Wright Chat

outside in · Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 791

Do you ever see a building that must have been done by a good architect and have no idea who it could be?

Paul Ringstrom · Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 2224 Location: Mason City, IA

John,
What is the address?

outside in · Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 791

I saw this one in Cary, IL on my way to Crystal Lake.

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 8034 Location: San Francisco

And by "good" we mean, influenced by FLLW ! Thanks for the nice photo.

I wonder if this structure originally had a slightly overhanging roof. I see possible evidence of this in what might be the shadows of an extension of the lower roofs onto the facade of the central portion of the facade -- appearing slightly pink, for some reason. Wouldn't it be fine to see those roofs interfacing in that way with the brick massing -- and providing some shadow and some terminus to the upward thrust of the masonry ?

SDR

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 8034 Location: San Francisco

Thusly . . . ?

KevinW · Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 1033

That happens to me often....check out this somewhat Sullivanesque building in downtown Merced, California.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75562383@N03/sets/72157629439079512/
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KevinW

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 8034 Location: San Francisco

What a man does, that, he has. It's nice to see the practitioner paying his respects to his forebears -- even those still practicing at the time of the work.

I've just reviewed "Prairie School Architecture: studies from The Western Architect" (1975, 1983, ed. H Allen Brooks, Van Nostrand Reinhold). There are some direct copies of Frank Lloyd Wright's forms, and many other original contributions by some of Wright's followers, depicted in magazine articles dated from 1911 through 1929.

I haven't yet found this establishment, of unknown date, in Cary, Ill.

SDR

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 8034 Location: San Francisco

I wish my hasty sketch was as nice to look at at this Purcell & Feick drawing:

Here is a bank project by the same architects. All images come from one or another of H A Brooks's Prairie School volumes.

outside in · Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 791

Good spotting! I didn't see the remnants of the framing at the top on the left, so there were probably little roofs on the top of the parapet wall as your sketch suggests. I wonder what else is missing. I think the architect was probably influenced by this:

PrairieMod · Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 345 Location: www.prairiemod.com

Or more likely, this:

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PrairieMod
www.prairiemod.com

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 8034 Location: San Francisco

And . . . it all goes back to ancient practice, based on sound building construction: Base, shaft, and capital. What Wright and others did was to loosen the usual rules, overlapping real or implied volumes, allowing a single element to play more than one role in the composition. (You can see that happening very nicely in the reconstruction I sketched.) Wright in particular had an exquisite sense of proportion . . .

SDR

PSTraveler · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Lake City, Iowa

outside in and KevinW (since private messaging seems to be off):

Do either of you object to my using your photos on my website, the Prairie School Traveler? These are great finds and deserve to be better known.

E-mail me at prairieiniowa at aol. I'll be happy to credit you as photographer.

John

KevinW · Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 1033

Please do.
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KevinW

PSTraveler · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Lake City, Iowa

KevinW: Do you know the street address of your Sullivanesque building in Merced? Also, I'd be happy to credit you as photographer if you send me your name. If not, that's OK too.

John