On Frank Lloyd Wright's Concrete Adobe
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ON FRANK LloYD WRIGHT’S CONCRETE ADOBE For their devotion to the development and administration of the Architecture Archive and Architecture Museum at the University of South Australia this book is dedicated to Dr. Christine Garnaut, Dr. Julie Collins and Ann Riddle. On Frank Lloyd Wright’s Concrete Adobe Irving Gill, Rudolph Schindler and the American Southwe st Donald Leslie Johnson University of South Australia, Adelaide First published 2016 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2013 Donald Leslie Johnson Donald Leslie Johnson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identied as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Johnson, Donald Leslie. On Frank Lloyd Wright’s concrete adobe : Irving Gill, Rudolph Schindler and the American Southwest. -- (Ashgate studies in architecture) 1. Concrete masonry--California--Los Angeles--Case studies. 2. Concrete masonry--History. 3. Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959--Criticism and interpretation. 4. Gill, Irving, 1870-1936--Inuence. 5. Schindler, R. M. (Rudolph M.), 1887-1953--Inuence. I. Title II. Series 721ˈ.04454ˈ092-dc23 ISBN 9781409428176 (hbk) The Library of Congress has catalogued the print edition as follows: Johnson, Donald Leslie. On Frank Lloyd Wright’s concrete adobe : Irving Gill, Rudolph Schindler and the Ameri- can Southwest / by Donald Leslie Johnson. pages cm. -- (Ashgate studies in architecture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-2817-6 (hardback) 1. Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959--Criticism and interpretation. 2. Gill, Irving, 1870-1936--Criticism and interpretation. 3. Schindler, R. M. (Rudolph M.), 1887-1953--Criticism and interpretation. 4. Concrete houses--California- -Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. 5. Concrete masonry. 6. Concrete blocks. I. Title. NA737.W7J65 2013 721’.04450922--dc23 2013003632 The letters, writings and drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright are copyright © 2013 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona: Wright Archive herein. Contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgements xv Frank Lloyd Wright Biography xx Preface xxi Introduction xxv List of Abbreviations xxvii 1 Questions, Events . and Precast Concrete 1 2 The Buildings 31 3 The Taylors and the Grins 53 4 Tiles and Blocks 73 5 Wright’s Fiction 99 6 Historians’ Fiction 119 7 Irving Gill, Regionalism and Concrete Adobe 143 8 Closure . Schindler and Resurgence 175 Appendix One 199 Appendix Two 203 References 207 About the Author 217 Index 219 This page intentionally left blank List of Illustrations 0.1 Frank Lloyd Wright, November 1923 xix 1.1 Aline Barnsdall house on Olive Hill in the Los Feliz district of Hollywood, California, 1919-1922; called Hollyhock by Wright; aerial photograph of around 1924 looking northeast; major landscaping included new trees that more or less followed Lloyd Wright’s suggestion; Residence A is northeast of the house, Residence B out of the picture to the left and near the road; the kindergarten was to be just o the picture and next to the road on the left; the vehicle entry court is north of the house stopped by a garage at its northern end; bedrooms are on the second level at the rear of the house; a future Municipal Art Gallery to right. Photograph held by Los Angeles Parks, from Levine, 1996. 4 1.2 Barnsdall house in Hollywood, California, 1919-1922; principal oor plan dated January 1921, revised August 1922, redrawn 1941; north is to the top of the drawing; note the plan components and spatial composition and relate to Figures 1.1, 7.5 and 7.7; bedrooms are in line on the second oor to the right; to the left of the courtyard is the loggia (the roof of which is the exterior stage), and to its left the living room with a reecting pool outside; vehicle entry court is at the top with individual dog kennels in line to its right; landscape features not as built. From Wijdeveld, 1925, courtesy © 2013 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. 5 1.3 Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, 1905-1908; exterior view of the meeting room and at left the north entrance; exterior and some interior walls and the roof beams and slabs were constructed of poured in situ reinforced concrete; exterior walls nished with troweled surfaces evident in this photo but since removed; colonettes fronting high windows are precast concrete. Photograph probably by Henry Fuermann of ca.1908, from Wright, 1911. 15 viii ON FRANK LloYD WRIGHT’S CONCRETE ADOBE 1.4 Prototype houses at a Sewaren Improvement Company site in Sewaren, New Jersey, 1908-1909, Grosvenor Atterbury, Architect, extant?; an application of the Atterbury Standardized Sectional System he described as “reproof, sanitary, and indestructible” and “intended to solve the problem of better living conditions for working classes at minimum cost;” project sponsored by Sage Foundation Homes Company; exterior walls textured o-form and unpainted. Contemporary photograph from Sloan, 1912. 20 1.5 “Concrete City” housing, Nanticoke Pennsylvania, 1913, Milton Dana Morrill, Architect; steel casement windows; reinforced concrete roof slab; wall plate (formwork) pattern untreated, only painted white inside and out with dark green trim. From Author’s collection. 22 2.1 Alice Millard house in Los Angeles, California, 1923-1924; perspective drawing of 1923 by son Lloyd Wright and very much as built; exterior stairs located by Lloyd at the left of the living room leading from entry to lower garden; a large addition as a separate building was built to a design by Lloyd in 1925 and would be to the immediate left in this drawing and awkwardly butting a corner of the house. Courtesy and © 2013 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. 33 2.2 Millard house, preliminary oor plan of entry or second level (“studio”), 1923; at left are two small sketches, one an elevation of a concrete tile and capstones and to their left a sectional detail entitled (at a later date) “textile block construction”; the building site (“plot”) plan is sketched upper right; the garden elevation is similar to as-built; a preliminary side elevation is to the right. Drawing probably by Wright Junior. Courtesy and © 2013 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. 34 2.3 Living room interior in 1980s, Alice Millard house in Pasadena, California, 1923-1924; furniture not Millard’s. From author’s collection. 36 2.4 John Storer house in Los Angeles, California, 1923-1924, photograph of ca.1924; colored canvas “awnings” above a roof terrace; in the background are houses that indicate steepness of the site; the front garden wall will be ush to a future sidewalk. From author’s collection. 36 2.5 Above, Storer house, measured as built entry level plan with lower bedrooms at left; kitchen (with adjacent outdoor dining) and servants wing at right next to the garage; a swimming pool was added to the “rear terrace” in the 1980s. Below, Storer house, measured as built oor plans of the upper bedrooms at left with the living room and its roof terraces to their right; the upper loft oor plan shows access to roof terrace on top of bedrooms; these measured as-built drawings by Joseph R. Bateman of 1972 are similar to the construction plans. Both drawings courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS (CAL, 19-LOSAN-70-2,3). 37 LIST OF IlluSTRATIONS ix 2.6 Storer house, preliminary drawing of 1923 of the street or “South Elevation” with design thoughts sketched thereon and therefore not as built; high comb of “wood sash bars” with “leaded glass” inset; beams to support roof terraces’ awnings; patterned garage doors at right not as built; block face pattern is that used for Millard house and not as-built for Storer; sixteen inches (406.4mm) module. Drawing probably by Wright Senior and Junior. Courtesy and © 2013 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. 38 2.7 Samuel and Harriet Freeman house on a hillside above Hollywood, California, 1924; isometric drawing based on as-built measurements by Jerey B. Lentz in 1969. Courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS (CAL,19-LOSAN, 62-2). 38 2.8 Above, Freeman house, measured as-built entry oor plan; living room at top of drawing with a small roof terrace on top of closets to its left on; at right is the garage; squares in oors indicate precast concrete oor tiles; oak oor boards in living room; measured as-built drawings of 1969 by Robert C. Giebner “based in part on Wright’s original drawing dated Jan., 1924”. Below, Freeman house, measured as-built lower level oor plan; two bedrooms with large closets and terrace to the left, one bedroom wall was removed in late 1920s; square precast concrete oor tiles; to the right a storage area under the garage was converted to a small bed-sit guest apartment to a Schindler design. Measured as-built drawing by Jery B. Lentz of 1969 “based in part on Wright’s original drawings dated Jan., 1924.” Both courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS (CAL,19-LOSAN, 62-3, 4). 40 2.9 Living room interior in 1960s, Freeman house in Los Angeles Hills overlooking downtown Hollywood.