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Wright Studies
Ray and Mimi Brandes Residence, Sammamish (Issaquah),
Washington (1952) (S.350)

Living in the Seattle area, I have had a few opportunities to visit the Brandes Residence. It is one of only three in the Puget Sound area, occupying three wooded acres on the Sammamish Plateau.  While only 1600 square feet, Wright’s design of space gives it a sensing of a much larger house.  The addition of the Workshop and office added another 300 square feet. Ray Brandes owned a construction company, and built the home as a showpiece. When construction questions arose, Brandes was able to call on Milton Stricker, an apprentice who had settled in the Seattle area.  Due to cost over runs, Brandes was unable to complete many of the details. Jack Cullen, Ray Brandes’ stepson and current owner meticulously completed many of the unfinished details, replacing cedar with redwood and installing the perforated cut-wood light screens overlaying the clerestory windows. There are many classic Wright details. Rose colored concrete blocks, tinted horizontally raked mortar, inward tilted concrete block walls. Cherokee red poured concrete floors on a four foot grid system, design with radiant heat. There

  are mitered glass corners.  Wood framed floor to ceiling glass doors that opens outward. Horizontal bands of windows.  There are double clerestory windows with perforated cut-wood light screens. The hidden entrance at the rear of the home.
       I had the opportunity to view the interior of the home, but due to the number of others touring the home at the same time, I was unable to photograph the interior. It includes manyexceptional examples of Wright designed furniture and built-ins. There are beautifully designed living room chairs and the dining room table and chairs, double clerestory windows and of course a large centrally located stone fireplace. Mimi Brandes passed away, and Ray married Jack Cullen’s mother, Helen Cullen, in 1966. When Ray and Helen retired and moved to California in 1984, Jack purchased the house from them. Jack Cullen and his wife Deborah Vick raised their two children, now grown, in the home. Ray Brandes later constructed the Tracy residence in Normandy Park.   January 2000
     

Original drawing of the Brandes Residence.
 

Detail from original drawing.

 
Exterior Photographs By Douglas Steiner, January 2000
Living in the Seattle area, I have had a few opportunities to visit the Brandes Residence. There are many classic Wright details. Rose colored concrete blocks, tinted horizontally raked mortar, inward tilted concrete block walls. Cherokee red poured concrete floors on a four foot grid system, design with radiant   heat. There are mitered glass corners.  Wood framed floor to ceiling glass doors that opens outward. Horizontal bands of windows.  There are double clerestory windows with perforated cut-wood light screens. The hidden entrance at the rear of the home.
 
 
Interior Photographs By Alan Weintraub

I had the opportunity to view the interior of the home, but due to the number of others touring the home at the same time, I was unable to photograph the interior.  The interior

  photographs are courtesy Courtesy and Copyright Alan Weintraub, www.arcaid.co.uk  E-mail: arcaid@arcaid.co.uk 
 
 
Floor plan copyright 1993, “The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion” Storrer, William Allin, page 371.
 
 
Text and Photographs by Douglas M. Steiner, Copyright 2000
 

 

Related Books
"Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph 1951-1959", Text: Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks;
Edited and Photographed: Futagawa, Yukio, 1990, page 40-41.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion”, Storrer, William Allin, 1993, page 371.
"Frank Lloyd Wright and the Meaning of Material" Patterson, 1994, page 126, 148.
"Frank Lloyd Wright: The Western Work", Legler, Dixie, 1999, page 64-69.
"The Vision of Frank Lloyd Wright" Heinz, 2000, page 246, 248.
"Essential Frank Lloyd Wright" Knight, 2001, page 210-211.
"Frank Lloyd Wright: Inside and Out" Maddex, 2001, page 182-183.
"Life & Works of Frank Lloyd Wright" Heinz, 2002, page 248-249.
 
Related Images and Articles
(Note, due to the fact that the internet is constantly changing, and items that
are posted change, I have copied the text, but give all the credits available.)
A) Interior images, Courtesy and copyright Alan Weintraub
B) "Historic local home that's a lesson in making a small house a work of art".   By Lawrence Cheek, Published Tuesday, January 30, 2007
C) "Frank Lloyd Wright home for sale in Sammamish".  By Wendy Giroux, Editor.  June 06, 2008
D) " For Sale: Frank Lloyd Wright Designed “Brandes Residence".  By Jack Cullen and Deborah Vick
E)  "Bibliography: Frank Lloyd Wright Designed “Brandes House” 1952".  By Cullen and Vick
 
 
 

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