Inside a Rare Period Correct Frank Lloyd Wright Home | Home Tour

I grew my love for architecture out of I am pays East Wing in the National Gallery is when I remember piece of architecture that really made me feel so different and made me stop and realize like what architecture could do that was the first piece of architecture that I really remember as changing or making me pursue that experience again the original clients dr. George and Millie a blonde were from the Midwest and they moved to Bakersfield in the late 50s and then in 58 they rode frankly write a letter telling him that they were interested in him designing a house for them they were gonna set up home and in Bakersfield and raise their family here and after pleading with him he agreed to do it they had purchased a piece of land and he suggested that wasn't large enough so they bought the lot next door as well so they were really an ideal client we're really really fortunate that they were as informed well-heeled and listened to right so they worked with right and Taliesin West throughout 58 and went and visited and signed off on the drawings in February of 59 and then right passed away in April of 59 another stroke of genius on the clients part as they retain Taliesin West to oversee the construction that made it what it is today which is a really a full-fledged right also were a great client in that they let Wright design all the furniture most of the furniture was built in 61 when the house was completed the furniture here in the living room they had run out of money when the house was built in 61 but again in a testament to their passion for Wright and for the home in 1992 when they had funds they went back to tally yes and instead we'd like to have that let me move furniture built and so were the beneficiaries of of them doing that 30 years after they had the home built they had this for the furniture and Taliesin still have the drawings that's right historically now sitting in 2020 one of the things that's really unique about the home is it's one owner so and it's not only just one family it's not one family it was only the mother and the father and they raised their children and they're the only people that ever lived here so it wasn't passed down it was passed down to the children but there were seven children that were raised in them there was some circumstance that prevented one of the children from buying it even though they were really enthusiastic about it so they put it on the market so in fact other than the original family no one's lived here and I think that makes it a very unique thing the owner purchased the home initially with the intent of spending time here having it as a weekend home he he lives in Los Angeles area and had a deep love for right has a deep passion for architecture he's very adamant that the house remains preserved he's working to create a foundation to the house totally unaltered and make it available as a resource for the community and for you know California at large has a an unaltered Frank Lloyd Wright property the house while it is very well documented from a Taliesin perspective and from the owner have all all the original documents in them that sort of thing it hasn't been published a lot like the Los Angeles homes I think part of that is due to the fact that it's in Bakersfield and people don't think of right and Bakersfield necessarily they don't think of architecture in Bakersfield and it's it's a private home so it hasn't really been open although the original clients used it for a lot of fundraisers for the Art Museum in Bakersfield for Cal State Bakersfield for Bakersfield College they were very philanthropic very involved with and the current owner wants to keep that spirit going as well but historically it hasn't been photographed and published a lot what sometimes gets lost in these conversations about great architects are the great clients and this is truly a case where they had a right had a really good client who had the means who had the education who had the understanding that Wright was a master and the day we're going to be working with him but they were going to listen to him and they did and we're really fortunate to have had a client like that in Bakersfield to have executed a project all the way through that's right maintained it that way again we were fortunate not only we had the right client in the beginning but we have the right steward now who had the means had the intelligence had the concern to maintain it and keep it original and my conversation with him was about the future of the house was it only takes one bad owner to destroy it future of the home is really bright and we have a really great benefactor in the and the current owner who wants to see it placed in a foundation so I'm working in conjunction with him to create a foundation that will even accelerate or maybe publicize the house even better and in a more concrete fashion who I'm working with an educational consultant to create curriculum for high school kids to be able to come through the house in a more meaningful way and then reach out to beggar's of college which has an architectural program with Cal State Bakersfield which has embarked a fine arts department an art history department again keep the house alive in an in the intent and in the spirit of the original client and so maybe I'll even have a third the image of Bakersfield or move just a little bit [Music]

Channel: OPEN SPACE

Views: 188,444

Keywords: Archiecture, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Case Study Homes, taliesin west, Taliesin, Architecture Digest, Atomic Ranch, Dwell, Interior Design, Design, Gregory ain, richard neutra, edward killingsworth, Thornton Abell, Kemper Nomland, Whitney R. Smith, david dobrik, Rodney Walker, Craig Ellwood, C. Buff, C. Straub, D. Hensman, Pierre Koenig, Raphael Soriano, cliff may, eichler, joseph eichler, A. Quincy Jones, Frederick E. Emmons, usonian, Falling Water, Bakersfield, California

Id: rAmeoNYO9Tc

Length: 6min 32sec (392 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020