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Frank Lloyd Wright’s first home

43 points

by NaOH

4 days ago

| past

| 5 comments

| architecturaldigest.com

| HN

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Zigurd

1 hour ago

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I grew up in Oak Park and I've been in the home and studio several times. It's a remarkably homey home, in contrast with Wright's reputation for art over practicality. It's also what you'd expect from a tech nerd's work at home home: it has a whole house audio system in the form of a player piano built into a central stairway.

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waltbosz

1 hour ago

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I live within walking distance of a Frank Lloyd Wright house. Sadly, it's a private residence and closed to the public.

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twright

2 hours ago

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It never ceases to amaze me how Wright's style was so ahead of the times. A lot of people immediately think the houses are mid-50's but they're in fact 20 to 30 years earlier! If you happen to be driving through somewhere near one of the houses that are under conservancy[1] they are well worth a stop.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Frank_Lloyd_Wright_wor...

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phlakaton

1 hour ago

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45 years earlier in some cases. I found the Robie House in Chicago (built in 1910!) to be a total head-trip.

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allknowingfrog

1 hour ago

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Isn't Wright sort of famous for designing structures that leak when it rains? My understanding is that Falling Water House is a beautiful money pit.

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Aurornis

1 hour ago

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Falling Water was an engineering disaster, but it was a unique project for him. Most of his houses are not like that.

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TremendousJudge

58 minutes ago

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well, it's often said that all good architecture leaks [0]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0j0d2ymixY

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CGMthrowaway

2 hours ago

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FLW created the times

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UncleOxidant

1 hour ago

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There's something similar in cinema. For example, I was watching Terrance Malick's Badlands for the first time a couple of years ago and I could swear it felt like a film from the 90s or maybe early 2000s. But it was from 1973.

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burkaman

2 hours ago

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I know houses used to be cheaper but I was still struggling to understand how a 22-year-old from what doesn't sound like a very rich family could have afforded this. His foundation website says "he negotiated a five-year contract with Sullivan in exchange for the loan of the necessary money" and then "it was not long before escalating expenses tempted him into accepting independent residential commissions". I guess you really did used to be able to get whatever you wanted just by going to college and working hard.

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CGMthrowaway

1 hour ago

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At age 22, FLW was specially trained, working at the equivalent of a frontier AI lab (the most important architect in Chicago) and in the most booming city at the time (Chicago, especially where construction was concerned- due to the Great Fire rebound)

He's not a random, there are a lot of factors working for him

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notahacker

22 minutes ago

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22 year olds lucky or gifted enough to be able to borrow 10x the national average earnings from a boss paying them a high enough salary to expect repayment within five years would to be able to think about buying a small house in an outer suburb of most cities today if that was their priority. Especially if they took on extra contract work.

Obviously most 22 year olds in 1890 didn't earn a few times the national average salary. At the beginning of the twentieth century 81% of households were rented, and most of those were not nearly as nice as Frank Lloyd Wright's first home, which was not nearly as nice as it is today after decades of extensions.

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Aurornis

1 hour ago

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The house you see in the photos is the result of years of additions and expansions, funded by his success as a world-class architect.

The original construction was much more modest in size.

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burkaman

17 minutes ago

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Thanks I guess I should have realized that, now it seems less insane.

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Aurornis

15 minutes ago

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I’m sure the original home was amazing for its size, given who was driving the construction.

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fusslo

1 hour ago

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It kinda seems like Sullivan being shrewd. Sullivan probably saw the value in one of his junior architects going through the whole process of building a house for himself. It'd give Wright valuable experience. Mistakes could happen to his own property rather than a client's. Having such a contract may limit the chances that Wright would leave the employer. Wrights attitude towards Sullivan would be more positive if Wright saw him as a patron.

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pfannkuchen

2 hours ago

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N = 1 though.

> With money borrowed from his boss

Genius in field works for wealthy man in field, gets special treatment at a young age. News at 11.

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gedy

1 hour ago

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I agree and feel same. Doubly so since after 100+ years it's now more expensive and difficult to build a custom home? Seems off.

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gabrielsroka

1 hour ago

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> Wright borrowed $5,000 from one of his bosses, Louis Sullivan,[25][28][29][I] who took title to the land.[19][23] In exchange, Wright had to repay the loan within five years.[30] Excluding the land cost, Wright eventually spent $5,300, which included $1,200 from his own savings and $3,500 from Sullivan's loan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright_Home_and_St...

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Aurornis

1 hour ago

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That was for the original construction, which was much smaller in size. The house you see in the photos was after multiple expansions and additions as his career took off.

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intheitmines

1 hour ago

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According to BLS CPI data $5000 in 1889 is $182,132.07 in modern day purchasing power

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artisinal

2 hours ago

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Built his own home at 22. Started his own firm at 26. Raised six children. Peak Gilded Age energy. Boomers have nothing on him.