Designed by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1955 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, the Gerald B. and Beverley Tonkens House was listed for the first time ever this week, with an asking price of $1.788M. — curbed.com
11 Comments
Another one of the architectural greats going under the hammer - hopefully the new custodians will be architecture lovers and maintain this gem. More on the old master http://architectuul.com/architect/frank-lloyd-wright
I wonder, would you be able to paint, or update it at all? I'm not saying demo, but maybe replace the flooring, or change the curtains. Paint the exterior? It does look a bit like a prison.
Sarah, are you serious? Why not repaint the Mona Lisa? She looks kinda blah.
Maybe it just needs a good pressure washing, but yeah. It looks dirty. Even the Mona Lisa is cleaned.
It's called patina.
can't we just plant some vines?
Honestly, I like FLW, but the views out of the kitchen and bedroom really are jail-like in this house. If I owned a FLW house I would damn well change the FFE to what I wanted! No major exterior changes, and nothing too unsympathetic. But I'm also averse to interiors that are overbearing stylistic gesamptkunstwerks. Variety is better, in my opinion.
You see prison, I see fortress. One keeps you in, the other is security for the inhabitants. As to vines and painting, powerwashing, etc. stewardship carries a price beyond aquistion. To be a good steward means that you must serve and honor that which you steward.
It is simple, if you wish to be the steward, accept it for what it is. If you cannot, do not.
Some materials weather and age better than others. We'd have no quarrel with the appearance of those surfaces if we were told they were made of stone, I'd bet. Wright used natural masonry and wood; brick and stone weather better than CMU, mahogany and cypress better than redwood. For better or worse, he preferred to see them all in their uncoated state (though there are a very few originally-painted CMU houses). The custom-cast blocks of these Usonian Automatics are always left raw.
There are many many more Eichlers et al to screw around with than Wright-designed residences, if one gets the redecoration urge. There are only five Usonian Automatics (one each in Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington -- all different) so I'd say they should be properly cared for and preserved -- in as close to original appearance as possible ?
tear it down, give the materials back to the earth.
As for weathering, Wright seems to have detailed some of the wooden Usonians as though they would spend their time under glass -- or housed in a museum. Maybe that's where they all belong ?
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