YEAR DESCRIPTION ST# ARTIFACTS 1894 Roloson Rowhouses Baluster. By the late 30s these houses had long been forgotten as Wright's work. They were rediscovered in 1940 when Grant Carpenter Manson "happened upon them while driving along Calumet Avenue looking for some early Adler and Sullivan buildings". According to William Storrer, Robert W. Roloson purchased four rowhouses and commissioned Wright to remodel them in 1894. This was Wright’s 26th project (Storrer 026). Manson indicates that Roloson commissioned Wright to "design the houses... on property which he wanted to improve. The idea of erecting identical row houses..." Henry-Russell Hitchcock, "In The Nature of Material" Page 108, says they were "Remodeled as apartments". This baluster is very similar to the design used in the Nathan G. Moore Residence (1895). Wright often used identical or similar forms in commissions of approximately the same date. An example is the same wall sconce used in the Little Residence, Peoria (1902) and in the Dana Residence (1902). In 1981, fire gutted the interior and the structure was neglected. Under the assumption that the building would be torn down, the building’s ornamental items were scavenged. "Robert W. Roloson Houses" was published in 1979. Grant Carpenter Manson writes extensively about the Rolson Rowhouses in “Frank Lloyd Wright to 1910", 1958. Pp 69-71. Robin Langley Sommer also wrights about it in "Frank Lloyd Wright, American Architect for the Twentieth Century" 1993, Pp 36-37. 8" in diameter. 0016.01.0606 1902/1990 Dana House Roof Tile. Original 1902 clay tile removed during the 1981 restoration, and silk screened with the Prairie Sumac window design. Illustration by R. Raymond, 1983. Silk screened in September 1990. #31 out of 275. 6 x 14. 1990.45.0406 1924 Ennis House Concrete Block - 16 x 16. This was purchased at a garage sale in LA. It had been stored for quite some time, it was covered with spider webs. I added the rebar to the display to show how the blocks were tied together. (Excellent close-up picture of block in "Frank Lloyd Wright Design", Costantino, Page 15) 1924.00.0900 1936 
Original Bricks from the S.C. Johnson & Sons Administration Building (1936) (S.237). Five straight and two curved. More than 200 sizes and shapes of bricks were used to form the angles and curves designed by Wright. For the color he specified Cherokee Red. The brick was trimmed with a lighter colored Kasota stone. The mortar in the horizontal joints was raked. The Great Workroom covers nearly one-half acre. Johnson chose a friend Ben Wiltscheck to build the new building (Frank Lloyd Wright and the Johnson Wax Building, Lipman 1986, p32.4). After Johnson and Wiltscheck rejected the brick factory in Racine, Wright selected the Streator Brick Company in Streator, Illinois (p38.1). In 1947 construction began on the 14-floor Research Tower. In 1947 construction began on the 14-floor Research Tower. In 2007 restoration to the Administration Building was initiated and these were carefully salvaged and cleaned. 9 x 3. 0404.13.0907 0404.14.0907 0404.15.0907 0404.16.0907 0404.17.0907 0404.18.0907 0404.19.0907 1939 Pauson House Remnant. Concrete foundation remnants from the Pauson Residence. Constructed in 1939, destroyed by fire in 1942. “Desert Rubblestone” construction. For nearly 40 years the concrete foundation, walls and fireplace remained in ghostly ruins. These were destroyed in 1980 to make way for an extension of 32nd Street. Architect Edward M. Jones salvaged the 70 ton fireplace chimney mass and relocated it 200 yards to the south and incorporated it in the entrance to Alta Vista Park Estates where the Boomer and Benjamin Adelman residences are located. Chimney mass measures 9 x 11' at the base and is 26' tall. A) 11.5 x 8 x 3.5. B) 11 x 5 x 2.25. 0501.07.0404 1958 Guggenheim Elevator Sample: W.S. Tyler Company. Actual Enameled metal sample (Color: Rust) for the Guggenheim Museum elevators. Remarks: Solid color Rust enamel for the wainscot, coved corners, transom and car doors. (Also for ceiling & Lt Grill.) Approved and Initialed by William Wesley Peters. Approved 3/5/58. Envelope plus two sides of sample. 1958.00.0502 1981 Dana House Frieze. Plaster of Paris section of exterior frieze created from original mold. Created during the 1981 restoration of the home. 5.5 x 6.5. 1981.11.0406 1982 Ennis House Concrete Block Prop. Plaster reproduction of the Wright designed concrete block used in Deckard’s Apartment in the Movie “Blade Runner”. Produced by Michael Deeley, Directed by Ridley Scott. The Ennis Residence was designed in 1923. Blade runner was produced in 1982. It depicts Los Angeles in 2019. It is a tribute to the timelessness of Wright’s designs, that a design from 1923 could characterize 2019. 15.5 x 15.5. 1982.31.0707 2000 (Side Note) Sullivanesque Frieze Wall Relief. Louis Henri Sullivan (1856-1924), whose early designs for steel-frame skyscraper construction led to the emergence of the skyscraper as the distinctive American building type. He exerted an enormous influence on 20th-century American architecture. His most famous pupil was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who acknowledged Sullivan as his master. This panel is a reproduction of the Sullivanesque original which is part of a frieze from the Carnegie Library in Rochelle, IL. This is a fiberglass resin reproduction with an aged stone finish. According to “The Prairie School Review” Vol XIV, page 15, note 66, Gordon Orr indicates that in “the 1928 catalog of the Architectural Decorating Company (ADC) of Chicago, this is Design No. 3024A”. This relief was used on the Hoquiam (1911), Merrill (1911), Flagg-Rochelle (1912), Detroit Lakes (1913) and Barron (1913) Libraries. Even though this is a reproduction from the 1912 Flagg-Rochelle Library, it was used in the earlier 1911 Hoquiam and Merrill Libraries. The ADC catalog does not specifically indicate whether Sullivan designed this piece. A second frieze was used on the Evansville (1908) and Tomah (1916). In a conversation with Bill Hasbrouck, I asked him his impression about the frieze. His response was that it could very well have been Sullivan because the detail was so close to his work. He may have designed it as a side job, but did not have it attributed to him. I would agree, but would add that if Claude & Starck could design building so similar to a Wright, that someone else could have designed the frieze to look like a Sullivan. I have not found any additional information to date that would verify that Sullivan actually designed the piece. 2000.45.0200 2004 Samuel Freeman House Concrete Block (S.216) (1923). The Samuel and Harriet Freeman House is one of the four textile-block houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in California. During construction, dirt was mixed in with the concrete to give it a more natural look but the compound proved to be unstable. Wright was out of the country at the time working on the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. He dispatched his associate, Rudolf Schindler to come up with a solution. Schindler filled the gaps in the textile blocks with mortar as a means to stabilize them, however the changes compromised the design aesthetic and infuriated Wright. Schindler's "transgressions" brought about the end of their relationship. In 1986, the house which the Freemans lived in for 61 years was given to the University of Southern California School of Architecture. The house was badly damaged by the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. The home is under going a major restoration. This block is poured from the original mold for the restoration. 16 x 16". 2004.37.0207 2004.38.0207
©Copyright 2006
