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Don't fret, I'm a huge FLW fan too. I've always been nutty about his wonderful architectural creations - you should have seen me when I visited the campus at Florida Southern College, which was designed by Wright...lol.
This October, I'm going to visit Fallingwater in PA, which I've wanted to see for a long, long time. Think I'll spring for the $65 "in depth" tour of the house, as I absolutely adore that place.
Don't fret, I'm a huge FLW fan too. I've always been nutty about his wonderful architectural creations - you should have seen me when I visited the campus at Florida Southern College, which was designed by Wright...lol.
This October, I'm going to visit Fallingwater in PA, which I've wanted to see for a long, long time. Think I'll spring for the $65 "in depth" tour of the house, as I absolutely adore that place.
Wow, the tour is 65 bucks? I can't remember what we paid, we went back in 1996. The joys of inflation. Not sure what is around there now but back then? Nothing. We stayed at some dive hotel and ordered pizza. It was chef boyarde (spell). The house is truly amazing well worth the trip!
Wow, the tour is 65 bucks? I can't remember what we paid, we went back in 1996. The joys of inflation. Not sure what is around there now but back then? Nothing. We stayed at some dive hotel and ordered pizza. It was chef boyarde (spell). The house is truly amazing well worth the trip!
The regular tour is $20, but interior photos aren't allowed - the $65 one is two hours long, much more personal, and they do allow photos to be taken - so I figure it's worth the extra money...lol. But at least touring Florida Southern (largest collection of FLW architecture in the world) is free, you just park the car and walk around at your own leisure. Lots of mid century modern houses to be found in nearby areas of Lakeland, along with the coolest Publix grocery store you'll ever see.
Oh yeah, I live in a mid century modern ranch myself - love it!
The regular tour is $20, but interior photos aren't allowed - the $65 one is two hours long, much more personal, and they do allow photos to be taken - so I figure it's worth the extra money...lol. But at least touring Florida Southern (largest collection of FLW architecture in the world) is free, you just park the car and walk around at your own leisure. Lots of mid century modern houses to be found in nearby areas of Lakeland, along with the coolest Publix grocery store you'll ever see.
Oh yeah, I live in a mid century modern ranch myself - love it!
Ugh! I am so jealous! ^^^
I haven't seen his work in Florida. Its on my bucket list. I must have done the personal tour because I took photos. I believe there were about 10 of us in the group. I was 7 months pregnant at the time and they kept asking me if I was okay. lol. There were a lot of stairs. Plus it was really hot, much like how it is right now in the midwest. The inside of the house was cool though. Very comfortable. The only disappointment was they were working on the terraces and wouldn't let anyone out there. Lots of cracking. The surprise for me was seeing the guest house and guest pool. No one seems to talk about that and I didnt know it existed until the tour. It is also beautiful. Make sure you walk around the property. There is a spot across from the house that pretty much all the photographers use to photograph the house. Its a clear shot through the trees.
1. Did FLW "introduce" the side porch, or did he just popularize it?
2. Is the side porch popular somewhere? Certainly, here in metro Denver with small lots with small side yards (5-10 feet), there is not much room for side porches and I have in fact never seen one.
3. The FLW houses I have seen, Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater, were built in wooded, basically wildland areas in SW Pennsylvania. The area was even more isolated when they were built. Both were built to be "country houses" of some wealthy Pittsburghers. These homes were not in an area where the neighbors would stroll around in the evening and be invited to have a lemonade. An interesting side story to Kentuck Knob regarding the porch is that FLW wanted some sort of decorative columns, but a "Pennsylvania mountain engineer" knew they wouldn't bear the load of the roof. They had to make a compromise, with the decorative elements covering the sturdy columns.
4. In the neighborhood where I grew up, most houses, including my parents', had both a front and back porch. We actually used the back porch more. My father screened it in, and built an eating bar. We had many a summer supper out there. Later, my parents put a TV out there, and they spent summer evenings reading, relaxing and watching TV. You could walk around the 'hood and see people sitting on their porches or working in their yards. (Such is the case in my neighborhood today as well.) However, I do not recall ever being invited for a lemonade. Usually you converse with the person 5-10 minutes and then say goodbye. I think this urban legend that everyone was outside sitting on the front porch on summer evenings and there was a great deal of socialization going on is highly exaggerated.
I lived for a couple of years in a mixed-income tiny PA town (Boiling Springs) with porches right off the sidewalk and houses barely detached in a neighborhood built out sometime between 1845 and 1890. People really did stroll and talk from and on the porches there, at least on the side streets. You had to walk to the post office to get your mail (no home delivery of any sort) so everybody was walking in the evenings. (When the PO was closed, the locals had a combination to get in the door.)
I saw a film about Frank Lloyd Wright a few years ago, in which he was credited with changing front porches to side porches.
As soon as I saw this, I realized that he alone was responsible for ruining much of what was good about American culture . . .as I understand it, when different minorities came to New York, they would sit on their front porches and stoops and engage with each other. The porch aesthetic was alive and well in the Midwest, too, until Frank Lloyd Wright turned houses sideways and put the front porch on the side . . .I believe that was the beginning of "suburbia isolation."
I disagree.
[the garage door was the beginning of "suburbia isolation"]
nice looking house but also very isolated and lonely. I'd be bored to tears living in a place like this. the physical isolation of the house, surrounded by a huge lawn and other land makes it look not very welcoming, and a bit creepy. but it doesn't have to be inviting or welcoming since there's probably no neighbors around for miles or anyone else to look at it. its the type of house that screams at you 'get off my lawn!'
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I've always been nutty about his wonderful architectural creations - you should have seen me when I visited the campus at Florida Southern College, which was designed by Wright...lol. 
Not sure what is around there now but back then? Nothing. We stayed at some dive hotel and ordered pizza. It was chef boyarde (spell). 
The house is truly amazing well worth the trip! 
Lots of mid century modern houses to be found in nearby areas of Lakeland, along with the coolest Publix grocery store you'll ever see. 
