Wright Chat

[Rood]

Looking for photographs of Architect John Virginius Bennes' 1914 house for Aaron H. Maegley in Portland, Oregon ...

( http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanvintagehome/2904903911/?q=aaron_h._maekley)

... I came across a fascinating collection of photographs ... some vintage, others very new, of Frank Lloyd Wright houses/buildings, plus many Prairie School structures. Some of the photography is spectacular, some were taken from peculiar angles/perspectives, but almost all are interesting. We won't ask how one photographer got on top of the roofs at Taliesin, because one or two shots are so unusual. Particularly interesting are several colour close-ups of details, such as the ones of Louis Sullivan designed ornament. Photographs go on almost forever, too. You could spend hours looking. Unfortunately, not all buildings are identified.

The link is: http://flickriver.com/groups/prairieschool/pool/interesting/

Of the work by Bennes, the 1914 Maegley house is perhaps the most interesting by far. I happened on it last year by chance, while visiting Portland, and it was awfully refreshing to find such an early example of a FLLW influenced building and architect on the West Coast. Some give Bennes credit for introducing Prairie-style design to Oregon.

Bennes, by the way, was a cousin of Eduard Benes, the twice elected President of Cechoslovakia ... once before and once after WWII.

[Roderick Grant]

The Maegley House is stunning. I would like to see interior shots. Bennes was obviously a gifted architect. Another shot that intrigued me is the brick church interior with the barrel-vaulted ceiling, apparently in Minneapolis (15%). There's a shot of the notorious Heald House (17%), and even interior views of the Baker living room (27%), a house with few published interior shots. And Paul, Davenport is also shown (24%). This is an overwhelming collection of photos. Prairie School Traveler should latch onto this collection.

However, there's one photo that is upsetting: At about 34% is an image of the Irving House with construction going on. It appears that a very large enclosed porch has been added to the front of the house. Does anyone know anything about this?

[SDR]

Moving in the "older" direction from the starting point, in this photo collection, we come across this interior rendering.
I thought the comparison/contrast to the 1906 Wright remodeling project for C. Thaxter Shaw might be of interest.

[SDR]

The author of the photo album points us to this page (on his blog ?) where we can see a larger version of a page of Will Bradley interior design. Better known as an illustrator and typographer, Bradley was apparently keeping a close eye on Scottish and Viennese furniture design of the period. This page dates from 1902.

http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/inside/craftsman-mission/lhj-0302-bradley.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_H._Bradley

SDR

[Roderick Grant]

Bradley's work is much more reminiscent of Gustav Stickley's than FLW's.