1.
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures,532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment and this philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater, which has been called the best all-time work of American architecture. Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home and his creative period spanned more than 70 years. In addition to his houses, Wright designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums and he often designed interior elements for these buildings as well, including furniture and stained glass. Wright wrote 20 books and many articles and was a lecturer in the United States. His colorful personal life made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire. Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright was born Frank Lincoln Wright in the farming town of Richland Center, Wisconsin, United States, in 1867. His father, William Carey Wright, was an orator, music teacher, occasional lawyer, William Wright met and married Anna Lloyd Jones, a county school teacher, the previous year when he was employed as the superintendent of schools for Richland County. Originally from Massachusetts, William Wright had been a Baptist minister, Anna was a member of the large, prosperous and well-known Lloyd Jones family of Unitarians, who had emigrated from Wales to Spring Green, Wisconsin. One of Annas brothers was Jenkin Lloyd Jones, who would become an important figure in the spread of the Unitarian faith in the Western United States, both of Wrights parents were strong-willed individuals with idiosyncratic interests that they passed on to him. According to his biography, his mother declared when she was expecting that her first child would grow up to build beautiful buildings and she decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals torn from a periodical to encourage the infants ambition. In 1870 the family moved to Weymouth, Massachusetts, where William ministered to a small congregation, in 1876, Anna visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia where she saw an exhibit of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel. The blocks, known as Froebel Gifts, were the foundation of his innovative kindergarten curriculum, Anna, a trained teacher, was excited by the program and bought a set with which young Wright spent much time playing. The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions, the Wright family struggled financially in Weymouth and returned to Spring Green, Wisconsin, where the supportive Lloyd Jones clan could help William find employment. They settled in Madison, where William taught music lessons and served as the secretary to the newly formed Unitarian society, although William was a distant parent, he shared his love of music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, with his children. Soon after Wright turned 14, his parents separated, Anna had been unhappy for some time with Williams inability to provide for his family and asked him to leave. The divorce was finalized in 1885 after William sued Anna for lack of physical affection, William left Wisconsin after the divorce and Wright claimed he never saw his father again. At this time he changed his name from Lincoln to Lloyd in honor of his mothers family
2.
Dupont Circle
–
Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D. C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW to the west, M Street NW to the south, the local government Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Dupont Circle Historic District have slightly different boundaries. The circle is named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, the area that now constitutes Dupont Circle was once home to a brickyard and slaughterhouse. Improvements made in the 1870s by a board of public works headed by Alexander Boss Shepherd transformed the area into a residential neighborhood. In 1871, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction of the circle, then called Pacific Circle. On February 25,1882, Congress renamed it Dupont Circle, unveiled on December 20,1884, the statue was sculpted by Launt Thompson, and the circle was landscaped with exotic flowers and ornamental trees. In 1920, the current double-tiered white marble fountain replaced the statue, during the 1870s and 1880s, mansions were built along Massachusetts Avenue, one of Washingtons grand avenues, and townhouses were built throughout the neighborhood. In 1872, the British built a new embassy on Connecticut Avenue, stewarts Castle was built in 1873 on the north side of the circle. By the 1920s, Connecticut Avenue was more commercial in character, some residences, including Senator Philetus Sawyers mansion at Connecticut and R Street, were demolished to make way for office buildings and shops. The Patterson House, at 15 Dupont Circle, served as a residence for President Calvin Coolidge while the actual White House was being repaired in 1927. In 1933, the National Park Service took over administering the circle, Connecticut Avenue was widened in the late 1920s, and increased traffic in the neighborhood caused a great deal of congestion in the circle, making it difficult for pedestrians to get around. Medians were installed in 1948, in the circle, to separate the traffic on Massachusetts Avenue from the local traffic. In 1949 traffic tunnels and a streetcar station were built under the circle as part of the now-defunct Capital Transit project. The tunnels allowed trams and vehicles traveling along Connecticut Avenue to pass more quickly past the circle, when streetcar service ended in 1962, the entrances to the underground station were filled in and paved over, leaving only the traffic tunnel. The neighborhood declined after World War II and particularly after the 1968 riots, the neighborhood took on a bohemian feel and became popular among the gay and lesbian community. D. C. s first gay bookstore, Lambda Rising, opened in 1974, in 1975, the store ran the worlds first gay-oriented television commercial. Gentrification accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s, and the area is now a mainstream and trendy location with coffeehouses, restaurants, bars
3.
Edward E. Boynton House
–
The Edward E. Boynton House was built in Rochester, New York in 1908. This two-story house is built in the elongated T plan, Frank Lloyd Wright won agreement from Boynton to not only design the house but also design the landscape and furnishings as well. Its the furthest east of Wrights Prairie houses, Edward Boynton was a successful lantern salesman and partner in the C. T. Boynton learned of Frank Lloyd Wright through a partner, Warren McArthur. Wright had built the Warren McArthur House in the Kenwood District of Chicago in 1892, in 1907, Wright came to Rochester to help Edward and his daughter Beulah select a site for their home. Boynton bought four city lots on East Blvd, the plans also called for 28 American elm trees on the property. Boyntons daughter helped him work with Wright on the design of the house as his wife had died years earlier, Wright and Beulah Boynton established a great architect-client relationship - not always the case for Wright with his clients. Wright incorporated many of her suggestions into the structure and design, Wright would frequently and unexpectedly show up at the site during construction and once there, never leave the house for 2 to 3 days - often sleeping in makeshift sheds set up by the workmen. The home is oriented sideways on the lot, the living room is extended west by a veranda which aims towards the street. The dining room is large and includes rows of leaded art glass windows on each floor, with separate designs for casements and clerestory windows. The veranda was enclosed and the same art glass added to it. The cost of the house and site was $55,000.00, the Boyntons lived in the house until 1918. I thought it was sited on a hilltop surrounded by an expanse of space. This home is still a private residence, the elms are gone, a casualty of Dutch elm disease in the 1960s. As a result of weather conditions in Rochester and problems with the original design, its upkeep has been a continual problem. An extensive restoration project was completed in 2012, the two and a half year restoration project was undertaken by the present owners of the house, Francis J. Cosentino and his wife Jane E. Parker, who purchased the house in 2009 for $830,000. The progress of the work was documented in a Rochester. Public Broadcasting Station channel WXXI program entitled, Frank Lloyd Wrights Boynton House, the Rochester, N. Y. based architecture firm, Bero Architecture PLLC, was the lead firm in the restoration of the house
4.
Walter V. Davidson House
–
The Walter V. Davidson House, located at 57 Tillinghast Place in Buffalo, New York, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1908. It is an example of Wrights Prairie School architectural style, the house is a contributing property to the Parkside East Historic District, a neighborhood laid out by renowned American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1876. Wrights patron, Walter V. Davidson, had joined the Larkin Company in Buffalo as the manager in 1906. Davidson was introduced to Wright by fellow Larkin executive Darwin D. Martin, consequently, Wright was commissioned to build a house by Davidson, and in turn another Larkin employee William R. Heath. Davidson left both the house and the Larkin Company in 1913 to establish the Davidson Shoe Company, in a house built on a relatively modest budget, Wright emphasized space and light rather than ornament. This helped make the Davidson House notable in several respects, primarily as a Tall Living Room house, the living room is two stories high featuring a 2-story bay window on the east wall and 1 1⁄2-story-high clerestory windows on the north and south walls. These panes are oriented horizontally, rather than vertically, uncommon to the style of the day, each pane is offset a number of degrees, rather than laid flat on an even plane, increasing privacy due to light reflecting off the glass at different angles. The basic floor plan is cruciform, on the ground floor is the dining room, and at the opposite end a porch, with the Tall Living Room and the second story centered in the middle. The floor plan is almost identical to the Isabel Roberts House, built that year in River Forest, Illinois. This resulted in the room being oriented to the side of the house rather than the street front. This view was quickly lost, however, when the next door was built. Like the William R. Heath House the Davidson House has a basement containing the utilities, a laundry, pantry. Nearby are the kitchen and side entry on the ground floor, there are three bedrooms and bathroom on the second floor. In the 1930s the residence was remodeled, updating the kitchen, one of the original bedrooms was reduced in size and a closet eliminated to make way for a hallway leading to the new suite, which consisted of a dressing chamber, bathroom, and sleeping chamber. The addition incorporated the same casement windows of diamond-shaped leaded glass prevalent in the rest of the house
5.
Fallingwater
–
Fallingwater or the Kaufmann Residence is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania,43 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The home was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains. The house was designed as a home for the family of Liliane Kaufmann and her husband, Edgar J. Kaufmann. Time cited it after its completion as Wrights most beautiful job and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. At age 67, Frank Lloyd Wright was given the opportunity to design, Edgar Kaufmann, Sr. was a Pittsburgh businessman and president of Kaufmanns Department Store. His son, Edgar Kaufmann, jr. studied architecture briefly under Wright, Edgar Sr. had been prevailed upon by his son and Wright to subsidize the cost of a 12-foot-square model of Wrights Broadacre City. The model was displayed at an Industrial Arts Exposition in the Forum at the Rockefeller Center starting on April 15,1935. After the New York exposition, Kaufmann Sr. arranged to have the model displayed in Pittsburgh at an exposition titled New Homes for Old, the exposition opened on June 18 on the 11th floor of Kaufmanns store. The Kaufmanns lived in “La Tourelle”, a French Norman estate designed by Pittsburgh architect Benno Janssen in the Fox Chapel suburb in 1923 for Edgar J. Kaufmann, the Kaufmanns owned property outside Pittsburgh with a waterfall and cabins they used as a rural retreat. When these cabins deteriorated, Mr. Kaufmann contacted Wright, on December 18,1934, Wright visited Bear Run and asked for a survey of the area around the waterfall. One was prepared by Fayette Engineering Company of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, including all the boulders, trees, and topography. As reported by Wrights apprentices at Taliesin, Kaufmann Sr and he could not wait to see Wrights plans. Wright had told Kaufmann in earlier communication that he had working on the plans. After breakfast that morning, amid a group of very nervous apprentices, Wright intended to build the home above the falls, rather than below them to afford a view of the cascades as he had expected. It is said that Kaufmann was initially upset that Wright had designed the house to sit atop the falls. He had wanted the house located on the bank of Bear Run. He had told Wright that was his favorite aspect of the Bear Run property, one problem of building was that the location of the north bank of Bear Run was not large enough to provide a foundation for a typically built Wright house. The Kaufmanns planned to entertain large groups of people, so the house would need to be larger than the plot allowed, also, Mr. and Mrs. Kaufmann requested separate bedrooms, as well as a bedroom for their adult son and an additional guest room
6.
Washington, D.C.
–
Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
7.
Connecticut Avenue
–
Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D. C. and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the avenues radiating from the White House. Connecticut Avenue begins just north of the White House at Lafayette Square and it is interrupted by Farragut Square. As Connecticut Avenue approaches the Dupont Circle neighborhood, it splits at N Street into a through roadway, the through roadway tunnels under Dupont Circle, while the service roadways intersect the outer roadway of the circle. Just north of the circle, the roadways are known for their many gay-oriented businesses. The through roadway and service roadways rejoin at R Street, originally, there was no tunnel, and all vehicular traffic on Connecticut Avenue went through the circle. The tunnel was built in 1949, after crossing Florida Avenue near the Hilton Washington hotel, Connecticut Avenue narrows and winds between the Kalorama neighborhoods. Between Woodley Park and Cleveland Park, Connecticut Avenue is carried over a valley on another bridge. Numerous older, Art Deco high-rise apartment buildings line the 3000 block, the National Zoological Park is located along Connecticut Avenue, halfway between the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan and Cleveland Park Metro stations. Also located along this stretch of Connecticut Avenue is an operational center of Intelsat, as are the landmark Wardman Park Marriott Hotel, the citys largest. This section is also a commuter route and has reversible lanes along most of its length which operate during the morning and evening rush hours. It connects with the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway via 24th Street, mid-century era high-rise apartments line the avenue, with elegant, older detached homes on shady side streets. Once entering Maryland, it gains the route designation Maryland State Highway 185 and goes through the Chevy Chase, the National 4-H Youth Conference Center is on this stretch of Connecticut Avenue, as is the Chevy Chase Club. After interchanging with the Capital Beltway at Exit 33, Connecticut Avenue enters Kensington, Connecticut Avenue used to end at University Boulevard. However, Concord Avenue was extended northward to form an extension of Connecticut Avenue and that extension of Connecticut Avenue passes through Wheaton and Aspen Hill. The state route ends at Georgia Avenue. Connecticut Avenue, now simply a street, continues past Georgia Avenue. Connecticut Avenue is a route in the National Highway System between K Street and Nebraska Avenue
8.
Peter A. Beachy House
–
The Peter A. Beachy House is a home in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois that was entirely remodeled by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1906. The house that today is almost entirely different from the sites original home. The home is listed as a property to the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District. The original home, a Gothic cottage, was almost entirely replaced when banker Peter A. Beachy commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to remodel the home. The house is set at angles to the street to utilize part of the cottages original foundation. Wright built this house after returning from a trip to Japan, though the Beachy House incorporates an earlier structure, the original building is completely obliterated on the interior. The only points that the house, known as the Fargo House. The house has seven gables and sits on the largest residential lot in Oak Park, much of the furniture in the house was also Wright designed but the windows contained only wooden muntins, no leaded or colored glass. However, Wright designed leaded-glass light fixtures which are used throughout the house, the Peter A. Beachy House is an example of Wrights prairie design work. It is listed as a property to the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District. The historic district joined the U. S. National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the Peter A. Beachy House is one of three homes in Oak Park that Wright was commissioned to remodel. The other two are the 1906 Hills-DeCaro House, which was under renovation when the Hills House was built, and the William H. Copeland House, also on Forest Avenue
9.
Ennis House
–
The Ennis House is a residential dwelling in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, south of Griffith Park. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles and Mabel Ennis in 1923 and was built in 1924 and its prominent detail is the relief ornamentation on its textile blocks, inspired by the symmetrical reliefs of Mayan buildings in Uxmal. The Ennis House is a city, state, and national landmark. It is currently owned by billionaire Ronald Burkle, costs escalated owing to difficulties developed during construction, which was supervised by Frank Lloyd Wrights son Lloyd Wright. The owners took over after the reached the windows and carried out various changes. The house consists of two buildings, the house and a smaller chauffeurs apartment/garage, separated by a paved courtyard. The kitchen, pantry, guest room, dining room, living room, master bathroom and bedroom, upper terrace, and second bathroom and bedroom are at the eastern and lower end of the main building. In 1940, the house was sold to media personality John Nesbitt, who had Wright add a pool on the terrace, a billiard room on the ground floor. Although originally and currently known as the Ennis House, the building was known as the Ennis-Brown House. This became its name in 1980 when it was renamed in appreciation of its donation to the Trust for Preservation of Cultural Heritage by Augustus O. Brown, the eighth owner from 1968–1980. In August 2005, the house was returned to its name. Even before its completion the Ennis House was marked by structural instability, concrete blocks had cracked and lower sections of the walls buckled under tension. The use of decomposed granite from the site to color the textile blocks introduced natural impurities to the concrete mix, attempts to apply a protective coating caused additional problems. More damage occurred due to the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the precipitation during the 2004–2005 rainy season. The Ennis House Foundation had estimated that it could cost US$5 million just for stabilization costs, after the rains the building was briefly red-tagged as no entry but was down graded to yellow- for limited entry by late 2005. At that point significant damage to the wall at the southern rear of the building remained. In 2005 the house was added to the National Trust for Historic Preservations list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. In 2006 a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant was issued, as well as a US$4.5 million construction loan through First Republic Bank, the project included a new structural support system, restoration or replacement of damaged blocks, restoration of windows, and a new roof
10.
George Barton House
–
Barton House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, built between 1903 &1904, and is located at 118 Summit Avenue in Buffalo, New York. The Barton House is part of the larger Darwin D. Martin House Complex, the complex was commissioned by Darwin D. Martin an entrepreneur who worked at the Larkin Soap Company. The site was purchased by Martin in 1902 as a location where he planned to build two houses, one for himself, and one for his sister, Delta Martin Barton, and her husband, George F. Barton. Of the Martin Complexs six buildings construction on the Barton House began first and not only was it the first building of the complex to be completed, the Barton House is on the north east corner of the complex. The basic floor plan is cruciform, with the living spaces concentrated in the center two-story portion of the house where the reception. The two main bedrooms are on the story, at either end of a narrow hall. The kitchen is at the end, behind the main stairway. DeRhodes House in South Bend, Indiana, is a image of the Barton House. The F. B. Henderson House in Elmhurst, Illinois is also similar in plan, the Martin House Restoration Corporation operates guided public tours and presents educational programs for both volunteers and the general public. Darwin D. Martin House Complex Official website Historic American Buildings Survey No. NY-5611, Darwin D. Martin House,125 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo, Erie County, NY,15 photos,27 measured drawings,14 data pages Graycliff Official Site, member of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail
11.
Emil Bach House
–
The Emil Bach House is a Prairie style house in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States that was designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was built in 1915 for an admirer of Wrights work, Bach was co-owner of the Bach Brick Company. The house is representative of Wrights late Prairie style and is an expression of his creativity from a period just before his work shifted stylistic focus. The Bach House was declared a Chicago Landmark on September 28,1977, on December 5,1914, Emil Bach and his wife Anna purchased the site of the Bach House from Amelia Ludwick and her husband. In 1915 Bach commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design the house, Joseph Peacock purchased the house from the Bachs in 1934 and owned it until 1947. The property changed hands twice in 1951, the sale was in December to Manuel Weiss who held the property until 1959. That year he sold the house to Joseph Blinder, in 2003, Toulabi put the home up for sale with a price of US$2.5 million, it was later listed at $1.9 million. The house lingered on the market for months before it was put up for auction with a starting bid of $750,000. The Rogers Park neighborhood changed from a quiet lake front, country area to a busy street. Preservationists expressed concern surrounding the auction and the question of the destiny for the expansive 45 ft by 150 ft side yard. The yard is zoned RT-4 which, among other residential uses, when the home finally sold at auction, well above the opening bid of $750,000, the new owners revealed that they intended to live in the house and preserve the yard. In 2009, according to Crains Chicago, James Pritzker paid $1.7 million to acquire the house, the seller, Jane Elizabeth Feerer, bought the famous architect’s Prairie-style home at a 2005 auction for $1.17 million. She financed the acquisition with a loan for just under that amount from a trust controlled by Mr. Pritzker, president, following an extensive restoration, the house was re-opened to the public in 2014. The Bach House is one of the homes Wright designed after his 1911 return from Europe still extant in the city of Chicago, the home is part of a series of geometric, cubic homes with overhanging, flat roofs designed by Wright in the early 20th century. These details were first published by Wright in a 1907 Ladies Home Journal article, the first was the Laura Gale House in Oak Park, Illinois, followed by the Oscar Balch House, also in Oak Park, Coonley Kindergarten, the Bogh House and then the Bach House. Of the houses of type in Chicago, with cubic masses and a slab roof. The 2,700 ft² house was designed as a single family residence with a basement. When the house was constructed it was a home with a clear view of Lake Michigan from its rear facade
