Frank Lloyd Wright RUINED American Life With the Turn of the Porch (price, designs)
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It should have read "suburban isolation," but it won't allow me to go back and edit it.
The garage is also a problem . . .but this thread is about the fact that FLW turned the front porch to the side, thereby insulating people from the community.
There is a film about him that highlights this point . . .I am sorry, I don't have the name for a reference . . .
I detest his aesthetic . . .the low ceilings, small windows, resulting in dark, dark cave-like rooms . . . but the turning of the porch actually affected society and influenced future builders . . .
Have you ever been in a FLW home? Designed before central AC. The house seemed dark to me, no doubt limiting sunlight to keep houses cool. There are many of them in the Chicago area. I don't think FLW is the reason front porches went out of vogue...homes built in the fifties were focused on the living room and all important TV...explosion of media....
I love the front porch and I happen to live in a house with one.
And love him or hate him, FLW was not the first to "turn the porch".
Federalist homes built in the early 1800s, frequently have side porches, as do Dutch Colonials; and both styles have been around since before Mr. Wright was a glimmer in his father's eye.
I think something completely non architectural changes American life and residential homes.
The Automobile. Garages that gape like open mouths ready to devour that became attached to the house and actually a status symbol - rather than a detached building in the back of the house - that's what killed the front porch.
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.
You'll love your visit. We just went in May. It's a great tour, great house, great area. You might want to see the nearby FLW-designed Kentuck Knob, Too..it's another beauty! Not as impressive as Falling Water, but well-worth the visit. The current owner is an English Lord (and former curator of the Tate Gallery, I believe) and his art collection inside the home and in the sculpture meadow (wear your comfortable walking shoes) is amazing.
Don't miss a nearby local restaurant--I think it's called Family Restaurant. It's in the book of restaurants at Falling Water's Visitor Center. A simple place, very local and nothing fancy, it's worth a visit. If apple dumplings are on the menu, give them a try. A local delicacy expertly prepared. Mother cooks, daughter serves. Sweet!
Regarding the OP saying FLW is responsible for the decline of community in America is an interesting statement. One I don't buy. What about TV, the computer and the 'net and online games and the advent of air conditioning? We've become a much more interior people for many reasons--and porches migrating to the side of the house, IMO, don't even make the Top 10 list of our rising incivility.
It should have read "suburban isolation," but it won't allow me to go back and edit it.
The garage is also a problem . . .but this thread is about the fact that FLW turned the front porch to the side, thereby insulating people from the community.
There is a film about him that highlights this point . . .I am sorry, I don't have the name for a reference . . .
I detest his aesthetic . . .the low ceilings, small windows, resulting in dark, dark cave-like rooms . . . but the turning of the porch actually affected society and influenced future builders . . .
Regardless of whether there is a film about FLW being solely responsible for urban isolation, it's not true. As I said, I've never seen a home with a side porch, though warren zee notes some other style of homes with them. Most row houses do not have front porches, either, just a small stoop.
ETA: I have actually seen a few houses with "side porches". Usually in that case, there is a front porch to the house, too. It just depends on which way the house is oriented on the lot. Nevertheless, the "side porch" is not a common feature of suburban homes on small lots.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-08-2012 at 11:25 AM..
Removing the front porch, turning the front porch to the side . . . the net effect is no front porch . . .no community . . . isolation . . .suburban ruin . . .
The low ceilings and small windows also contribute to the feeling and reality of isolation . . .
This is an interesting blog on the decline of the front porch . . . and since the reference is the Midwest, I believe it is particularly relevant . . .
Removing the front porch, turning the front porch to the side . . . the net effect is no front porch . . .no community . . . isolation . . .suburban ruin . . .
The low ceilings and small windows also contribute to the feeling and reality of isolation . . .
It's clear you have some b*tch with FLW. But his homes are not typical of most houses built in the US, not then, and not today. Please show some links to multitudes of houses with side facing porches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by imcurious
This is an interesting blog on the decline of the front porch . . . and since the reference is the Midwest, I believe it is particularly relevant . . .
I believe it is particularly nostalgic, realistic through rose colored glasses. My parents and my in-laws (all but one now dead) used to talk about "losing the sense of community". They didn't know the neighbors any more, etc. Well, you know what? They weren't getting out in the community any more. My parents, in particular, did tons of volunteer work in the schools, with the church and in sports that we kids (well, really just my brother) participated in. My dad was a volunteer firefighter and later a councilman. As we kids got older, and my parens got older, they did less and less of that. My dad did stay on council for a long time, into his 70s, but then retired b/c he didn't want to become a "fixture". (His words) My mom went back to work full time, then retired. My in-laws weren't particularly civic minded or nor did they go to church, but they did know the neighbors. But as some of the old neighbors moved out and new ones moved in, they didn't have the same connections. The school bus stop was at their corner and my MIL said she knew all the kids and where they lived. My DH and his brothers had a long-standing paper route and knew the vast majority of the neighbors that way. This blog is a senior citizen column. (I'm not sure it's really a blog.) Senior citizens talk like that. And he did say "In so many ways, Park Ridge and the rest of us are far better off now than back when I was a kid. Today we're a much richer, freer, more vital society." The only constant in life is change.
That's a nice article. And I'm not anti-porch. (Gawd knows we don't need a thread about that!) It's just that it was never as nostalgic as some people like to believe it was. In my hometown, most fathers worked shifts at the local steel mill. They were as likely to be home at 10 AM as they were at 7 PM.
As I said, in my neighborhood right now, if you go out walking at night, you'll run into neighbors who are also out walking or are puttering around in their yards. You chat for a few minutes. Then you move on. Garrison Keillor wrote an article about this once. I'd probably never be able to find it. But he basically said the same thing. You'd run into somebody, talk and as soon as the person on the porch, in the yard, whatever said "Well. . . ", you knew it was time to bid goodbye.
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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. 
