The American Dream Home

The following are snippets of a research paper I wrote titled: Homes of Modern America:

Eames, Johnson, Eichler and Wright 

Beginning in the early 1950’s the American dream of home ownership became a reality for many, specifically in California where business men such as Donald Drummond, Joseph Eichler and Earl “Flat-top” Smith mass-produced simple homes with open floor plans, post-and-beam steel structure, and expanses of glass. The homes of Joseph Eichler was, arguably, the most successful of the three builders and even today the ownership of an Eichler home has, in parts of California, nearly the same prestige of owning a Wright home.

                                                          Wright's Falling Water 

For Wright Organic-Architecture was far more than an aesthetic style, rather a new way to look at the structures in which society thrives. Many of the principles of Wright's Organic-Architecture share common characteristics with the mass-produced California Modern homes. In a 1908 article for Architectural Record Wright lays out the integral parts of Organic-Architecture. Principles such as simplistic homes which only contain the rooms necessary for the owner's lifestyle and the integration of doors and windows designed not only as access points but to replace unnecessary decoration were integrated into the designs of many Eichler's homes. Wright further preached of built-in furnishings, integrated after market appliances and fixtures, and the necessity of art incorporated into, in some cases apart from, the walls as opposed to gilded frames covering large expanses of wall. The most important attributes of Wright's principles of Organic-Architecture are the homes relationship to landscape, the nature of its' materials, the use a natural spectrum of colors, and the individual desires of the homeowner.

                                                                  Photo from HERE

Through their visual qualities, their construction of space and the way each structure functions for the modern American family, Johnson's Glass House and Eames Case Study #8 house adhere to the principles of Organic-Architecture as outlined by Frank Lloyd Wright and acted as prototypes for the modern American home despite their box forms.

Johnson's Glass House, Photo from HERE

The Glass House contains no brick or wood-framed floor to ceiling exterior walls. On all of the homes four façades lay horizontal black steel beams that span the entire length of the building. Similar steel beams stand vertically at each of four corners of the home and function as columns. On the vertical plane between the horizontal and vertical steel beams are clear glossy panels of glass. These glass panels are separated by smaller steal mullions. The horizontal mullions are set at the height of a traditional wainscot trim, or one-third the height of the wall, and span the length of all four sides with the exception of the four doorways which are centered of all four of the clear façades. Vertical mullion are accompanied by horizontal mullions dividing each section in half, two on the shorter elevations and four on the longer.

                                       

                                          Eames Case Study #8 house, Photo from HERE

In the Eames House, entering the south side of the longer of the two rectangular structures one finds an expansive double high living room filled with multiple layers of rich textures and wide spectrum of colors. Only four pieces of furniture are in this space yet it is far from empty. Parallel to the shorter wall stands a stream-lined Eames Sofa Compact draped in textiles, pillows and blankets, souvenirs from the couple’s adventures around the world. Along each of the longer walls are two chairs, on the glass wall is the iconic Eames Lounger with tufted black leather upholstery and the rich grain of the molded plywood frame. Plant life and vegetation accompany lounger on this wall which echoes the structural wood on the opposite. The opposite wall, which contains no windows due to the fact the it is nestled up against the hillside, is paneled with planks of glossy golden wood and is the back drop for a simple wooden framed bookcase that stands the height of the first story. The bottom two and top three shelves of the book case are dedicated to a hundred or so books in a variety of sizes and colors. The floor of this wide open space is covered in white square tiles, to one section a large rough brown rug and a smaller plush blue rug categorize the sitting space and form an implied pathway. Apart from the walls of glass which illuminate this space by day three paper pendant lights, two rounds and one cylindrical, add a warm glow to the large room. A tumble weed hangs from the ceiling near two Hans Hoffman organic paintings which hang parallel to the floor as though raining on the inhabitants, every surface acts as a new canvas for a collage of objects. To one end of the room a deep alcove is formed from the paneled wall and a wide wood-paneled partition wall. In this space an L-shaped built-in sofa is again covered in a wide array of textiles accompanied by shelves filled with souvenir objects large and small.

Old Lehi Hotel- Adobe Brick

A few weeks ago I was taking picture of old homes in Lehi UT for my stock of “historic home” photos...as if I didn't already have enough of those through the year. In my search I was stopped by an owner ask what I was doing taking pictures of her house. The student card is worth a lot. I explained my purposes and the owner gave me a full tour of the old hotel. As it turns out the owner presently purchase the hotel and was needed some help with research on the building and suggestions on techniques to restore the build especially the 1878 adobe – mud – brick. I hope to keep this blog up to date with my progress on the old hotel.

As part of this project I have found that it is mandatory that I learn all I can about adobe brick. As part of this I took my family on a trip to the Provo Pioneer Village – where the Loveless “Adobe Cabin” was recently moved to. 

Here's to Adobe Brick

Museum of Fine Art – Boston

I recently had the opportunity to visit the MFA twice in one week and as an Art History student I was in pure heaven, especially considering the MFA-Boston has one of the best Asian art collection in the U.S.  These pictures are a small part of the amazing art I was able to see first hand.  

 This is a drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright

 I wrote about this painting, Watson and the Shark  by John Singleton Copley HERE - This may seem strange but I actually got a tear in my eye to see it in real life....and I nearly got lost from my group when I wondered off to find it. 

 This is the hallway staircase in the Asian Art section.

Antoine-Jean Gros’ Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa - Which I wrote about HERE

Degas little dancer of fourteen years statue

As part of my trip to the museum, and to Boston, was for my Master of Design Studies in Historic Preservation through the Boston Architectural College – This class focused on Traditional Building Methods in New England

 This is a display for furniture building was built by students at The North Bennett Street School where I spent most of my "in class" time while in Boston

 I was stunned at the carving on this bust of a youth

Mary Cassatt's  At The Opera

Joseph Wright of Derby’s Vesuvius from Posilippo

A powerful seascape painting that initially seems to invoke the pastoral bliss of maritime life. A single sailing ship is docked on the rocky shores of a romantic cove. To its left a small row boat holds the only human figures of the painting, four tiny simple figures rowing to a small island rock. The rowers push toward the rock cove, with high villa-topped cliffs sweeping up to the ethereal clouds above. These heavenly billows encase the late afternoon sun. With its warm radiating natural light, the sun stand in contrast to the catastrophic scene in the far distant right, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. With billowing red-ash clouds Vesuvius spits out its sublime wrath, flame and lava break up this otherwise calm scene. Below the fiery eruption the city of Pompeii, while visually tiny, is full of human life. Buildings, shops, homes of real people are being destroyed. Not by man or the ravages of war but the forces of nature, uncontrolled and ambiguous.

Antoine-Jean Gros’ Propaganda Art for Napoleon

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa depicts the noble Napoleon standing at the axis of the canvas around him are bodies some dead some dying of the Plague. Here in Jaffa the great Napoleon has come not only to colonize this part of the world but to safe these plague stricken people. Napoleon dressed in full military wear, a gold fringed bicorne or two-cornered black hat, black long jacket with gold trim and white calf-length trousers, a costume that today has become a symbol of Napoleon. Around his waist the soon to be Emperor of France wears a traditional Arabic sash. His right gloved hand holds his left glove as he uses his bare left hand to touch a man stricken with the Plague. Amongst the disorder of the plagues victims Gros echoes the Napoleons victory. Through the archways of the classic Arabic architecture we see the drepeau riolore, the national flag of France basking in the sunlight atop the hill.

The Intervention on the Sabine Women by Jacques-Louis David

In The Sabine Women Hersilia, the woman in the center stands arms out stretched so as to, as the title suggests intervene between two opposing soldiers who happen to be her father and her husband. Her husband, Romulus on the right, stand beautifully posed the pristine contour of his angle and fair muscular definition helps the viewer more clearly define him as the hero of the scene. While his rival and Hersilia’s father, Tatius on the left, though he is still rendered as an ideal nude, he stands in a peculiar imperfect pose suggesting his demise.

Fall is in the Air- Persimmon

Carl Larsson - Apple Orchard

Carl Larsson's Apple Orchard is a great inspiration for fall colors. I love how the vibrant blue dress and red house harmonize with the gold autumn foliage. As the trees begin to change color remember 'nothing gold can stay', enjoy the autumn beauty while it lasts.

Vibrant Fall Colors and Lot of Wall Art

Views of Mount Fuji series

A woodblock print from the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series. This view entitled The Barrel-maker of Fujimihara by Katsushika Hokusai. The Barrel-maker depicts a tiny aged man kneeling inside his latest creation, a large open ended barrel. In the foreground are his worn wooden mallets and barrel making materials while in the background lays a green landscape beyond the sun scorched rice fields and further still the far distant peek of the tiny snow capped Mount Fuji. The repetitive use of circles in the large barrel narrates this otherwise mundane scene. The barrel-maker, with his gaze fixated on his work and the beauty of natural world behind him.