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Location: Big Island of Hawaii & HOT BuOYS Sailing Vessel
5,277 posts, read 2,818,285 times
Reputation: 1932
It was failing to rally around the piano. Nearly every home had one back then. With radio and tv people just sat and looked at each other. Now with IPODs families dont look at each other or talk at dinner. Do families still eat dinner?
A lot of us sailors still have pianos still. We also meet more often to discuss the weather. A little more important then to land based homeowners.
There are countless Craftsman houses with front porches in Denver. I'm in the process of designing a major addition on one of them for my son. I've spent many hours photographing them at different times of the day, on weekdays and on weekends and I am careful to not disturb someone on their porch. But I've never seen anyone using their porch.
It does seem like a cultural shift but I can't imagine it had anything to do with FLW's houses.
Porches aren't always ubiquitous in American architecture. They weren't necessarily common in New England or New York before the Civil War, just to use as an example.
Overlapping with FLW's period was the emergence of the Colonial Revival styles, which rarely had front porches, usually favoring side porches if there was one.
The rise of cars made streets noisier, so people were less inclined to spend time on front porches and started to retreat to back yards.
With the emergence of air conditioning the demand for porches declined even more.
Many people have decks and those are now more popular. It doubtlessly has to do with a sense of privacy and also a convenient location just off the kitchen.
Nothing to do with FLW at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MACV2
There are countless Craftsman houses with front porches in Denver. I'm in the process of designing a major addition on one of them for my son. I've spent many hours photographing them at different times of the day, on weekdays and on weekends and I am careful to not disturb someone on their porch. But I've never seen anyone using their porch.
It does seem like a cultural shift but I can't imagine it had anything to do with FLW's houses.
Porches aren't always ubiquitous in American architecture. They weren't necessarily common in New England or New York before the Civil War, just to use as an example.
Overlapping with FLW's period was the emergence of the Colonial Revival styles, which rarely had front porches, usually favoring side porches if there was one.
The rise of cars made streets noisier, so people were less inclined to spend time on front porches and started to retreat to back yards.
With the emergence of air conditioning the demand for porches declined even more.
Many people have decks and those are now more popular. It doubtlessly has to do with a sense of privacy and also a convenient location just off the kitchen.
Nothing to do with FLW at all.
You are right. Around the turn of the 20th Century there was a period called Colonial Revival which used New England architecture for home designs. Most homes of this style do not have front porches. That had nothing to do with Frank Lloyd Wright. The advent of the car had more to do with the elimination of the front porch as a design feature. Cars were noisy and people did not want to listen to them when they passed by. Homes started having side and rear porches instead and eventually decks became popular. Again, nothing to do with FLW. Jay
Porches aren't always ubiquitous in American architecture. They weren't necessarily common in New England or New York before the Civil War, just to use as an example.
Overlapping with FLW's period was the emergence of the Colonial Revival styles, which rarely had front porches, usually favoring side porches if there was one.
The rise of cars made streets noisier, so people were less inclined to spend time on front porches and started to retreat to back yards.
With the emergence of air conditioning the demand for porches declined even more.
Many people have decks and those are now more popular. It doubtlessly has to do with a sense of privacy and also a convenient location just off the kitchen.
Nothing to do with FLW at all.
Colonial Revival homes were popular in the 1920s through 1960s.Their peak - at least in my area seems to be directly before and following WWII - 1939-1952. I'm interested in the social psychology of home styles. The Neo - Colonial affirmed the stability of America and traditional values. At times of war, and just after WWII, when women returned to the home and hearth after working to aid in the war effort. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but that seems to account for their popularity.
They have a rather austere front and a formal interior. I think they are pretty, but not welcoming.
I live in a neighborhood of mixed 20s and teens built homes. The predominant style is the Craftsman. My own house while not a classic textbook Craftsman, has many craftsman elements. Along with all of the other 1920s era Craftsmanesque homes - we have a front screened in porch that wraps around to one side of the house.
In fact every craftsman house in my area has a deep, low slung front porch.
I don't know all that much about FLW, but I do know in my currently neighborhood, all of the houses have front porches. They were all build in the mid/late 2000s. Many times throughout the week, we are sitting on our front porches enjoying the evening.
I hate FLW. He ruined centuries of development of the architectural art-form, turning an enduring focus on permenance into boxes devoid of character or beauty. How can a city persue a philosophy of blending into nature when an urban center drives nature out?
And of course commercial interests LOVED it because they could spend way less without all the attention to detail or quality materials. I suppose it was inevitable as population densities grew. And once the barn-door of cheapness was opened, there was and is little economic motivation to reverse the mode. How freakishly expensive would building a Richardson-Romanesque be now?
I guess I long for the character-dense masterpieces that feel like they will stand forever. Even churches have turned into block-gobbling exercises in bland humbleness, even in the business-park I (unfortunately) work in.
OK, I gotta stop my rant now.
This is woefully inaccurate. His homes did not skimp on quality materials, are mostly full of character and many are quite beautiful. His patrons tended to be the kinds of people who would not pay for cheap homes lacking craftsmanship, have you ever been in one of his homes surrounded by the stained glass and amazing woodwork? Lack of ostentatiousness does not necessarily equal cheapness, the "barn-door of cheapness" certainly did open but it had nothing to do with FLW and did not start until he was a marginal players late in his career. Your misplaced rant would be better directed at those who popularized the mid-century ranch home, the Internationalists, or even Mies Van der Rohe.
This is woefully inaccurate. His homes did not skimp on quality materials, are mostly full of character and many are quite beautiful. His patrons tended to be the kinds of people who would not pay for cheap homes lacking craftsmanship, have you ever been in one of his homes surrounded by the stained glass and amazing woodwork? Lack of ostentatiousness does not necessarily equal cheapness, the "barn-door of cheapness" certainly did open but it had nothing to do with FLW and did not start until he was a marginal players late in his career. Your misplaced rant would be better directed at those who popularized the mid-century ranch home, the Internationalists, or even Mies Van der Rohe.
I do not think that the OP meant that Frank Lloyd Wright were not necessarily well engineered. He tended to place more importance on aesthetics and not practicality. His wonderful Falling Water was doing just that, falling. It had to be reinforced and rebuilt. Jay
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