Why did we go to Wausau? To me, and probably to you, Wausau is an insurance company, not so much a real place. But it's a pretty big city, by Wisconsin standards, and there have been enough wealthy people there over the years -- dealing in lumber and insurance -- that there are some excellent houses. We went on an architectural tour.
The best thing on the tour was the Charles and Dorothy Manson House, built by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1938-41:
There was another Wright house, the Duey-Wright House, done in 1957, shortly before Wright's death:
I also liked the Aytchmonde and Leigh Yawkey Woodson House, designed by George Washington Maher, 1913-14. Here's a detail:
There were tons of cool details inside all the houses, but, unfortunately, photography was only allowed outside.
Here's the lovely arbor outside the Cyrus and Alice Yawkey House:
We saw a couple Wright-inspired houses built in the last decade. They're at the bottom of the page at the link. We loved one and scorned the other. The Letarski house was designed by a guy who had really internalized Wright's ideas and had an artist's feeling for what he was doing. He lived in the house with his family. The Sorenson House was built by an architect who said he was given free rein by his clients -- two doctors -- and he had collected elements from three Wright designs and fitted them together, but it didn't have a believable, genuine spirit to it. It didn't make sense. The difference between the two houses was quite striking. I felt as though the Sorenson House could be an exam for architecture students: What do you count as mistakes and why?
I hope your day was as Usonian as ours.
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My mother grew up in Oak Park, Ill. around those FLW houses, and they took that tour a couple of years ago. She talked the bus driver into going by her old house while they were at it (unfortunately, they didn't have one of his houses - but it was only a block off the tour).
You're totally right about the two modern houses. The last one looks so Disneyesque. I wouldn't have even realized that it was Wright inspired if it wasn't on the link. The Liturski one captures the horizontal elements that are so essential to Wright's early design.
Downtownlad: The differences on the inside were even greater.
Dave: I like houses that are relatively small but so well designed they feel great because of their compactness.
Dave: I agree with you about the way some of the Usonian houses are small in an oppressive way. The house tells the family how to live. It forces you into the rooms it wants you to be in and dictates a very 1950s lifestyle. I considered buying such a house once, a house I thought was beautiful, but I freaked out at the thought of living there.
My statement that seems contradictory makes sense. The idea is to use the space well, to use design not size to get what you want. That's what impresses me in architecture.
Would you tell us again which camera you use, when you go on these kinds of road trips? I'm in the market for a pocket-size digital thing for traveling, but with zoom capability. Any suggestions, if you don't already own it?
Ricardo, you can click on the photo and get to the Flickr page which has the detail on this camera. I used a full-size SLR camera for these pictures, a Nikon D-50. I'm in the market for another pocket camera. The one I carry around all the time is a Sony, and older model that you wouldn't buy today, but I've been happy with Sony.
Interesting post. You make me homesick for the Midwest! We lived in WI and then Oak Park for a while, where I was in my friend's wedding at Unity Temple,
the church Wright designed.
(And if you ever end up in Wauwatosa again, stop at our old hangout, Gilles , for onion rings and a shake.)
Ann: Thanks, that's very helpful. I'm still in the film era (Canon A2E SLR as my principal camera) mainly because it gives exceptional low-light and high-speed capabilities. And I use pocket Olympus's as backup for traveling. But it's time for me to go digital, and I've always thought the quality of your images was extremely good. Thanks again. It gives me a good place to start.
It's too late now anyway. The houses were open to the public -- at a price -- for one day. You have to wait years for the opportunity to go inside.
And even then, you can't just poke around. You're led in groups with docents right there all the time. It was not possible to just violate rules. A docent would have intervened.
And, man, did I get sick of listening to docents! I want to look around and discover the details, not have someone tell me what to look at. It's so tiresome after a while. It combines some of my least favorite things: being physically controlled, having an aesthetic experience marred by sound that is not aesthetically pleasing, having someone else's ideas expressed while I'm in a position to observe something so that I'm deprived of the chance to form a direct opinion, hearing about a subject from someone who is going to present everything in a positive light with no edge at all -- or, it turns out, any humor. What if you don't like the house and want to move on quickly? What if you love the house and want time to absorb the soul of the place? These are all really nice people, devoting their time to something they love, but, really, can't an unguided tour be an option, so isn't it bad of me to dislike them? See, that's another thing I don't like? Having to feel bad for not wanted to spend time with a perfectly nice person.
Sorry for the typo. Should be "not wanting..."
Waukesha, Waunakee, Waupaca, Waupun, Wausau, Wausaukee, Wautoma, Wauzeeka, not to mention Wapino, Wascott, Washburn, Watertown, and a whole bunch of Washington's.
You're absolutely right; not much room for error in Wisconsin.
Mary: Yeah, you're right about that. I've been in some historical buildings, some of them personal residences, where no one lived there anymore but I still had to be with a docent the whole time. I accept that some kind of guarding is necessary, but the endless talking and requirement of sociability is oppressive -- not horribly, but still....
In Sarah Vowell's book "Assassination Vacation," she makes a big deal out of how she'd really like to be a docent in a historical place.
The place where I most appreciated the tour guides: Alcatraz. They were U.S. Park Rangers and really good.
Ricardo: Yeah. It's just wah-wah-wah-wah -- like a baby crying -- around here.
And you don't have to live in a McMansion to have either well designed space of sufficient room to spread out.
A McMansion is by definition poorly designed. How can you have all the unused space and good design all at once? (Who ever uses the Formal Dining Room or the little room right off the Foyer?)
Note: I skip Parade of Homes this year. Again. "Green" homes with 5000+ square feet? No.
I owned the Manson house from 1975 until 1980 or so. It was a lttle dark and crowded, but my how that great room saw some parties. I'm very happy to have had the experience of living in a FLW original, a once in a lifetime event.
Buzz
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