A full-page ad for American System-Built homes that Hamilton finally tracked down in the March 25, 1917, edition of the State Journal was the “missing link.”...
“Less cost – that is one amazing feature of the American System, that these beautiful homes, all Frank Lloyd Wright designs, of guaranteed materials and price, can be built for less money than the ordinary house of similar size and materials,” the ad stated.
October 7, 2015
Another Frank Lloyd Wright house is discovered in Madison.
The house is right there where we've always seen it, on West Lawn Avenue, but it's just been figured out that it is "the 16th known example of the American System-Built House, a short-lived venture by Wright meant to provide affordable housing through predesigned homes built with factory-cut materials."
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21 comments:
We are pretty sure my house came from a Sears catalog, Heavily supplemented with pilfered packing material from a factory in Montreal, judging by the logos and address info on many of the sub floor planks.
His Slumming period.
How did 'Lloyd' come about to begin with the same letter twice?
I am Llaslo.
We had two Wright houses near my school in Chicago when I was growing up. Both "Prairie Style."
Poor lady. She is going to make a flock of new friends who will tell her everything she had to do to her house.
@Tim: I envy you, Sears homes can be treasures! Here's a blog on them: www.searshomes.org
"Poor lady. She is going to make a flock of new friends who will tell her everything she had to do to her house."
Seems like the renovation are already done (some by a prior owner).
@Tim, we almost bought a Sears house in Chapel Hill, NC right near the medical center. They owners had bought it from the original owners and had pictures of the rail cars being unloaded, etc, etc. It was a treasure.
We blinked as it was (a) uninsulated, (b) had a sketchy foundation, and (c) shared a driveway with the house next door's four teenage drivers.
Probably not buying that house cost me $500K in property appreciation, but the house we bought had a usable driveway, so there is that.
-XC
Uninsulated and sketchy foundation, check. A lot of work has been done, including a lot by us, but it still retains a charm.
Looking at the site, I can see that the person who told us that didn't know what they were talking about. Era is right 1927, and the style is right. It resembles those Montgomery Ward homes, but it doesn't have any stamping indicating assembly instructions.
It is a charming and unique style though, I am betting that is what elicited the comment.
@tim - We ended up buying a 1957 modern ranch that had been stick built by a local developer then (we thought) gently extended and updated by another builder owner. It was quite a learning experience.
The big neg the Sears house had for us was the classic 4x4 design - it was right before we got married and the missus and I discovered that we liked more open spaces and a little funk.
Of course, for our sins, we now live in a gated community of Stepford houses in Florida. But we have a pool.
-XC
These "System-built" homes were originally called Usonian homes by Wright.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usonia
Frank Lloyd Wright, the "Renoir" of residential architects.
These "System-built" homes were originally called Usonian homes by Wright.
The Usonian houses came later -- in the thirties.
Who knew Malvina Reynolds was writing about FLW?
For me, much of the enjoyment of that article was in the owner - what a charming lady! She does look right in that house.
Frank Lloyd Wright structures are interesting to look at. Unfortunately his stuff is built like crap.
The problem was not with kit houses -- I live in one from 1921, a Gordon VanTine out of Davenport, Iowa, and it remains largely excellent after a century. Sears, Montgomery-Ward, and others also succeeded (for decades) where Wright failed.
That's largely because Wright sucked as a designer and architect. The ceilings in this farmhouse are 9'3". In many Wright designs they are 6'10". Wright was attempting to be avant-garde, so much so that his Falling Waters is Falling Apart. He did no better with his kit-houses. They were *not* his idea -- he simply failed at implementing the already-popular concept in a manner or with a product anybody wanted.
I grew up in a Sears Kit House Columbine model.
Ours had the stairs reversed to allow access to the upstairs directly from the side door so that there was a second dwelling unit. The basement was accessed from the hallway. The kitchen was also expanded by removing the wall between the kitchen and the hall. The kitchen then had doors to both the dining room and the living room.
It's since been completely remodeled and added onto by a new owner.
Mac McConnell, not only are they built like shot they look like shit. FLW, another modern "master" that only the critics love.
The house looks pleasant and habitable. After one hunded years one would guess that most of the design flaws have been straightened out. The article doesn't say, but does this enhance the house's value in some exaggerated way? Would someone pay a million or so extra to live in a FLW home?
For the custom homes, yes. And it is not a one-time payment. They are also murder to maintain.
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