Les Jones

Yeah, Wright supposedly told one of his clients, who’d called him in the middle of the night, complaining of another leaking roof, that he’d made a serious mistake by putting his building out in the rain.

Typical, cocky, visionary architect for you.

There are many more structurally deficient buildings than those you listed that came from Wright (I know this list wasn’t suppose to be comprehensive), and almost all of his more famous designs have had structural upgrades in the recent past. “Wingspread” comes to mind, specifically, as well as the Hanna House, on Stanford’s campus.

A rather famous demonstration had to be performed in the presense of a local building official when the Johnson Wax administration building was beginning construction in Racine, WI. The thin pedestals that rose from the ground with a thin taper eventually flatten out to a large, round disk at the roof, carrying the Pyrex tubes that create the interesting lighting effect in the main hall.

The building official was absolutely sure of failure when the loading procedure he insisted upon began. The film footage clearly shows the loaded column failure, supposedly at ten times the design roof load. One of the few structural triumphs of Wright’s career.
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Wow. That staircase is flat-out amazing…
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The house is clearly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie houses.

It’s sort of strange that the ranch house was ditched by American builders — it’s a great concept when the layout is right, far more functional and comfortable than most of the stuff built in the last 40 years.

IA: I’ve been looking over my FLW book. Beautiful houses, but you almost have to change your life to live in them. The architect has already filled the house with furniture and art. As the owner you’re just the caretaker of his work.

Linoge: my four year old keeps asking to see those pictures and especially the staircase. She keeps saying “Natalie could have that bedroom and I could have that bedroom.”

Steve: I like ranchers. I think people just got bored with the ranch style. Split levels aren’t bad, either, except that they usually put mom and dad’s bedroom at the same end of the house as the kids - we all know why that’s bad.

“you almost have to change your life to live in them.”

Funny, Maya Lin (designer of the Vietnam Memorial in DC) took that concept one step further when she said that you didn’t just live in HIS building, but you had to live in HIS head.

Just the way Frank wanted it.
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