>Wright always SAID his arch. was an architecture of democracy, but I really
>think that's because he so strongly associated the United States with
>democracy, and he struggled so long for a unique, United States
architecture.
>In practice, his buildings were pretty much reflective of our nature as a
>_republic._
Hmmm...
"A city man going to the country puts too much in his house and too little in
his ground. He drags with him the fifty-foot lot, soon the twenty-five-foot
lot, finally the party wall; and the homemaker who fully appreciates the
advantages which he came to the country to secure feels himself impelled to
move on.
"It seems a waste of energy to plan a house hap-hazard, to hit or miss an
already distorted condition, so this partial solution of a city man's country
home on the prarie begins at the beginning and assumes four houses to the
block of four hundred feet square as the minimum of ground for the basis of
his prarie community.
"The block plan to the left, at the top of the page, shows an arrangement of
the four houses that secures breadth and prospect to the community as a
whole, and absolute privacy both as regards each to the community, and each
to each of the four."
Frank Lloyd Wright, "A Home in a Prarie Town", Ladies Home Journal, Feb 10,
1901.
This essay is fairly well known, but to recapitulate one other item, Wright
offered "to accept the commission of preparing the working plans and
specifications for this house to cost Seven Thousand Dollars..."
I can only guess at the current value of 1901 dollars, but given an average
(5%) annual rate of inflation, I would guess that the current equivalent of
the $7000 that Wright proposed would be well over $600,000. And that doesn't
include the cost of the several acres for the house.
Clearly, Wright's democracy was for a select group of people.
cheers,
Kevin Coffee
kevinc8954@xxxxxxx
>think that's because he so strongly associated the United States with
>democracy, and he struggled so long for a unique, United States
architecture.
>In practice, his buildings were pretty much reflective of our nature as a
>_republic._
Hmmm...
"A city man going to the country puts too much in his house and too little in
his ground. He drags with him the fifty-foot lot, soon the twenty-five-foot
lot, finally the party wall; and the homemaker who fully appreciates the
advantages which he came to the country to secure feels himself impelled to
move on.
"It seems a waste of energy to plan a house hap-hazard, to hit or miss an
already distorted condition, so this partial solution of a city man's country
home on the prarie begins at the beginning and assumes four houses to the
block of four hundred feet square as the minimum of ground for the basis of
his prarie community.
"The block plan to the left, at the top of the page, shows an arrangement of
the four houses that secures breadth and prospect to the community as a
whole, and absolute privacy both as regards each to the community, and each
to each of the four."
Frank Lloyd Wright, "A Home in a Prarie Town", Ladies Home Journal, Feb 10,
1901.
This essay is fairly well known, but to recapitulate one other item, Wright
offered "to accept the commission of preparing the working plans and
specifications for this house to cost Seven Thousand Dollars..."
I can only guess at the current value of 1901 dollars, but given an average
(5%) annual rate of inflation, I would guess that the current equivalent of
the $7000 that Wright proposed would be well over $600,000. And that doesn't
include the cost of the several acres for the house.
Clearly, Wright's democracy was for a select group of people.
cheers,
Kevin Coffee
kevinc8954@xxxxxxx