{"id":248952,"date":"2025-10-30T00:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T00:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/248952\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T00:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T00:06:09","slug":"a-tour-of-a-utopian-home-designed-by-frank-lloyd-wright-presented-by-his-last-living-client","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/248952\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tour of a Utopian Home Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Presented by His Last Living Client"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Amer\u00adi\u00adcan is a tricky word. It can refer to every\u00adone and every\u00adthing of or per\u00adtain\u00ading to all the coun\u00adtries of North Amer\u00adi\u00adca \u2014 and poten\u00adtial\u00adly South Amer\u00adi\u00adca as well \u2014 but it\u2019s com\u00admon\u00adly used with spe\u00adcif\u00adic regard to the Unit\u00aded States. For Frank Lloyd Wright<\/a>, lin\u00adguis\u00adtic as well as archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal per\u00adfec\u00adtion\u00adist, this was an unten\u00adable state of affairs. To his mind, the newest civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion of the New World, a vast land that offered man the rare chance to remake him\u00adself, need\u00aded an adjec\u00adtive all its own. And so, repur\u00adpos\u00ading a demonym pro\u00adposed by geo\u00adg\u00adra\u00adph\u00ader James Duff Law in the nine\u00adteen-hun\u00addreds, Wright began to refer to his not just archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal but also broad\u00adly cul\u00adtur\u00adal project as Uson\u00adian.<\/p>\n

Wright com\u00adplet\u00aded the first of his so-called \u201cUson\u00adian hous\u00ades,\u201d the Her\u00adbert and Kather\u00adine Jacobs House in Madi\u00adson, Wis\u00adcon\u00adsin, in the mid\u00addle of the Great Depres\u00adsion. Chal\u00adlenged to \u201ccre\u00adate a decent home for $5,000,\u201d says the Frank Lloyd Wright Foun\u00adda\u00adtion\u2019s web site<\/a>, the archi\u00adtect seized the chance to real\u00adize \u201ca new\u00a0afford\u00adable archi\u00adtec\u00adture that freed itself from Euro\u00adpean con\u00adven\u00adtions and respond\u00aded to the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan land\u00adscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

This first Uson\u00adian house and its 60 or so suc\u00adces\u00adsors \u201crelat\u00aded direct\u00adly to the earth, unim\u00adped\u00aded by a foun\u00adda\u00adtion, front porch, pro\u00adtrud\u00ading chim\u00adney, or dis\u00adtract\u00ading shrub\u00adbery. Glass cur\u00adtain walls and nat\u00adur\u00adal mate\u00adri\u00adals like wood, stone and brick fur\u00adther tied the house to its envi\u00adron\u00adment.\u201d In Pleas\u00adantville, New York, there even exists a Uso\u00adnia His\u00adtoric Dis\u00adtrict, three of whose 47 homes were designed by Wright him\u00adself.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The BBC Glob\u00adal video at the top of the post<\/a> offers a tour of one of the Uso\u00adnia His\u00adtoric Dis\u00adtric\u00adt\u2019s hous\u00ades led by the sole sur\u00adviv\u00ading orig\u00adi\u00adnal own\u00ader, the 100-year-old Roland Reis\u00adley. The Archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal Digest video above<\/a> fea\u00adtures Reis\u00adley\u2019s home as well as the Bertha and Sol Fried\u00adman House, which Wright dubbed Toy\u00adhill. Both have been kept as adher\u00adent as pos\u00adsi\u00adble to the vision that inspired them, and that was meant to inspire a renais\u00adsance in Amer\u00adi\u00adcan civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion. The Uson\u00adian homes may have fall\u00aden short of Wright\u2019s Utopi\u00adan hopes, but they did have a cer\u00adtain influ\u00adence on post\u00adwar sub\u00adurb-builders, and have much enriched the lives of their more appre\u00adcia\u00adtive inhab\u00adi\u00adtants. The cen\u00adte\u00adnar\u00adi\u00adan Reis\u00adley cred\u00adits his star\u00adtling youth\u00adful\u00adness to the man-made and nat\u00adur\u00adal beau\u00adty of his domes\u00adtic sur\u00adround\u00adings \u2014 but then, this last of the Uso\u00adni\u00adans also hap\u00adpens to be one of the rare clients who could get along with Frank Lloyd Wright.<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

What Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Unusu\u00adal Win\u00addows Tell Us About His Archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal Genius<\/a><\/p>\n

12 Famous Frank Lloyd Wright Hous\u00ades Offer Vir\u00adtu\u00adal Tours: Hol\u00adly\u00adhock House, Tal\u00adiesin West, Falling\u00adwa\u00adter & More<\/a><\/p>\n

How Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Archi\u00adtec\u00adture Evolved Over 70 Years and Changed Amer\u00adi\u00adca<\/a><\/p>\n

Frank Lloyd Wright Designs an Urban Utopia: See His Hand-Drawn Sketch\u00ades of Broad\u00adacre City (1932)<\/a><\/p>\n

How Frank Lloyd Wright Became Frank Lloyd Wright: A Video Intro\u00adduc\u00adtion<\/a><\/p>\n

Based in Seoul, Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. His projects include the Sub\u00adstack newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the book\u00a0The State\u00adless City: a Walk through 21st-Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Los Ange\u00adles.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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