#17

Frank Lloyd Wright was a genius. My girl and I toured the Pope-Leighey House two weeks ago and I was bowled over by his ingenuity. What an innovative man!

According to the pamphlet I received at the site (the house is protected under the National Trust for Historic Preservation), "The Pope-Leighley House tells the story of Frank Lloyd Wright's innovative designs for modestly-sized and affordable single-family 'Usonian' houses and how two families adapted this dwelling to fit their mid-20th century lifestyles."

Here is a link to its floor plan. It measures in at 1200 square feet.

Here are the details, innovations that impressed me most:

• custom-made furniture, much of it made from plywood, so that the pieces would fit the exact dimensions of where they were to be place.
• an emphasis on the horizontal. See the pictures of the brickwork and screws (below) to see what I mean. Also note the faux stain glass windows. Stain glass would have been very expensive, too expensive for the purposes of this house, but he used wood cut-outs to create a similar look all while emphasizing the horizontal line.
• radiant floor heating. According to our tour guide, FLW invented this.
• absence of clutter.
• using a variety of ceiling heights and ample windows to create the illusion of a spacious house. There is really no way to describe the way that FLW is able to manipulate a person's feelings via architecture. Go to the FLW house closest to you and you'll experience it for yourself. He is a master at it.
• common-sense: positioning kitchen cabinet doors so that when opened they were lit by the windows.
• drawers that tipped out instead of pulled out.
• an outdoor herb garden that was accessible from the kitchen. FLW tried to blur, erase the boundaries between indoors and outdoors as much as possible.
• to this end, he didn't want the owners of the house to hang curtains. The owners won this battle, but when I toured there were no curtains hanging and I could see why curtains would diminish the connection with outside. However, privacy is lovely and if I lived in that house, there would be curtains. Sorry, Frank!



the entrance



an example of how obsessed FLW was with the horizontal line and details:
the vertical mortar is tinted to match the bricks so it disappears,
the horizontal mortar color is lighter and thus stands out

all the screws are aligned horizontally aligned -
I'm sure that didn't drive the construction crew crazy!

view from the rear courtyard

view of the screened-in porch

Here's a fascinating interview with its first owner, Loren Pope.