TALIESIN FELLOWS ® NEWSLETTER Wright’sGordonHouse NUMBER 2, JANUARY 15, 2001 SavedbytheConservancy he Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy has saved Wright’s Gordon house in Wilsonville, Oregon, from destruc T tion by selection of the Oregon Garden/City of Silverton as the winning bidder for removal and reconstruction of the house on Garden property in Silverton. The new site will allow the house to have the same compass orientation as on its original site, and views from the house will be buffered against visually en- croaching structures. Public viewing of the restored structure will be available upon completion of the project early in 2002. Prior to a hearing by the Clackamas county commission- ers on the rescission of the building’s his- toric status, the own- ers of the Gordon site agreed to donate the house to the Conservancy on condition that it would be removed by March 15 in order to enable con- events struction of their new house. The Hanna House Tours The Gordon house was designed by Wright in 1957 and The second tour of the Hanna house by the constructed in 1963. It is a Usonian on-slab design originally devel- Northern California Taliesin Fellows is scheduled for oped for moderate housing cost for Life magazine in the 1930s April 1. Please call Midglen at 650-369-0416 to make and is about 2200 sq.ft. on two levels plus a small utility basement. reservations which are limited to 30 and will be on a first come basis. The first tour was a sell-out and the The requirements of the Conservancy stipulate that restoration docents performed admirably with all the details and must be exactly as original without alteration or addition to qualify history of this famed Wright design on the Stanford for historic preservation and Conservancy support. One estimate, campus. for removal and rebuilding the house on another site placed the cost at $750,000. With new site cost the total project would prob- San Diego and La Jolla ably reach $1.2 million. Paul Bogart, chairman of Fellows Events committee, together with Wallace Cunningham, is Inasmuch as preservation of the building does not lend planning a two-day tour of San Diego and La Jolla itself to contemporary family use with its 1950s amenities and the homes for spring. Works by Fred Langhorst, Sim rigid requirements of the Conservancy for unaltered works, the Bruce Richards, Cunningham, John Lloyd Wright and Irving Gill are in current plans. selection of Oregon Gardens provides an ideal solution for the future of the house. The Gordon house is the only Frank Lloyd Birthday Celebration Wright designed building in Oregon. The Oregon AIA and nation- Plans are in the making for celebration of wide concern including the Taliesin Fellows over the fate of the the birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright in conjunction house, together with original bidders Jay and Diane Plesset of San with an exhibition of Lois Gottlieb’s photographic Carlos who wanted the house for their home, added support for collection of life at Taliesin at Stanford in June. Watch the Conservancy’s cause. Since the founding of the Conservancy for details in the next Newsletter. more than eleven years ago no Wright structure has been demol- ished. letters... editor’s corner . I was delighted to receive the new Newsletter and commend you on it all. I know the time and energy it takes to produce such work! You might consider seeing and photographing a very handsome rammed-earth house un- der construction southeast of Tucson by my son Brian Lockhart who is a true Taliesin product. Meantime, accept my thanks and best wishes for your effort on the Newsletter. Frances Nemtin, Author Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Bill Patrick Taliesin West The Newsletter seemed to be well received at the (Fellows) board meeting (Oct 28). The only negative comment was arl Book, apprenticed in 1955-56 at Taliesin, will regarding proofreading - several typos. present an article on the development of organic Brad Storrer architecture along with a report on the Kebyar Alta Loma C practitioners, followers of Bruce Goff. Book is a teacher Kudos and bravo! I hope this is the beginning of a long run. of architectural history and for the past eleven years Jerry Morosco Pittsburgh has lectured at San Francisco City College and at San Francisco State on all periods of architecture, ancient, I particularly liked the story on the beginnings of the Taliesin Fellows. I will watch for the next issue. medieval and gothic, renaissance, and modern, includ- Doris Hanlon ing Bay Area architecture. Mechanicsburg (PA) We were delighted with the layout and pleased as pie. Book is a member of the Taliesin Fellows Northern Cali- We’d like 10 or 15 additional copies. fornia as well as the Kebyar Society. Eric Wright and staff Malibu Many of the early Goff-inspired architects were origi- My hope is there will be many such newsletters to come. Gair M. Sloan nally apprentices to Wright, and following his death Leavenworth, (KS) went on to study with Goff. The Kebyar group invites The Newsletter looks quite marvelous. Congratulations! subscribers and membership in Kebyar which publishes William A. Storrer, Author a newsletter, and reports on the work of their members Frank Lloyd Wright Companion and their pursuit of organic architecture. Though some Kebyar architects consider the Taliesin Fellows to be more interested in the past and with the archival history of Frank Lloyd Wright than in a freer interpretation for the future of organic architecture, they nevertheless feel aligned in the organic approach to architecture. Whether or not there is a valid debate on differing points of view, it becomes an intriguing sub- ject on the future of architecture. ____________________________________ FURTHERING THE PRINCIPLES OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT NUMBER2,January15,2001 For those who search for a philosophy for design, the TALIESINFELLOWSNEWSLETTER principles of organic architecture stand apart from the quarterlypublicationofTheTaliesinFellows,Inc. product of the “establishment” educational schools. It POBox5930 is indeed an alternative architecture. Scottsdale,AZ85261 publishedatMidglenStudio And then there is the crumble-jumble of Frank Gehry. 831MidglenWay, Woodside,CA94062 Editor:WilliamArthurPatrick Editorialstaff:RichardKeding,FrankLaraway,EarlNisbet BradStorrer,MiltonStricker,RezaJavandel PHOTO CREDITS 650.369.0416FAX369.0417 page 1: © WAStorrer:MINDaLIVE,Frank Lloyd Wright Companion page 3, 10,11: Milton Stricker E-Mail:[email protected] page 4: Bradley Storrer Website:www.midglen.com/newsletter page 5: © James Schildroth, James Fox, Charo Frank TaliesinFellowsInc.isanon-profitcorporation page 6, •7: Aaron Green 2 page 8: Lois Davidson Gottlieb TALIESINFELLOWSNEWSLETTER,JANUARY15,2001 bitsandpieces... byarchietekker Whereit’sgoing! Outofthecloset? There has never been an article about the A new development northeast of Seattle boasts six possible linkage of Goff’s followers and Wright dis- “FLLW like” designs with the following blurb: cipline. Some Wrightists consider the Goff follow- ers as not in the “true” FLLW organic vein but more “The builder, Rob “decoratists” with a looser approach. Is it all one Stewart, has one ball of wax? goal, to help the buyer get whatever The “out of the closet” article by Richard they want in a Keding (October 2000) indicates more and more home. Therefore, diversity is upon us which may be a good thing. there are no op- Are the FLLW organic aficionados warmed-over tions. Mr. Stewart Wright (FLLW lite!) I detect a wider, looser free- will, simply stated, dom in the post-Goff practitioners while the provide you ‘what- Wrightists are perhaps more rigid with modules and ever you want”. He such. The Goffish seems more whimsical sometimes needs 24 to 48 hours with sticks poking out and swirls and doodads with- to price your re- out a structural design rationale. quest. Can the Newsletter serve to provoke “Come by soon and thought, if not enlighten or lead the way? No- we can discuss the body so far has met this challenge. possibilities.” ATaliesinMemory by Frances Nemtkin To celebrate his recent purchase of the Davis farm, west of the Michels farm, and to host a picnic for Lord Pentland, a visiting friend of Mrs.Wright’s, Mr. Wright decided on a picnic on the new property. A group of us went to set it up and were cooking food on a big fire. The site was a small hilltop facing east; below us was an abandoned apple or- chard and former house site (the house had been recently moved). Suddenly the fire spread to nearby grass and we had a few anxious minutes as we beat it out by shoveling dirt and beat- ing the grass with the shovels. Just then someone spot- ted the Lincoln driving slowly up the valley toward the hill. We re- arranged the sheepskins to cover the evidence and went down to greet our guests. We walked up the hill and Mr. Wright surveyed the valley from the top, pointing out landmarks like Romeo and Juliet to Lord Pentland. In an aside to us he said quietly, “Well, you’ve had a little excitement here, haven’t you, boys!” TALIESINFELLOWSNEWSLETTER,JANUARY15,2001 3 TheFLLWBuildingConservancyMeetsinMinneapolis B ByBradleyR.Storrer Bogart,Geiger,Wiehle,Green With the theme, “Broadacre City and beyond: Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision for Usonia” the FLLW Building Conser- vancy held its annual conference in Minneapolis/St. Paul September 20-24 withmore than 240 participants. The morning programs consisted of lectures, workshops for homeowners, and Conservancy business meetings. Karal Ann Manning, Professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Minnesota, spoke on Main Street Comes to Suburbia: The Malling of Greater Minneapolis. Broadacre City was a valid concept in its time. It is sad to realize that the maIling of America seems to be its legacy.