Book Description
Frank Lloyd Wright is not only synonymous with architecture, his name is also synonymous with the American house in the twentieth century. In particular, his residential work has been the subject of continuing interest and controversy. Wright's Fallingwater (1935), the seminal masterpiece perched over a waterfall deep in the Pennsylvania highlands, is perhaps the best-known private house in the history of the world. In fact, Wright's houses-from his Prairie style Robie House (1906) in Chicago, to the Storer (1923) and Freeman (1923) houses in Los Angeles, and Taliesen West (1937) in the Arizona desert-are all touchstones of modern architecture. For the first time, all 289 extant houses are shown here in exquisite color photographs. Along with Weintraub's stunning photos and a selection of floor plans and archival images, the book includes text and essays by several leading Wright scholars. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses is an event of great importance and a major contribution to the literature on this titan of modern architecture.
Customer Reviews:
Very pretty book.......2007-05-24
This is a lovely coffee table book with mostly spectacular color photos of most of Wrights houses, including many interior shots. There is not much historical information but this is covered in other books.
Clear, concise overview of Wright's architectural designs.......2007-05-12
This book was a wonderful eye opener. It will appeal to the reader for crisp pictures in beautiful settings and landscapes as well as the various style phases Wright went through architecturally. For Wright aficionados, there is a detailed, but not too intense history of his style, works and personal history as he changes design elememts during his career. Grand interior shots only enhance the overall attraction. The book will add diversity to anyone's collection.
Almost As Good As Being There.......2007-03-31
This is a necessary book for all who study architecture. Why? Because the photography conveys something close to the reality of Mr. Wright's works, especially so when it comes to the interiors.
When I was studying architecture in college in the 1970s, the BEST photography books about Wright's oeuvre were "In the Nature of Materials" and the very expensive Wendingen Edition. Both are presented in black and white and while that kind of pared-down quality may have suited the age in which the International Style was still in its ascendancy, it did nothing whatsoever to convey the true sense of a Wright space--specifically interior space. The intimately human scale of these spaces was missed.
And color is so much a part of Wright's aesthetic, and without it, one is in dreary Kansas instead of Oz.
Living in the northeast, it was not possible to see many Wright buildings first hand, until that trip to Chicago... and then what a revelation! These spaces were not cold grays but marvels of ochres and greens and wood tones and conveyed so much more serenity than those older photos could suggest.
Happily, future years placed me in conjunction with many of the Midwestern buildings, and a day trip could take me to Wisconsin or Michigan or other less-frequently visited residential and commercial works by F L W. Friendships with original Wright clients or owners of Wright houses opened other doors--I have experienced about one third of the places in this book, so--trust me--the photos do them justice and are almost as good as being there.
I would guess that anyone who has been in these places will tell you that this book gives a very fine representation of these spaces. And thankfully, more and more of these spaces are open on a regular or annual basis for the student or admirer of Wright to visit. Some residences are even now B&Bs. Wow!
The fine articles that accompany the photographs are also most helpful and enjoyable.
If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.
Wrights' houses at their best.......2007-03-26
There are many different aspects to highlight when studying the work of one of Americas' greatest architects. The part of his work that is probably the most accesible, are his private houses. It was great to see all these houses together in one beautiful volume. The photographs are stunning, and it is great to see so much attention paid to the interior of these houses, as Wright was responsible for most interior design too.
As a professional or just a fan, when you love Wrights' work and want to visually enjoy it to the fullest, this book is a must have. The only thing better is to buy one of his houses...
WOW - Photography and Essays.......2007-03-09
One beautiful and well done book. Look, read and indulge yourself in Wright. Wonderful photography and ineresting writing by many authors that all to the lore of Wright.
A great gift for someone who has on interest in FLLW.
Book Description
America's most famous architect was obsessed with small houses. Even though this exciting aspect of his work has been long overlooked, the truth is that Frank Lloyd Wright spent most of his career addressing the problems of houses intended for individuals or small families of modest means. In the only book on the master architect to focus on "the house of moderate cost," Wright expert Diane Maddex takes the reader inside a selection of his small houses from across the country, turning the spotlight on Wright's ingenious solutions to make these homes look and feel large.
Customer Reviews:
Wright-Sized Book for custom homes........2007-08-02
I am building a custom home and I keep going back to this book for inspiration and important details. I have a library of at least 20 other FLW (Frank Lloyd Wright) books, but this is the most up-to-date and most on target reference for new home design. The photographs are large and focused on details, not just exterior elevations. Doors, windows, roofs, entrances and many other important features are explained and given an indepth perspective. This is a must have for any FLW library and I guarantee you will be handing this to to your architect if you want FLW details in your custom home. A great read.
Ludicrous topic, excellent book.......2007-04-01
Despite the questionable purpose to show "solutions for making small houses big", as if using Wright's architecture for a DIY book, and the fact that all houses in the book are small like a condo, this is a very good book.
Selection of the photographs, print and layout are excellent and decidedly over the average, even for such a popular subject.
Plans and texts are plain and clear and eventually contribute to making it very easy for quick consultation. Somehow and unexpectedly, in my studio, you can never find this book in the same place.
Illustrates Wright's Ideas - Easy to understand.......2007-03-09
I'm a Wright fan and an architect, so it was good to find a book the describes and illustrates FLLW's architecture "gems" to be considered in home design. Well done and useful, whether you are considering a "FLLW-inspired" or another architectural style. I think this book is a good compliment to Sarah Susanka's books (i.e., "the not so big house", etc.).
I my opinion, Wright's approach is universal to many architectual style.
Very good synthesis of Wright's work.......2007-02-24
I really liked this book. Quite well structured, it presents first key characteristics of Wright's architecture apearing in Prairie but also Usonian houses.
The second part gives full details of some houses (mainly Usonian since the theme is about "making small houses feel big")
Special interest for Isabel Roberts house, River Forest (on front and back cover pages) which is to my mind Wright's Masterwork joining Prairie and Usonian concepts.
Photos are nice and drawings are also indicated (with scale and orientation).
The only point I disliked is the fact comments relative to photos are not always fully precise : they could have highlighted a bit more key characteristics quoted in book's first part. The author has also preferred giving some details about Owners rather than focusing only on architecture.
One of the best Wright books out there.......2006-05-11
This is a beautiful picture book that keeps its title's promise. Maddex actually identifies the specific FLW solutions for making small houses feel big. Her description of these solutions are well-written and aimed at appealing to the intelligent layman. Mercifully, she avoids the academic, pedantic and patronizing tone. A real pleasure. Couldn't recommend more highly.
Book Description
The most pivotal and yet least understood event of Frank Lloyd Wright’s celebrated life involves the brutal murders in 1914 of seven adults and children dear to the architect and the destruction by fire of Taliesin, his landmark residence, near Spring Green, Wisconsin. Unaccountably, the details of that shocking crime have been largely ignored by Wright’s legion of biographers—a historical and cultural gap that is finally addressed in William Drennan’s exhaustively researched Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders.
In response to the scandal generated by his open affair with the proto-feminist and free love advocate Mamah Borthwick Cheney, Wright had begun to build Taliesin as a refuge and "love cottage" for himself and his mistress (both married at the time to others).
Conceived as the apotheosis of Wright’s prairie house style, the original Taliesin would stand in all its isolated glory for only a few months before the bloody slayings that rocked the nation and reduced the structure itself to a smoking hull.
Supplying both a gripping mystery story and an authoritative portrait of the artist as a young man, Drennan wades through the myths surrounding Wright and the massacre, casting fresh light on the formulation of Wright’s architectural ideology and the cataclysmic effects that the Taliesin murders exerted on the fabled architect and on his subsequent designs.
Customer Reviews:
All My Life I Have Been Plagued by Fires.......2007-09-29
Ever since I studied FLW as a freshman in architecture school, I wondered how he made it thru such a dark and difficult time. So when I found this book, I had to get it. I have always admired and actually enjoyed studying FLW designs and visiting his works. I had read that he was very arrogant but most of what I had read just glossed over his personal life and focused on his work.........which is ok. In fact when I can, I tend to use his design vocabulary in my designs. After reading this book I am truly sickened to discover how much of jerk and crook FLW truly was. How a father of six children could leave and not just leave but stay away from them for over a year? I am grateful that I did not know him as a person and that I cannot relate to his behavior at any level.
Given that, I have no idea how such a loser could be such an architectural genius? If it takes an ego of this magnitude to BE a genius, I am grateful that I am not one.
It appears that the author has researched the Taliesin murders in great depth. There are over 30 pages of footnotes! Drennan's analysis for me is sound. The only thing I could not agree with was that FLW's houses became fortifications after the Taliesin murders. If you read the book "Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright's Houses" you will find that all his houses were sanctuaries of refuge starting with the hidden entrance. That's one of the characteristics of what his clients loved about the houses, security and privacy. Did FLW look for ways to prevent fires after the murders........yes as all competent architects should, would and do.
It is clear that he got caught up in some bad karma. The Spring Green community hated him the most and believed that FLW committed the murders. Even the parts of Taliesin that were burnt (living quarters) versus the parts that remained untouched (design studio) reflected his life.
There is not much evidence to support racial hatred towards Julian Carlton, the alleged murderer and arsonist, but being so close to the time of the civil war, it seems likely that there was. I still don't understand why they let the wife go. She was found hiding dressed in her Sunday's best? She had answers that remained hidden.
No matter how much FLW deserved getting what was dished out to him, you can't help but pity the man when at the end of the book, one of his apprentices heard him walking the grounds of Taliesin in the dark repeating the following statement over and over, "All my life I have been plagued by fires, All my life I have been plagued by fires.............."
Brilliantly written. I had very difficult time putting this book down.
"Enquiring minds want to know" journalism.......2007-05-14
Mixed view of this book. The author has dug deeply to unearth whatever facts are still out there about this tragedy. And, the story is compelling. However, I am bothered somewhat that recent books on Wright have focused soley on the sensational aspects of his life rather than the work which made him famous and which is still relevant today!
As for the content, I am not totally convinced by the timeline of events which he puts forth. However, he does convincingly demolish the long-standing, accepted version. That leaves some big questions which will probably never be answered. Finally, Bill (the author) has an irritating tendency to constantly refer to Frank Loyd Wright as "Frank". Bill needed a more competent editor.
Well Done.......2007-05-07
This is a fascinating book that is written in an interesting style The history of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders in particular are well documented. Well worth the purchase.
This book has it all.......2007-05-03
William Drennan blends brutal murder, sensational scandal, exhaustive research and thought-provoking theory in this important book. A clear style and a flair for the mot juste make this book both scholarly and page-turning.
At last, an author has had the courage, persistence and skill to delve into Wisconsin's crime of the 20th century. It's a wonder no writer previously tackled this topic, given that it involves a horrific killing that claimed the paramour of America's foremost architect, as well as his signature home design, Taliesin. We're all fortunate Drennan accepted the challenge.
A Great Read!.......2007-04-26
Meticulously researched and thoughtfully presented, Death in a Prairie House is also a great read. I recommend it.
Book Description
This engaging tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Palmer House, build in the early 1950s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, brings to life one of Wright's last residential masterpieces. Working from extensive materials gathered by Ann and Leonard Eaton, and from his own fifty-two-year familiarity with the building, Grant Hildebrand crafts the story of Billy and Mary Palmer's extraordinary home. He presents in detail the events surrounding the Palmers' selection of Wright as architect; Wright's personal creation of the design; the challenges, and the craftsmanship, of its construction; the evolution of its garden and teahouse; the role of the house as a setting for the Palmers' lives; and an analysis of its remarkable formal and spatial qualities.
With a rich compendium of personal information and an extensive array of photographs, plans, and diagrams created especially for this book, Frank Lloyd Wright's Palmer House offers a comprehensive exploration of a living work of art and an intimate portrait of the people who, having brought it into being, treasured its presence in their lives for half a century.
Citing the particular synergies of architect and client, house and site, Hildebrand situates the heretofore little-known Palmer House within the context of Wright's overall oeuvre and presents a convincing argument for the inclusion of the Palmer House in the canon of the architect's finest residential designs.
Customer Reviews:
A must-have for Wright fans.......2007-09-18
This is a beautifully illustrated book on the Palmer House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of the most interesting and most beautifully constructed and finished of Mr. Wright's houses. The landscaping and gardens provided a proper framework for the architecture, and the personalities of Mary and Billy Palmer are evident throughout. Your collection of books on Wright's work is not complete without this volume.
Small books about Usonian houses.......2007-08-26
A good small book about one of FLW's Usonian house with some interesting information about the building and it owners.
Gem of Organic Architecture .......2007-03-02
In this wonderful book the authors detail various aspects of the bringing into being of this perfect example of Frank Lloyd Wright's organic architecture. Starting with background information on the town of Ann Arbor,
Michigan we are introduced to the clients, neighborhood and specific site on which their dream house would be erected. The process of selecting and securing Wright as their architect is explored in depth. We then learn of the give and take between client and architect during the design stage. The search for a suitable contractor and the attention to detail required of him in the building of this unconventional house are presented.
The Palmer's experiences of living for over 50 years in this masterpiece of residential architecture are explored and bring the building to life for the reader. The book is well illustrated with color photos, some b&w construction photos and plans that are large enough to study. In addition, a wonderful word picture tour of the house and surrounding landscape is presented. The technically minded may perhaps wish for more information on the construction aspects, but most things seem to have proceeded so well as to go unremarked.
This book is more than anything a tribute to the remarkable clients whose faith in Wright's vision, as well as their own personal artistic vision in creating the surrounding landscape, caused one of his most unknown gems to be built.
Highly recommended!
Book Description
After nearly one hundred years, both the Arts and Crafts movement and the man most closely associated with it-Frank Lloyd Wright-continue to enjoy extraordinary popularity. Created and championed by Wright and his colleagues, the Prairie Style is firmly rooted in the domestic architecture of the American Midwest, and its influence has spread throughout the country and the world. This elegant, profusely illustrated book captures the enduring spirit of Prairie Style, celebrating its indelible contribution to the closing century.
Prairie Style opens the doors to 24 homes, ushering readers into beautifully restored and creatively furnished spaces that radiate the warmth so closely associated with Wright and the Prairie School of architects. More than 200 full-color photographs offer full room views as well as close-ups of remarkable furniture and decorative objects. In keeping with Wright's devotion to natural settings, exteriors and gardens are also pictured, placing each house in the context of its environment. These sheltering houses-low and rambling with refreshingly open interiors-inspired generations of houses to come, and changed the shape of suburban America.
Customer Reviews:
SINGULAR WRIGHT.......2006-04-01
Prairie style architecture is one of the most American of the house styles, it is quenticential Frank Lloyd Wright. I did not always appreciate the style, I watched as they demolished many in Dallas and did not shead a tear, but after really looking at these homes and admiring the unique style, I lement the loss of those homes and I have a new appreciation of these fine homes. This book is wonderful, it has vivid images and the text is very informative. It is fascinating how Wright perfectly merged the house into the Gardens and how perfectly the two interact. Even if you are not sold on the beauty of the Prairie Style, I encourage you to get this book, you will come away with a new appreciation of this singular style and you may actually find yourself wanting one.
Pulskamp.......2000-12-02
This book does have a very nice blend of photographs and reproductions of sketches and interior / exterior images, but I was not impressed with the cross over into other architect's work that, in my humble opinion, do not come close to approaching FLW's ability. Overall it is a good resource, but hardly a definitive study on Wright and his structures.
Great Interiors.......2000-05-31
This book varies from most books on Wright and the prairie style architects in its extensive use of interior photos. Many of the prairie homes are somewhat unremarkable from the outside, while inside they have a distict beauty and grace. "Prairie Style" beautifully portrays the interior as well as the exterior of homes by Wright, his students, and contemporaries.
Nice pictures, no floor plans..........2000-04-25
This book covers more than just Wright. It also gives you some insight to others that came out of the Prairie School and others that were redefining the American style near the turn of the century. The book has wonderful pictures, but as an architect, I wish it had floor plans so I could more easily understand how the spaces worked together. It's still a nice addition to my library.
Timeless Design.......1999-11-23
The great thing about the Prairie Style is that elements of it can fit into so many different other types of designs and times. Even though I have a very modern, contemporary home, I got plenty of ideas from this beautiful book. Contains loads of beautiful pictures of home interiors by Wright & his followers.
Average customer rating:
- The prairie spoke. . . and Wright listened!
- Another one in this delightful series
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Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses (Wright at a Glance Series)
Carla Lind
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
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ASIN: 1566409977 |
Book Description
Hugging the ground, with low, sheltering roofs and spacious interiors, Wright's Prairie houses have long been favorites among his hundreds of buildings. This book details the origins of the style, showing typical features and furnishings, and walks readers through ten of the most fascinating examples.
By Carla Lind. 60 pages, 34 color photographs, 7 black & white photographs, 5 1/4 x 5 1/4". Casebound, with dust jacket.
Customer Reviews:
The prairie spoke. . . and Wright listened!.......2001-04-10
"Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses," by Carla Lind, is one of a series of mini-books dedicated to the work of this important architect. This volume focuses on Wright's Prairie Houses. As Lind notes, the Prairie School of architecture was inspired by the "spacious, horizontal feeling" of the American prairie. This book pays particular attention to several of Wright's Prairie masterpieces built between 1900 and 1908.
This book shares many of the admirable characteristics of other volumes in the series: a profusion of superb full-color photographs (both interior and exterior), Lind's interesting text, illuminating sidebar quotes from Wright and others, and a brief but useful bibliography. Houses pictured include the Bradley House of Kankakee, Illinois; the Darwin Martin House of Buffalo, New York; the Stockman House of Mason City, Iowa; and many more.
The only flaw in the book is the lack of any legible floor plans. Although floor plans are not a focus of this series as a whole, author Lind does call attention to the distinctive features of the Prairie House floor plans several times in the text. Thus, one or two representative plans would have really enhanced this volume. Actually, one floor plan is included, but it is used merely as a decorative background element: the plan is printed in a pale blue ink and has text superimposed on top of it, so it is not very legible. This matter aside, however, this is a fine volume in an excellent series.
Another one in this delightful series.......2000-06-13
Although the entire Wright at a Glance Series is wonderful, this book is especially good. It gives good examples of what made Wright's Prairie home distinctive. The photographs are very fine and the text supports them well.
Book Description
This beautifully illustrated book takes a look at many unusual private homes designed by Wright, from the cantilevered "Fallingwater" in Pennsylvania to the "Desert-rose" concrete-block Lykes House in Phoenix, Arizona. Includes many popular examples of Wright's most famous houses.
Customer Reviews:
Poor photography - AVOID!.......2007-04-10
The standard of quality set by the works of Mr. Heinz is very low. Avoid this book.
Book Description
With the advent of Prairie style architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright embarked on a journey that would forever change the course of architecture. During this extraordinarily prolific period, roughly the first quarter of the twentieth century, Wright built the first great modern American houses. He cast aside many of the conventions of the past, opening up interior spaces so that there might be a more subtle flow of rooms. The plans for Prairie style architecture were based on a tartan plaid of main spaces and secondary spaces, of public rooms and circulation spaces. Their decentralized asymmetry did not follow the Beaux Arts insistence on a primary, often dominating, focal point—a vestige of its roots as a symbolic architecture for divine-right royalty. Following Wright's philosophy, Prairie design was emphatically democratic and non-hierarchical. Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Houses comprehensively demonstrates this philosophy. Focusing on interiors and details, the book features more than 70 Prairie style houses and other buildings, still extant, in lavish, full-color photography.
Customer Reviews:
Hundred Year Old Houses that Still Look New.......2007-01-31
Frank Lloyd Wright's work around 1900 developed what are called the Prairie Houses. These houses split off from traditional American architecture to establish themselves as the start of what is truly American. These houses are open with horizontal lines that reflect the prairie from which they get their names.
One surprising thing about the Prairie Houses is that they still look so modern that they could fit into any new sub-division being developed today. They certainly formed the foundations from which the Bungalow designs which followed.
Another surprising thing about the Prairie Houses is that so many of them remain standing, and that so many of them have remained or been restored to as new condition. After all, these houses are a hundred years old, and many of their light fixtures, cabinets, things that get a lot of ware are still around.
The book is beautifully printed and cloth bound. Another recommended book on a Wright Prairie House is Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House which describes the house, but also the effort that it took to restore the house to its original form. The house took $14,000 to build, over a half million to restore.
Not a Worthy Sequel to a Fine Book.......2007-01-01
Given the the high quality of Frank Lloyd Wright The Houses, this book was disappointing.
Unworthy sequel.......2006-12-02
In the wake of the magnificent "Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses", this followup volume disappoints on several levels. I expected some duplication with the earlier book. Certainly, extended coverage of the iconic works such as Dana, Robie and Coonley was warranted. As pointed out in my review of the previous book, many houses received coverage only via a thumbnail photo appendix. I anticipated these works would receive expanded coverage here, for the most part I was wrong. What we get instead is much duplication with "FLW:The Houses": of the 22 houses presented here 15 were in the previous volume. There is also reuse of many of the same photos, sometimes cropped slightly differently sometimes identical. Also disappointing is the size of the new volume. It is quite a bit smaller in format with the resultant lessening of impact by the still great photos.
To sum up, if I had to buy only one book it would be "FLW: The Houses". This holds true even if my major interest was the Prairie period alone. Will a followup Usonian era volume provide the same needless duplication?
Worthy sequel and incredible book in its own right.......2006-11-19
A sequel to the early collaboration of Alan Weintraub and Alan Hess on Frank Lloyd Wright houses, this work focuses on a series of houses the Wright office completed at the first decade of the century, dubbed "Prairie Style." The book contains some brief essays, prefaces, and then a series of phenomenal photographs of what are arguably the most influential group of houses of the twentieth century.
Ironically the impact of these Prairie houses was spread through the lithographs of the "Wasmuth Portfolio" - line drawings of these houses that captivated the European modernists when published in 1910. These line drawings are still the way this group of houses is often reproduced, taught, or shown in slides in art history class. This book stands as an immediate corrective to that.
These photographs are extraordinarily rich, and must be said to complement Wright's work quite well. They include luminous photographs of the interiors, beautiful examples of the exteriors, really these are the next best thing to a trip to Oak Park to see the work directly.
I would highly recommend the book to anyone interested in Wright, or architecture, and this book sure would make a perfect gift.
As a very minor complaint, compared to the previous book where the subject was Wright's entire career of houses, as this one focuses on the Prairie Style it would have been nice to have some comparisons to the Prairie work other architects were creating in Chicago. Also, the authors make no acknowledgement that Wright created these houses in the context of an architectural studio practice, and so the efforts of his talented contributers such as Marion Mahoney go unmentioned.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Book!.......2007-01-11
This is a huge heavy duty book filled with all kinds pictures and information about another of FLW's masterpieces. A great gift!
AWESOME!..........2000-08-23
Fallingwater, in and of itself, is a name that commands awe and respect. This book epitomizes that notion.
Simply, this is it. This is the be all, end all of texts on this masterpiece by the late F.L.W.
I have been an admirer of F.L.W. since I was in the fifth grade, and had to do a report on earthquakes and buildings. Living in S.F., I guess this was a hot topic. But, in a showing (foreshadowing?) of extremely good taste---if I do say so myself, I chose F.L.W. and the TransAmerica building. For those of you out of the loop, that's the "pyramid" building you see when looking at (virtually every) snapshot(s) of the S.F. skyline. I hadn't yet discovered Fallingwater, but I would eventually be shown the way...
This is such an incredibly beautiful house. Honestly, I could not imagine the blessing of owning that house and living there. This text, however, sets it all out.
EXCELLENT photos, both inside and out....in different seasons as well.
VERY GOOD text and dialogue. Provides a great understanding of the dream, planning, undertaking, and completion of this masterpiece.
This is an incredibly text. I cannot urge you enough to purchase this one. In short, your collection is not complete without it.
Open this book, and dream....
A great book on a Great Building.......2000-02-29
What first draws one to this book is the wonderful new photographs presented. This is also what I keep going back to see after reading the text. The perspective of many of the downstream shots is not exaggerated as are the older black and white ones taken in the 1930's although when I visited the house I was unable to get the same view or position. They must have been taken with a special camera. I appreciate the helicopter photos as it really shows the site, a deep ravine. The house always seemed to be up on a promontory but is set deep into the forest. The lighting on the interior is a little misleading when the shadows and light direction are altered. These photos overall are the most naturalistic that I have seen and to see all the seasons represented makes me want to goback for the others. It looks as if the insect screens were removed for most of the photos which gave the house a cleaner, more modern appearance than in person. I only wish the breaker pages, the ones with the large green background, were larger although I believe I have seen the winter view on a recent calendar by the same photographer, Heinz, great work on his part. I always wish there were more books like this on great American buildings, especially on the photogenic ones by Wright.
Nice pictures; cute anecdotes; poor analysis; no criticism.......1999-03-27
I received the book as a gift, then visited Fallingwater, then re-read the book. It's not very good. The pictures are nice, but redundant and not comprehensive. Examples: no pictures of second floor guest room and bath, too many pictures of E.J. Kauffman's "dressing room." Mr. Kauffman, Jr., fondly (and, I would hope, accurately) recollects the brief history, but supplies very little analysis and absolutely no criticism, which is sorely lacking. No book published does justice to the antagonistic surfaces and cave-like interior spaces of the house, nor the terribly confusing bouquet of stairwells springing from the main floor. Nor does the author provide the context supporting the true genius of Wright's three-dimensional composition in the post-cubist age of international style and international turmoil. Lastly, why does the only author who has lived there fail to mention that the house rings with the crashing of the water? It literally sounds like the proverbial "machine for living."
Stunning - blows other Fallingwater books away!.......1999-03-10
This is a classic coffe table book that will endure for decades. It is chock full of color photographs, drawings, layouts and stories from the owner's son. The author was a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright, his father commissioned several works from the famous man. The book is not about FLW; it does not discuss his other work, or even his contribution to architecture. Yet, it does tell stories. Stories about the house, the building, the site, the construction, the arguements, the leaks, and the repairs. It is a story of archeciture that is organic - one that is growing; one that grows on you.
This is a category killer of a book. It knocks other Fallingwater books out of the ring. It is large and beautifully photgraphed. It is simply and honestly written. And well it does not tell of FLW, those facts are readily available elsewhere.
This is a treasure of a find. A real keeper. One that you can look at again and again
Customer Reviews:
Great Insights into Wright's Design Strategies Throughout His Career.......2007-07-22
Superb book with great insights into recurring design strategies that extended throughout his career. As a Frank Lloyd Wright homeowner and architect with extensive Wright research and visits to his other residential projects, I can attest to the power of the design strategies articulated in this book. The book is well written with beautiful illustrations. The only shortcoming of the book is the contemporary examples in the back of the book which pale in comparison to the great architectural works by Mr. Wright. All things considered this book is highly recommended for Wright enthusiasts and architects.
Great Book.......2007-06-22
This is a great book, giving insight into Wright'd designs. Good pictures of details of some of his houses that are not found in other sources and really nice 3D exploded views of some of the more important ones.
Rosetta Stone of Wright's Magic.......2007-04-27
In this superb book, Hildebrand attempts no less than a definitive explanation of the method used by Wright to weave his architectural magic. Using the theories of "prospect and refuge" & "order and complexity" he
sets out to establish what he calls the "pattern" that reveals itself in Wright's residential designs. Backed by detailed exposition, plans, diagrams and photos of specific examples he convincingly does just that: present the "pattern" that, to a greater or lesser degree, permeates Wright's work. Also covered are various detail items which are often, though with a lesser frequency, present.
To the serious student of Wright's organic architecture, this book is an indispensible resource.
The Title is Accurate.......2007-01-07
Nice book. The author has broken thru all the FLW complexity and clearly and methodically documented the Pattern and Meaning of FLW houses. The isomentric drawings are fantastic! I have been to several of his houses and I love them but could not pull together what the main concepts were. This book is also great for non-architects. I can now continue my passion of FLW research and see the "patterns". My goal is to transend the FLW concepts of "prospect/refuge" in architecture. My only complaint is that some of the black and white prictures are difficult to read. Color pictures would have been nice. Aside from this deficiency the book in my opinion is the best FLW available. I reccomend one read and study this book before visiting his works or reading anything else on FLW.
Wright's Space Rightly Revealed.......1999-05-21
Hildebrand really puts you into a selection of Wright's built spaces; you can imagine what it is like to move through and experience the changing spaces (height, length, turns) in several of Wright's famous houses, even if you've not visited in person. Hildebrand's extended discussion --and demonstration through stunning "3D" exploded diagrams-- of the primordial concepts of Refuge/shelter (those dark fireplace cores and inglenooks) and Prospect/outlook (distant elevated windows) applied to buildings dating to different stages of Wright's practice is most original and convincing. Author's scholarly prose is serviceable rather than equally soaring. Highly useful small plans (newly corrected and with compass indications!) and evocative B/W photographs supplement those amazing diagrams by Wm. Hook.
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Books Index
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