E D U C A T I O N | A D V O C A C Y | PRESERVATION THE MAGAZINE OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT BUILDING CONSERVANCY FALL 2010 / VOLUME 1 / ISSUE 2 IN THIS ISSUE So You Bought a Wright House Guest Editor: Edith Payne editor’s W e l c o m e the homeowners’ issue In keeping with the mission of the Conservancy, we have devoted the second issue of SaveWright to the homeowners who, after all, are the genesis of the Conservancy’s existence, the original core of its membership, and its greatest blessing. In doing so, we have focused on three main themes: restoration, buying and selling, and Conservancy resources for homeowners. In the three articles that concern restoration, we have chosen to focus first on two “saves”: the Glasner and Turkel houses. Both were well on their way to destruction at the time that they were purchased by their present owners. Glasner was about to become victim to McMansion fever; Turkel was in a state of advanced deterioration. Their restoration has been superb, and they stand now as the architectural gems that Wright envisioned. The restoration of the Richardson house, in which I live, has been included to suggest what can be done, over time, and on a modest budget, to rescue a house in declining but by no means terminal condition. AB The next two articles are focused on the process of buying and selling a Wright house. o Leo Koonmen has taken the long view as a real estate professional at the factors that U t must be kept in mind in appropriately pricing Wright property. Deborah Vick tells a more Edith Payne is an appellate t personal story of her successful efforts to sell her Usonian home, the Brandes house. H judge and Conservancy e board member. As a Wright e d i t o r homeowner, she maintains As a final matter, we could not neglect to mention the incomparable resources of the an active interest in historical Conservancy, its Homeowners’ Committee, and, particularly, its Architectural Advisory preservation. She has served Committee. Our joint mission, after all, is conservation, and we stand ready to provide both as counsel to and a advice as well as technical and personal support to those of you who confront the board member of the Newark challenges of Wright homeownership. In this area, in particular, we welcome your Museum, in New Jersey. suggestions as to what communications, services and programs would be of most value and interest to you. edith Payne Guest editor c o n t e n t s Cover photo: Hallway in Turkel House (1955) in Detroit, Michigan. Photo by Justin Maconochie. Any images not creditied are from the Conservancy’s collection. 1 President’s Message: Owning and Preserving a Wright Work of Art SaveWright is a semi-annual publication of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. 2 A Preservation Model: The Glasner House Guest Editor: Edith Payne Executive Editor: Susan Jacobs Lockhart 8 The Restored Turkel House: Source of Community Pride Managing Editor: Jeffrey Levine Copy Editor: Linda Botsford 12 Making a Wright House a Home: Restoration of the Contributing Editor: Janet Halstead Designer: Debra Nemeth Richardson House The mission of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy is to facilitate the preservation and 16 Valuing and Pricing Wright Houses: General Principles maintenance of the remaining structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright through education, advocacy, 20 Selling a Frank Lloyd Wright House: My Experience with preservation easements and technical services. the Brandes House Printed on recycled paper. tel: 312.663.5500 23 The Conservancy As a Resource for Homeowners email: [email protected] web: www.savewright.org 25 Letter from the Executive Director: The Stewardship of Owners © 2010, Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy editor’s W e l c o m e president’s m e SSAG e owning and preserving a Wright work of art For several years now we have been celebrating the 100th anniversary of a number of houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Next year we will celebrate the construction of Taliesin, his home and studio in Hillside, Wisconsin. Their longevity, and the continu- ing interest in owning and preserving these residential structures brings joy, but also can test the dedication of new owners. The recent acquisition of Wright houses is the theme for this SaveWright, allowing us to celebrate the preservation and renewal of three houses, one over 100 years old and two over 50 years old. Changes by multiple owners, physical condition, and the threat of being torn down were all at play. The Wright Archive staff is more than willing to help Each sympathetic owner came to their house by a homeowners on any restoration work. They are wel- different route, with a general interest in architecture, come to make an appointment to visit and look at the but not necessarily looking to buy a Wright house; the drawings and other related materials that would assist architecture seemed to choose them. For two of the in restoration. Copies of working drawings can be most threatened of these houses, it was the media provided when required for ongoing work. To make an attention brought through the Conservancy’s Advocacy appointment or request materials, one should contact Committee, plus the potential buyers’ belief that these Oskar Munoz and Margo Stipe directly: omunoz@ houses are works of art, that convinced them of the franklloydwright.org and [email protected]. need to save them. There is also an extensive oral history collection of During the research process, the Conservancy was both audio and video interviews with original clients, consulted for help in finding preservation architects plus contractors and apprentices who worked with and technicians and the Frank Lloyd Wright Archive at them, available upon request from Indira Berndtson; Taliesin West provided important drawings, correspon- [email protected]. dence and historic photographs. I am sure many of you will resonate with the joys, challenges and solutions presented in this issue. susan Jacobs Lockhart President, Frank Lloyd Wright Building conservancy 1 . REED k AC j OF y rtes u HOTO CO P 2010. Period photo of the Glasner House, circa 1928. © faia faia , L HARDING u of pa y rtes u AND CO y HOTO B A Preservation Model: P The Glasner House (1905) in Glencoe, Illinois, The Glasner House with its original facade and color palette. B y r o n s c H e r ub e L W i t H J A c k r e e d Perched on the shoulder of a ravine feeding into Lake Michigan north of Chicago, the William A. Glasner House was designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905-1906 for an executive of the First National Bank of Chicago and his wife, Cora. AB o “In it, when you’re on the ravine side, you’re two stories up, unaware of the ground U t sloping away beneath you. The nearest trees are a couple of arm’s lengths away. I think Ronald L. Scherubel, a native t H Chicagoan, capped a legal it’s the best tree house this side of southwestern Pennsylvania,” says Jack Reed, current e career as vice president and owner of the Glasner House. “Some squares in the art-glass windows change from A U general counsel of the Sara green to yellow when the ash and maple trees outside do; the newly unpainted stucco t Lee Corporation with service above the horizontal board-and-batten exterior is light gray in dry weather, darker H for eight years as the executive o r mottled when it’s humid: it’s in the nature of the materials Wright chose for the house director of the Conservancy. s He is currently a member of to make it harmonize with the changing seasons and the weather.” the Conservancy’s board and While strongly influenced by his Prairie-style motifs, Wright’s design of this house, remains actively involved in its preservation efforts as well as responding to Cora Glasner’s progressive ideas about running a household without those of other organizations. servants in a house without a dining room, made it an early precursor of his Usonian house concept. Keen on science as a child, Jack Reed graduated from the The Glasner house has changed ownership five times in its 105 years. The owners for University of Chicago with a the longest period, architects themselves, held the property for 43 years. They, and BS in mathematics. However, numerous other owners, have made changes, “some more imaginative than sympathetic,” some courses remaining from says Reed, “but they all helped save the place, let’s remember that.” Preservation Chicago’s fabled Great Books- groups have also had to help save the residence on more than one occasion. In 1997, based liberal-arts program the Glasner House was on Landmarks Illinois’ Most Endangered list until a sympathetic more effectively nurtured his interests in aesthetic (and buyer was found; and again in 2002-2003 the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy ethical and social) questions. engaged in a widespread publicity campaign to find a preservation-minded new owner. 2 He still lives in Chicago. REED REED k k AC AC j j OF OF y y rtes rtes u u HOTO CO HOTO CO P P Northwest view of the Glasner House in 2004 with patio and stairway. Removal of non-original stairway to restore original facade. In 2003, after developers had already measured the property for the mansion they intended to build after razing the house, a friend sent Reed a Washington Post article chronicling the threat to the house and sug- gested that he buy and save it.