Archinect - News

Images of missing furniture from Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House have been revealed

2019-03-14T18:36:00-04:00

This week the Los Angeles Police Department released photos of the items that were stolen from the Freeman House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The famed textile block house made for Samuel Freeman was put under the care and maintenance of USC in 1986. Two floor lamps designed by Wright and a folding chair designed by Rudolph Schindler were the items reported stolen from the USC storage facility. Although the LAPD is continuing with the investigation, nothing significant has been revealed in relation to their disappearance.

View police report photos of the items missing below.

Frank Lloyd Wright Floor Lamp, 1924. Image courtesy of LAPD

Rudolph M. Schindler Folding Chair, 1930s. Image courtesy of LAPD

Rudolph M. Schindler Tea Cart, 1930s. Image courtesy of LAPD

An additional item was also announced missing upon the investigation, a tea cart designed by Schindler. According to Richard Wright, the president of the Chicago-based Wright auction house, "This piece really is a museum piece....

Architectural gems designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler reported missing by USC

2019-02-05T13:53:00-05:00

Two lamps and a chair designed by the celebrated architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, respectively, have been reported missing. The stolen items were taken from an unmarked warehouse controlled by USC, who owns Wright's Samuel and Harriet Freeman House for which the items were designed.

According to the Los Angeles Times, who received an anonymous tip about the theft, the robbery occurred over six years ago. Though a facilities staffer notified a professor at the USC School of Architecture back in 2012, campus police did not file a report with the LAPD until January 22nd of this year, after the paper had reached out to the school to inquire about the theft in regards to the anonymous letter.

The stolen furniture has a potential value of hundreds of thousands dollars, with similar items by Wright selling at auctions for $100,000, and similar items by Schindler valued at $25,000. They, and other contents of the home, were moved into storage in 2000, in advance of majo...

Amber Long, young Philadelphia architect, killed in attempted robbery

2014-01-22T13:52:00-05:00

Archinect is shocked and saddened to report the death of Philadelphia architect Amber Long, a recent Philadelphia University graduate working for U.S. Construction Inc. Long was shot and killed this past Sunday night, the victim of an attempted robbery while walking home with her mother. She was known for her passion in sustainability and green architecture, both as a student and in her young professional life, planning to become a LEED-certified, registered architect.

Friends, family and Philadelphia University colleagues have joined together to create a scholarship foundation in Long's memory, to be awarded to a student with the energy, selflessness and passion for sustainability that Long was known for.

Updates regarding the scholarship will be posted to Amber's website, along with tributes to Amber's life by friends and family.

NBC Philadelphia's coverage of the tragic news is available here.

21 bank branches vs. 21 architecture students

2011-06-15T19:13:44-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, while i was visiting him at the School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Otto von Busch told me about an extraordinary experiment that architect Armin Blasbichler had carried out with 21 of his architecture students at the University of Innsbruck. I didn't get much details, except that Blasbichler's students had been assigned to pick up a bank in the city, study it, identify its Achilles' heel and plan a bank robbery.