- - The original note follows - -
From: jpl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jonathan Lavigne)
Subject: Re: Wright's concrete blocks
Date: 19 Jul 94 05:17:04 GMT
beartoe@xxxxxxx (Robert F. Anderson) writes:
>In article <Ct5nHv.6sp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Jeff Edman <edman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>wrote:
>> Does anyone know if his technique of casting concrete blocks is described
>> somewhere? Just curious how it was done and how the design was integrated.
>I'm pretty sure that there was a series of 3 or so houses that Wright
>designed using novel approaches to concrete masonry units. If my memory
>doesn't fail (and there's no guarantee of _that_) these were called the
>'Usonian' houses. All I believe in S. Cal. This may help you in further
>reference. Good luck.
Kenneth Frampton's essay "Modernization and Mediation: Frank Lloyd Wright and
the Impact of Technology" in the recent catalog of the Wright show at MOMA
has a section on Wright's concrete block houses (pp. 67-69). According to
Frampton, the Millard House ("La Minatura") is the first full-blown example
of the textile block system. It was the first of 4 L.A. area houses using the
system and was built in 1923. Others were the Freeman, Storrer, and Ennis
houses. The "last concrete block house in this series" (p. 69) was built for
Richard Lloyd Jones in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1928-31. The "Usonian" houses come
later: "This generic brick-and-timber domestic prototype first appeared in
[Wright's] Malcolm Willey House in Minneapolis in 1932-34" (p. 71). Among the
houses that Wright referred to as "Usonian" are the Hollyhock House, on the
Stanford campus, which certainly isn't a concrete block house. I think some
of the later Usonian houses did employ a variation of the system, though.
Frampton's notes refer to an essay published in 1985-1986: Charles Calvo
"The Concrete Block Designs of Frank Lloyd Wright". Forum voor Architectur en
Daarmee Verbonden Kunsten 30, no 4.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan Lavigne BL.JPL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Research Libraries Group/Stanford University
From: jpl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jonathan Lavigne)
Subject: Re: Wright's concrete blocks
Date: 19 Jul 94 05:17:04 GMT
beartoe@xxxxxxx (Robert F. Anderson) writes:
>In article <Ct5nHv.6sp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Jeff Edman <edman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>wrote:
>> Does anyone know if his technique of casting concrete blocks is described
>> somewhere? Just curious how it was done and how the design was integrated.
>I'm pretty sure that there was a series of 3 or so houses that Wright
>designed using novel approaches to concrete masonry units. If my memory
>doesn't fail (and there's no guarantee of _that_) these were called the
>'Usonian' houses. All I believe in S. Cal. This may help you in further
>reference. Good luck.
Kenneth Frampton's essay "Modernization and Mediation: Frank Lloyd Wright and
the Impact of Technology" in the recent catalog of the Wright show at MOMA
has a section on Wright's concrete block houses (pp. 67-69). According to
Frampton, the Millard House ("La Minatura") is the first full-blown example
of the textile block system. It was the first of 4 L.A. area houses using the
system and was built in 1923. Others were the Freeman, Storrer, and Ennis
houses. The "last concrete block house in this series" (p. 69) was built for
Richard Lloyd Jones in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1928-31. The "Usonian" houses come
later: "This generic brick-and-timber domestic prototype first appeared in
[Wright's] Malcolm Willey House in Minneapolis in 1932-34" (p. 71). Among the
houses that Wright referred to as "Usonian" are the Hollyhock House, on the
Stanford campus, which certainly isn't a concrete block house. I think some
of the later Usonian houses did employ a variation of the system, though.
Frampton's notes refer to an essay published in 1985-1986: Charles Calvo
"The Concrete Block Designs of Frank Lloyd Wright". Forum voor Architectur en
Daarmee Verbonden Kunsten 30, no 4.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan Lavigne BL.JPL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Research Libraries Group/Stanford University