Frank Lloyd Wright's Beachy House (1906)

[Bill_FL]

Interesting. Stephen, when do you move in?

 

[The Bob]

Falling Water is in Pennsylvania. I once saw a docu on FLW. He had a habit of buying expensive pieces of art/sculpture for the owners of the homes he built, only he would include an invoice with the item and a note about where it was to be placed. Some nerve, uh?

 

[Oregon Doug]

"Falling Water" is in PA. I remember visiting it sometime back in the '50s when it was a private residence. I don't remember what condition was in at the time but I think that it has been since restored and is now be open to the public (?).

I did appraise a Wright designed commercial building on Maiden Lane in San Francisco several years ago (the old Orvis store, I think) and frankly, other than his signature on the little red tile near the entry, there wasn't anything special about the building. I also had to appraise one of his homes in Scottsdale, AZ that was wedged between some rock out croppings - that was an interisting home.

One of his homes was moved to the Oregon Gardens a few years ago and is now used as a conference center (it's used as a classroom for teaching the "Appraising the Tough Ones" seminar).

Oregon Doug

 

[CANative]

I've appraised this house twice. It's about 7,000 sf and located on the Mendocino Coast. They say it was inspired by Falling Waters. The entire interior is almost all concrete. Very cold and commercial building feeling. Great for a wild party though.

 

[Big ole Boy]

The furnishings for the FLW house would be integral.

I have read some of his later writings about 'light and spirit" - truely not an

ordinary fellow - regardless of the amount of maintenance of his houses - it is

part of a group of houses that many people admire - a following.

His use of lighting along with the furnishings would be - if not original - should be

replaced with exact copies.

Of course all of the blueprints, sketches and any writings of his going along with

the home and of course its origins - why it got there - all of these things hopefully

are fully intact.

$2.3 Mil - sounds cheap - must have some peices missing to the original theme.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

Liinda posted

Wright's whole point was the beauty could be completely functional and, in the opinion of many, he proved that point very well.

See, here's where I disagree with you Linda. I do not find FLW houses that "beautiful" and the furnishings, layout and requirements the Wright put on the style of living necessary to live in one of his houses certainly, IMNSHO, do not lend one to conclude that they are functional.

Two points: One is that you never see pictures of FLW houses with people in them. Why? Because people take away from what FLW was trying to create; people got in the way. He required, by designing everything down to the smallest detail that house is the center of your focus and not the people living in them. Having looked at FLW houses from American Art class in 1960 to PBS ohhhs and ahhhs programs on them, my impression is that they are not designed for living but for show --- the architects show.

Second point is similar: One does not own a FLW house. One can only occupy a FLW house. you can only occupy them. They never become yours or part of you. The focus is on the house only. The people who are living there are always conscious that this is Mr. Wrights house and not their house. Maybe that is what the owners want but I do not see a house that is supposed to be designed for living and while focusing on and glorifies the persona and identity of the architect as being functional. Imagine the uproar if someone with a FLW house wanted to add a sun room or a deck or heaven forbid, an addition. When one runs into that kind of restrictions on the house they live in, then to me, there is a great deal of lack of functionality.

As far as the design themselves, they are interesting but I personally do not find them that attractive or appealing. This is just my opinion but then, I'm the guy who thinks flat roofs north of the Mason-Dixon line should be outlawed.

Have a good day.

 

[Michigander]

This is a personal taste issue.

I love these houses! I love the priarie style homes with flat roofs (yes, even in Michigan) and the sleek contemporaries from the 50's and 60's; they are by far my favorite houses!! But again, this is personal taste. Others hate them. I find this type of house extremely functional, with the exception of the small bedrooms and bathrooms (but if it isn't a FLW house, you can remodel). We have a lot of Alden Dow houses in my area, who was inspired by FLW. And other architects who adopted this type of styling. I grew up in a house like that (although when we went to sell it, it was virtually unsaleable except to architects).

Wish I had 2.3 M to sink into a house!

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Richard:

When you say “lack of functionality” it begs the question relative to what? When FLW was designing buildings most construction was Victorian. He ushered in the era of modern architecture by coming up with the phrase form follows function. His buildings, at least in their day, were very functional. Compared to today’s buildings there are some lackings. But with out FLW original designs many of today’s facilities would not exist. Concepts are built upon each other. The guy simply made a leap into the future and concepts followed thereafter.

As far as lack of people being in photographs of his structures, well that does not prove much. One could say the same thing about homes shown in Home and Garden or the White House or countless other examples of places for the rich and famous. The point of these photographs are not to record people but design. Why would it surprise you few people are depicted?

I am not picking on you, there are a lot of people who look at his buildings and say “big deal”. Most of his buildings, at least in Chicagoland, sell to major partners in architectural firms. We have some pretty big ones here.

I think David said he though $2.3 million was low. It may have been since no personal property was sold. Most likely pieces of the original were missing. Still $2.3 million is a lot of money in my book. The average home selling price, over the last year in Oak Park, as of this morning, was $419,216. The average home selling price in all of Chicagoland, including the city was $280,396.

Steve Vertin

 

[Big ole Boy]

Richard,

I saw the Gugenheim in Manhattan a few years ago. I don't remember who the archetect was maybe it was Frank -

But, I do remember had badly it looked on the outside and how the interior bathrooms were - well dissappointing.

I suppose their is that air - of dissapointment when the glamour of a legend does

not meet up with what you actually see.

Anybody who owns a FLW home - owns a labor of love.

THe history of that house's thematic and its sketches that go with it. ANd the reasons as to why it was built - in comparison to his other homes is important.

I wonder if there is a published listing of all his built structures with dates.

How many houses - do you think have such a published list?

It not real property your buying - its part of something else.

Wonder how many Days on Mkt?

Whats the shelf life of the legend of FLW in a house?

 

[Tawfik Ahdab]

Steve,

Thanks for reminding everyone that Wright's designs were stunningly innovative and modern for their time. Others were designing Craftsman houses for 2 decades after he designed the Beachy House, for Pete's sake!

When was the last time any of you appraised a turn-of-the-century home that looked anything like the Beachy House, unless it was by FLW?

Richard,

I don't know how thorough this book is in cataloguing the complete work of FLW, but it's excellent (with easily over 150 homes described or depicted):

The Life & Works of Frank Lloyd Wright by Thomas A Heinz (Barnes & Noble Books, paperback edition copyright 2002).