Frank Lloyd Wright & the American System Built Designs - design B1

Frank Lloyd Wright and the American System-Built Designs

Design B1

American System-Built Homes - Design B1

In the years just before World War 1, Frank Lloyd Wright’s lifelong interest in making great design available to all people resulted in the American System-Built Homes project. These were a catalog of home designs, ranging in size and configuration. They included single story, two story designs and even duplexes. All the designs were based on standardized wood framing packages. 

Model B1 - Plan

A business dispute between Wright and his partner in the venture, Arthur Richards, led to the closing of the business. The expansion of the war also meant that building materials were not available. In the end around 25 homes are believed to have been built, with 15 known to be surviving today.

After restoration and the removal of the terrace enclosure

Model B1 was one of those designs that actually got built. The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) recorded this example at 2714 West Burnham Street, Milwaukie, WI. The original design had an open terrace at the front. But at the time of the HABS survey this terrace had been enclosed and the survey drawings show that enclosure. Later the house was restored to its original condition and these photos show the restoration. 

Before restoration, with terrace enclosure

 

The open terrace dramatically changes how the house relates to its surroundings, providing a more subtle and gradual transition from the public life of the street to the private life of the home, while also providing architectural elements, that bring the foliage of the landscape right into the fabric of the building.

The prints below are available for purchase at my eBay store.

Historic American Building Survey (HABS) drawings

HABS plans and typical wall section

The Living Room, seen from the Dining Nook. Entry at right behind fireplace.

The Dining Nook

The home centers around a central masonry fireplace, with a hall behind it that has a high ceiling. In winter the central fireplace is well placed to heat the entire home, while in summer the high windows in the hall can be opened to vent hot air out of the home.

Elevations

Sections

 

Kitchen, Dining Nook behind screen at left

Central Hall

Fireplace with Entry at left and Central Hall behind

Central Hall, looking toward Entry

 

All the images shown are from the Historic American Building Survey. I have printed copies of the drawings, but not the photos, available at my eBay store. Please drop by and feel free to browse. In addition to Wright System-Built Homes B1 I have prints of many other historic American homes.

Octagon Houses - The Richards Octagon in Watertown, Wisconsin

This is part of my series on octagon houses. Links to the related posts are below and will be added to as I create more blog posts.

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

Octagon Houses - The Richards Octagon in Watertown, Wisconsin

The Richards Octagon House, Watertown, WI - Photo: Wikipedia

 The Watertown, Wisconsin, Octagon House is deservedly one of the most famous in the country. It has a very attractive plan and an even more attractive Victorian exterior. 

Photo: HABS Historic American Building Survey

 

The year was 1853. Orson Fowler had just released his book, The Octagon House, starting a craze. John Richards, lawyer, mill owner, ambitious fellow, and resident of Watertown, determined to build the largest house in Wisconsin, settled on the octagon and came up with this own plan of his own devising.

Basement & First Floor Plans

Second, Third and Cupola Plans

 

It has 4 large, elegant and well shaped rooms (a challenge within the octagon form) on the first floor. The second and third floors echo the first, but with lots and lots and lots of bedrooms. Finally, a cupola crowns it all, bringing light down into the central, dizzying spiral stair. 

 

Elevation showing wrap-around porches and cupola

The amazing central spiral stair

 

On the first and second levels porches wrap entirely around.

 

The house is built very solidly, of brick throughout. It is crowned by two bracketed cornices with bold Victorian profiles. 

 

The following photos are courtesy of the Watertown Historical Society, who own and care so well for this amazing house.

 

If I was going to build a house to operate as a B&B this would be it! (I'd add some bathrooms though.)

If you have questions about the Watertown Octagon, please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

All the images shown, aside from the last 3, are from the Historic American Building Survey. I have printed copies of the drawings, but not the photos, available at my eBay store, Historic American Homes. Here is the listing for the Watertown Octagon House. Please drop by and feel free to browse. In addition to the Watertown Octagon I have prints of many other historic American homes.

Octagon Houses - Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

 This is the start of a new series on octagon houses. I'll add links to future posts below.

The John Richards Octagon House, Watertown, Wisconsin

Octagon Houses - Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest

In 1806, almost 50 years before Orson Squire Fowler launched the octagon house craze with his book of 1848, Thomas Jefferson built this exquisite design. Sited on a moderate slope with the entry at ground level on the uphill side, the main level rises above the surrounding land, giving views in every direction.

Poplar Forest - The Garden Elevation

 

The plan orients around a central, square dining room, surrounded on 3 sides by primary living rooms, and on the fourth by an entry. The central room is a perfect cube, 20'x20'x20', with a skylight. 

Poplar Forest - Main Level Floor Plan

 

The entry elevation at ground level, and the opposite end of the octagon, raised above ground and commanding a distant view, are both framed by simple and robust Tuscan porticoes. The perpendicular faces of the octagon contain storage areas lit by arched windows. 

Poplar Forest - Entry Elevation

Poplar Forest - Garden Elevation

 

Poplar Forest - Side Elevation

Poplar Forest was recently restored to its original form after undergoing many alterations and a fire. It is open to the public. Here is a link to The Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest, which owns and operates it today. It is located roughly 7 miles from Lynchburg, Virginia.

Poplar Forest - One of the salons

Poplar Forest - the central dining room

Poplar Forest - storage with arched window

Poplar Forest - Entry

 

If you have questions about Poplar Forest, please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.

All the images shown are from the Historic American Building Survey. I have printed copies of the drawings, but not the photos, available at my eBay store. Please drop by and feel free to browse. In addition to Poplar Forest I have prints of many other historic American homes.

If you are interested to visit Poplar Forest it is open to the public and operated by The Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest. Full details are on their website. It is located roughly 7 miles from the center of Lynchburg, Virginia.

Book Reviews - "The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne", by Gilbert White

"The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne" by Gilbert White

Gilbert White (1720-1793), was an English parson and naturalist whose classic "The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne" charted the path that led to our current understanding of ecosystems and the inter-connectedness of life forms.

His writing, in the form of letters, is very detailed, perhaps a bit pedantic at times, but also full of humor and insight. The "slow bits" are very much worth pushing through. As much as he was advanced in his scientific awareness he was, however, also very much a man of his times. So if you are disturbed by such things as his willingness to shoot animals in order to obtain samples to study, you may have problems with this book in a few spots.

Gilbert White - The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne

 

This book is considered a classic in the study of natural history. However I believe it holds value beyond that. Anyone who is interested in social history of the British Isles, the Georgian period, and so forth, will get a very good, first hand glimpse of the spirit of the times, the experiences of daily life, the social hierarchy, and the curiosity about Nature and the sciences that brought about the Industrial Revolution.

Published by Folio Society -1994

 

I'm fortunate to own a lovely copy of this book, published by Folio Society. It is beautifully illustrated with engravings by Chris Wormell and has a helpful introduction by Ian Niall, who places the author and his work in the context of his times.

Typical of the beautiful illustrations throughout the book

Here's a sample of some of his very amusing and charming writing.

LETTER XXXIII

The natural term of an hog's life is little known, and the reason is plain - because it is neither profitable nor convenient to keep that turbulent animal to the full extent of its time: however, my neighbour, a man of substance, who had no occasion to study every little advantage to a nicety, kept an half-bred Bantam sow, who was as thick as she was long, and whose belly swept on the ground, till she was advanced to her seventeenth year; at which period she showed some tokens of age by the decay of her teeth and the decline of her fertility.

For about ten years this prolific mother produced two litters in the year of about ten at a time, and once above twenty at a litter; but, as there were near double the number of pigs to that of teats, many died. From long experience in the world this female was grown very sagacious and artful: when she found occasion to converse with a boar she used to open all the intervening gates, and march, by herself, up to a distant farm where one was kept; and when her purpose was served would return by the same means. At the age of about fifteen her litters began to be reduced to four or five; and such a litter she exhibited when in her fatting-pen. She proved, when fat, good bacon, juicy, and tender; the rind, or sward, was remarkably thin. At a moderate computation she was allowed to have been the fruitful parent of three hundred pigs: a prodigious instance of fecundity in so large a quadruped! She was killed in spring 1775.

If you enjoyed reading this and would like to participate in my Facebook group Historic Home Plans Group please come on by. All are welcome.

La Chapelle de Saint Saint Démet, Plozévet, Finistère

 La Chapelle de Saint Démet, Plozévet, Finistère

The chapel dedicated to Saint Démet, set in a small park, rests in a gentle depression, a few feet below the roads that now surround it. A few yards to the north-east a small natural spring emerges from the ground. The waters disappear underground again, flowing around and under the chapel, draining to the south.

The Chapel of Saint Démet, west front

 

This is a spot of water, a spot where people gathered since time immemorial, and where they continue to gather today.

The Chapel of Saint Démet

 

The chapel that stands today has its origins in the 13th century. All that remains of this earliest structure is a row of half-round arches resting on columns.

13th century arcade

 

The west front and the south portal date from the 15th century. The south portal has a unique feature, an opening at its base that reveals the flow of water from the spring to the north-east.

South Porch with spring at lower left

 

The majority of the remaining structure dates from the 16th century. The stonework is from the typical local granite and the interior vaults are of wood. The nave and transept are quite wide compared to other chapels in the region, with large tracery filled arches, giving the interior a more spacious and brighter appearance. 

From the nave towards the apse

From the north transept towards the nave and south porch

 

There are three sculptures of note inside, one of Saint Démet as bishop, a Piéta of the 15th century and a 16th century statue of Saint Alar. There are also two highly remarkable baptismal fonts of ancient and unknown date.

 

The chapel remains central to the life of the village of  Plozévet still today.

The park enclosure surrounding the chapel contains several beautiful and unusual monuments.

First of note is the ancient calvary, a feature found adjacent to many churches in the Finistère region. This cavalry is surmounted by a statue of the crucified Christ, with angels collecting his blood in chalices.

War monuments by René Quillivic

 

Next to the calvary are monuments to locals of Plozévet who died in the two world wars. These monuments are the work of the celebrated Breton sculptor René Quillivic, who was born in the neighboring town of Plouhinec. Quillivic expressed his pacifist ideals through monuments to the victims of the world wars, by recording the sacrifices and personal losses that war brought to the lives of all.

Les Sonneurs, by René Quillivic

 

At the other end of the park can be found another sculpture of Quillivic, this one a delightful celebration of Breton music as performed by two men in local dress, playing the bombard and the binioù bras, a form of  bagpipes. 

(16 September, 2020)

Patterson-Palmer House, Orange County, North Carolina - before 1800

Patterson-Palmer House, Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina

This description is largely from the notes available at the Historic American Building Survey (HABS).

Front Elevation (HABS photo)

Prints of the architectural plans are available at the Historic American Homes eBay store.

The wood and brick Palmer House (before 1800), in Orange County, North Carolina, resembles the Williamsburg houses. Its interior is spacious and elegant.Unlike the typical southern plan with a central hall stretching from front to back of the house, it has an unusual lateral front hall. Built over a brick raised basement the house itself is wood framed with clapboard siding. The principal floor has two large rooms and a small room, in addition to the large entry hall. The attic with dormers is at present two large rooms.

Entry Hall (HABS photo)

There are some indications that the house may not be all of a piece and may have been enlarged once, with the south-east portion being the older part. Built over a full basement constructed of brick, the main body of the house is a braced timber frame. There are two brick chimneys.

Main Floor Plan - Patterson-Palmer House

The plans divide simply, with two principal rooms on each floor.

Attic Floor Plan - Patterson-Palmer House

 

For those of you interested in building a historically inspired house, these plans could easily be adapted to a flat to moderately sloping site. The first floor could be arranged a number of ways, depending on your needs. The small room could serve as a kitchen alcove off of a family room. Or it could be kept separate and used as a small first floor bedroom. The attic could comfortably accommodate 2 bedrooms and 1 to 2 bathrooms. On a sloping site a ‘walk out’ basement could provide additional living space. Its exterior dimensions measure roughly 34’x45’-6”. This compact, efficient house, with the appearance of being a single story, would be equally comfortable in town, suburb or country setting.

Building Section - Patterson-Palmer House

 

Printed copies of the HABS plans are available at my eBay store.

Details - Patterson-Palmer House

 

The first purchaser of the lot was Francis Nash, a Revolutionary War hero. Nash, a lawyer, rose to the rank of brigadier General during the war and died on October 7, 1777, from wounds he received at the Battle of Germantown, on October 4th. The towns of Nashville, TN and Nashville, NC, as well as Nash County, NC were named in his honor. 

Other prominent North Carolinians associated with the home were James Patterson, William Waters, James Palmer, and Peter Mallett. Behind the house there were various buildings including a grist mill and a saw mill and the area was known for a time as "Mallett's Old Mill". By 1924 all those buildings had disappeared. 

I found this photo dating from around 1900, of the river and one of the old mill buildings, at this site.

Eno River at Mallett's Old Mill

Prints of the architectural plans are available at the Historic American Homes eBay store.