thousand square feet, intended, of course, for entertaining on a large scale as befits a film producer. Other areas in the house are
more intimate, for private family living; a covered walk circumscribes the property and connects the main house to guest house, greenhouse, and servants'
dwellings. The materials were to be stone and wood, the wood boards beautifully perforated in some cases with integral abstract designs through which
lighting would come, both daylight and incandescent. The marked horizontality of the design conforms perfectly with the oceanside site with rock ledges. In
and among these natural ledges the architect designed a series circular pools that originate in the garden of the Great Hall itself, in the house, and gradually
step down in various levels, and various sizes until they reach the final rock ledge near the water's edge.

[Jeff Myers]

Mesmerizing design.
_________________
JAT
Jeff T

[Deke]

I researched this house and wrote an article about it some years ago. I'll post it as a PDF file if someone can tell me how to do that.

The real reason it never went forward was the cost was several times what Nesbitt requested from Wright.

Deke

[SDR]

Perhaps the easiest way would be to post a link to the page(s) ? Or you could send the PDF to me as an attachment to an e-mail.


SDR

[Roderick Grant]

My hunch is that FLW knew Nesbitt, who didn't take the Ennis remodel very far, would not build the Carmel Project, and so didn't get all that serious about it, using the opportunity for his own amusement to develop ideas. He may have done the same for Monroe/Miller and definitely did for Ayn Rand.

[Deke]

Possible, but unlike Miller and Rand projects (which never went beyond conceptual drawings), the Nesbitt property when to full construction documents. I've often thought how nice the house would be somewhere on the Puget Sound in my home state of Washington.

BTW in the letters between Nesbitt and Wright, there was talk of bringing technicolor equipment to T-West and making some kind of documentary about Wright. Even then Nesbitt was pitching the idea of a bio-pic.

DK

[Rood]

[Deke]

Nesbitt asked for a home costing between $20-40K. Wright's design, at his own estimate, would cost $50K. The outside estimates Nesbitt obtained put the price tag at $70K. Of course, Wright would charge based on the final cost, not his initial estimate, so one bone of contention is that Wright wanted a percentage of his design services based on the $50K price tag.

Deke

[Roderick Grant]

Costs rose after the war because the USA was about the only First World country whose economy and industrial infrastructure were not decimated, so the entire world was its customer, raising prices for all. It took Europe until the 1960s to fully recover.

I think Miller was that wealthy, but not Monroe. But their financial situation seemed to have nothing to do with the evolution of the design, which was a continuation of the Windfors Project, which FLW liked very much. I wonder, given Miller's Yankee predilections architecture-wise, if FLW paid any attention at all to what they wanted. He certainly didn't when it came to retrofitting the triplex from the All Steel Houses Project for Ayn Rand.

[CEP]

I think Roderick may be correct in thinking Wright was less than convinced of Nesbitt's ultimate abilities to see the project through. There was never an agreed upon final figure for the entire project and the two of them danced around what each considered that figure to be from the very start.

In Nesbitt's initial July 31st letter to FLW regarding the project, a red flag should have gone up for Wright when Nesbitt suggests different dollar amounts for the project (as mentioned above this would ultimately serve to confuse and curtail progress for the entire project). Wright would misinterpret Nesbitt’s vagueness -(“I propose to have a house that might cost twenty thousand dollars or forty thousand dollars”) - as meaning the high number while Nesbitt would embrace the low number. In the same letter Nesbitt states “It is my expectation that I will be able to afford about thirty thousand for the residence, ten thousand for the landscaping…” Besides the main residence, there was a planned perimeter covered walkway that would enclose the property as well as various out buildings and a guest house, which Nesbitt wanted to build first before proceeding with the main residence. Using the figures above, there was no compensation for the cost of the guesthouse or the perimeter walkway. Nesbitt did remain steadfast on the guest house issue, stating in several letters starting with that first letter of July 31st, 1940 and again in August and October correspondence, that a smaller guest unit should be built first, followed by the main building, the perimeter walkway and landscaped grounds that would form his compound. His intention was to pay for the entire project planning up front but build only the guesthouse initially. If all went well with construction and money continued to roll in, he wanted to proceed with the remaining structures over the years 1942 and 1943. This ‘Guest House First’ option was again discussed specifically on October 10, 1940 - “and maybe it will serve as an architectural guinea pig for the larger residence of the future”. Also suggested by Nesbitt was the possibility of building only the first floor of the main house, adding the bedrooms and ‘great hall’ later (February 22, 1941). And almost inexplicably, Frank Lloyd Wright agreed (until he re-read the letter shortly thereafter)! It was during one of the periods when Nesbitt had prospects for reasonable incoming funds that the Carmel house project was born. And as he admits at a later time, his enthusiasm and dreams got the best of him while dictating his wants and needs regarding the house to Wright.

Nesbitt was quite enthusiastic and full of grandiose ideas and plans for the proposed house. As would happen to Wright often throughout his career, Nesbitt suffered from a version of the infamous ‘champagne taste with a beer budget’ syndrome. While certainly not a poor man by any stretch, he did not appear to be a prudent saver and lived from paycheck to paycheck. Only his paychecks were often quite substantial. Or as Nesbitt put it himself, “the owner is an individual of high current earnings but of no capital. Hence, about the only absolute requirement is that low maintenance be the prime material consideration, with first-cost secondary. In personal terms - we want a fine, quality home which we can pay for out of high earnings, but which we can maintain at the lowest conceivable cost.” Or in other words, he wanted to spend the money up front for rather lavish surroundings using expensive materials that would last with little or no regular or high maintenance care. But apparently, that ‘first-cost’ had its limits and the project ultimately folded unresolved. Nesbitt’s reluctance to proceed with the project was caused by both real and imagined cost overruns.

On August 21st, 1940 Nesbitt sent Wright a thirteen-page letter in outline form, titled “House At Carmel.” In it he described in detail what he wanted for the residence - or as he put it “Being the hazy visualization of the owner, and hence a compound of private data, prejudice and sentiment” - covering everything from site to local climate; living to dining spaces; bedrooms to a billiard room; rooms with a view to music niches; guest housing to out-buildings; tide pools to swimming pools. Under the heading "Operating & Depreciation Costs" Nesbitt did indeed say the following: "18,000 for land (paid), 40,000 for residence and other structures and 10,000 for landscaping. The above sum to include: furnishings, drapes, rugs, lamps & decorative fixtures.” At a later date, Nesbitt really balked when this price (residence + landscaping) elevated slightly to around $57,000.00.

The end of the project came as the year 1941 drew to a close. After bickering back and forth over fees, Nesbitt proposed a solution that included a downsized/redesigned Carmel main house (12/29/41). On first read, Wright responded (12/30/41) thusly, ”Your letter of the 29th comes this morning and is so calm and collected a view of the circumstances that with it I can only concur. Written agreement from now on...Certainly. The pressure here was so great to get money to go on with our government contract and your failure to pay (a payment upon which we were absolutely depending) exaggerated in my mind the fear that perhaps the gossip getting to me concerning you and no doubt getting to you concerning me as well, might all be true. The nasty letter you wrote me instead of sending me the earned check seemed to justify this view. But I am sorry (for a nasty letter he in turn had sent!), if for no other reason than because I like you and admire you as well.”

After re-reading Nesbitt’s letter, Wright ended the project with the following diatribe dated December 31st, 1941 - “My letter of yesterday was written after a too hasty reading of your ‘proposition’.” I assumed it was made in good faith. Not so. Upon re-reading the proposal carefully I see you have taken advantage of my generous offer to save you harmless by taking more work upon myself and that you have made it the only condition on which you will pay anything for what I have already done, one in good faith on your own order. And as I had every reason to believe, to your satisfaction. Kindly return my letter…No John, I am through with you as a client, a friend, or a man… I want my plans back. All of them. And I don’t want any money you have or can ever get.”

[JPB_1971]

Does anyone know if the property has thus been improved (i.e. is no longer vacant)? Apologies if I missed this from earlier posts. It would seem inconceivable that such valuable property would still be undeveloped.

Perhaps an older, smaller home currently exists on the site that would be a "scrape-off" candidate...

[CEP]

the Nesbitt property is no longer available from Mike Canning - not sure if it was sold, pulled from the market or lost to another real estate firm. it was originally for sale at $19,000,000 that included a single story, rambling ranch-style home of undistinguished style. there is a 2-acre property currently for sale just up the street at 3180 17 Mile Drive for $9,900,000 that is indeed undeveloped - I believe it is owned by Clint Eastwood's ex-wife.

[Tom]

CEP, coming late to this thread. Would you mind posting the address or map location of the Nesbitt property? As you state the link has gone cold.

[CEP]

the street address is 3168 17 Mile Drive - will try to post a map of the property in a bit (I'm moving offices today at work and things are a bit hectic at the moment).