Scott T. sent word that contractor Brian Letarski is nearing completion on a home of his own design/construction that emulates Organic principles. The home was designed as a spec "Parade" house in a new neighborhood in Weston, WI, near Wausau. Follow the link to see the house at the Wausau Parade of Homes June 5-10, 2012.
Image via Brian Letarski
This weekend's Wright Plus 2012 housewalk in Oak Park, IL features a little known Frank Lloyd Wright-designed jewel, the Oscar B. Balch House, that shines extra bright thanks to the meticulous restoration efforts of its owner, Tim Pearson. Read about this Wright-designed beauty here and make sure to see it inside and out this weekend! Get tickets while they last here.
Image via riverforest.suntimes.com
What is it like to Interview an American genius? Find out June 14, 2012 at 12 noon at the Arizona Capitol Museum when Lloyd Clark, former Daily News-Sun columnist will discuss his experiences interviewing Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957. The event launches a long-term exhibit at the museum titled OASIS RETURNS: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Vision for an Arizona State Capitol. Learn more here—and if any PrairieMod readers go, send some pics and a summary (or transcript) of what Mr. Clark says so we can share with everyone!
Image via Daily News-Sun files
Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, recently featured an interview with Donna Grant Riley, whose parents built the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Grant House near Cedar Rapids, IA. She discusses what it was like for her parents to collaborate with Mr. Wright and her experience growing up in a work of art. Read the article here and make sure to get a copy of Donna's book on the Grant House here.
Image credit: Alan Weintraub
The First Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is no more. Tim Samuelson, Cultural Historian for the City of Chicago, offers up what can be expected from the building's destruction: "Wait until they start slamming the masonry and the indescribable smell of building death fills the air. The haunting odor of wet crushed plaster, masonry & wood. I walk blocks out of my way to avoid it." Read more of the sad news here and see photos of the devestation here.
Image via Save CR Heritage
To commemorate the building and flourishing of the E. Fay Jones-designed Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a celebration and reunion will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2012. The public event will be from 2-5 p.m. and visitors will be able to meet Maurice Jennings, the architect who worked with E. Fay Jones to design the chapel; Jerry LaBounty, the original builder; the Reed family, and the Thorncrown staff. Read more about this amazing building here and get details on visiting here.
Image via lovelycitizen.com
Also on deck this weekend in Chicago, it's the 7th annual Arts and Crafts-Chicago Show and Sale, which will take place at the Geiseman Gym on the campus of Concordia University in River Forest Illinois Saturday, June 2 from 10 AM - 7 PM and Sunday, June 3 from 10 AM - 4 PM. Admission is only $7. The show will feature antique and reproduction furniture and accessories from the American and English Arts and Crafts Movement and always has something interesting to offer collectors and enthusiasts of all stripes. Get more info and a discount admission coupon here.
Image via artsandcraftschicago.com
The Chicago Tribune recently ran a preview of the architectural goodies visitors to Oak Park can expect for Wright Plus 2012 this weekend. Read it here.
Image via chicagotribune.com
Triblive.com reports that RR Auction in Amherst, N.H., is auctioning a 2-page letter and an original blueprint associated with Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic Fallingwater on June 20, 2012. The letter is from Wright to his second contractor on the project, Walter Hall, and reveals the difficult relationship between the Architect and the contractor.
The blueprint features a profile view of the back of the main house and the sloping hill to the guesthouse, with handwritten notes that are thought to be written by Wright. It's estimated the bidding may exceed $25,000.
Read more about the items here and see the auction listing here.
Image via RR Auction
Photographer, author and blogger, Mark Hertzberg, was also at The SC Johnson Gallery: Frank Lloyd Wright at Home preview yesterday and posted his experience and more photos over at his blog, Wright in Racine. Check it out here.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
Now in the Features section: a virtual sneak peek at The SC Johnson Gallery: At Home with Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit located at the magnificent SC Johnson campus in Racine, WI. Read it here.
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Image via SC Johnson public affairs
There's a new architecture blog on the block that PrairieMod readers will want to check out. It's called Modern Illinois and as the name suggests, it will feature the Mod side of the Land of Lincoln. The weblog recently featured a virtual tour of a Long Grove, IL home designed by architect Richard J. Stromberg and built in 1955. Check it out here.
Image via Modern Illinois
The Los Angeles Review of Books recently featured a piece on the new book, Julius Shulman Los Angeles: The Birth of a Modern Metropolis, by Sam Lubell and Douglas Woods. Julius was the incomparable documentor of Southern California's Modernism, and the passion he has for the city and its architecture shines through every photo taken. Read the review here.
Image via amazon.com
George W. Maher's Magerstadt House in Kenwood, IL (aka "Poppy" House, due to its art glass window design motif) recently sold for the princely sum of $2.05 million. Take a look at more photos and details of the sale here.
Image via Curbed Chicago
Curbed Chicago reports that the flat George Fred and William Keck lived in their famous Hyde Park, IL Keck-Gottschalk-Keck Apartment building is on the market for $449,000. Check out the details here and listing here.
Image via redfin.com
If you have not gotten your tickets for Wright in Wisconsin's June 8-9, 2012 Wright & Like Tour yet, then get in gear! This year's event takes place in Spring Green, WI and will feature some very special building and private home tours that are sure to delight lovers of Organic Architecture. Get info and order your tickets here.
Image via Wright in Wisconsin website
Slate.com provides a trip into the way-back machine looking at the history of the office chair. From the dawn of sitting to the space age, humans have been on the hunt for a work seat that offers both comfort and support...but have leagues of designers (including Frank Lloyd Wright) missed the mark? Read more about it here.
Image via slate.com
Jack Lesniak, Chair of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation Architectural Restoration Committee, sent good news that Unity Temple's epigram letters, which were stolen from the east and west entries of Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic building, have been restored. The new letters were made using the few of the original in hand as a pattern and permanently applied back to where they belong. Congrats UTRF! Make sure to visit Unity Temple yourself to check out all the good restoration work happening there.
Image via Jack Lesniak
PrairieMod reader George J. sent a link to a rare "Tree of Life" art glass window from the Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, NY that is being auctioned-off at Heritage Auctions. The starting bids seem low for this quintessential Wright art glass design, so I expect the price to soar as the June 12, 2012 auction date nears. Ideally, this window should go back in the home it was designed for. See the listing here.
Image via Heritage Auctions
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