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Wright in Racine
January 2009
Tuesday January 27, 2009
Posted by: mhertzberg at 4:38PM CST on January 27, 2009
Photos (c) Mark Hertzberg. Text (c) Mark Hertzberg and Marshall Jones. Thank you to Eric O'Malley of the PrairieMod web site for suggesting this title for this piece.
 Take a look at the people in line with you at the next Wright Plus, Wright and Like, or Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy home tour. Most of us look alike. We are likely white, educated, and have some disposable income. I am on the board of Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin organization. These characteristics describe much of our membership and the people we see at our events. One of our challenges is to diversify our membership and customer base. One reason is for selfish economic reasons. We need as much money as we can get to help with our restoration of the properties we own on West Burnham Street in Milwaukee. But, a more important reason to diversify is because it is the right thing thing to do. ***** I grew up in New York City. We didn’t go to the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty as children, because they were part of everyday life in the city. That stuff was for tourists. I have long had the feeling it is the same in Racine, my adopted city. Four thousand people a year tour the SC Johnson Administration Building. I would guess that few people from Racine have been inside the building unless they work for SC Johnson.
That is what motivated me to push for a program to bring Racine’s school children to visit this great landmark. I wanted to help expose Racine’s children to our world-famous architecture, and maybe, just maybe, get one student interested in pursuing a career in architecture. The program started five years ago, with the help of Leadership Racine (a program though the local chamber of commerce) and SC Johnson. Now all fifth grade classes can tour the Administration Building after viewing the DVD which the company produced for us based on my “Wright in Racine” illustrated lecture. Their visit is followed by several days of classroom activities geared to Wright.
 The Johnson campus is near what are commonly referred to as “inner city” neighborhoods. I knew we had a winner when a teacher told me that he overheard one of this students tell a friend, “I’ve walked past this building everyday on the way to school. I never knew what it was until today.”
 ***** I had not thought about the program for awhile. It came to mind recently after I received a letter from Marshall Jones who had just read my “Wright in Racine” book. Jones’ letter is reproduced below, with his permission. His thoughts about Wright’s work are insightful, especially for someone without any of the Wright network shared by most readers of Wright web sites. I had sent him an inscribed copy of my book after I interviewed him for a book about the criminal justice system. Wright did not come up in our conversation, but I decided to send him the book after he told me how much he enjoys reading. He devours everything he can get his hands on at his local library. Jones did not get my book the first time I tried to send it to him. It was termed “contraband” and returned to me because it had been mailed by me, and not by my publisher or a bookstore. You see, there are very strict rules at the Waupun Correctional Institution where Jones is serving two consecutive life terms for a double murder that happened during a tavern robbery. Jones is 27, just a month younger than one of my sons. He was a 3.0 student until he dropped out of high school at the age 15 after a family dispute. He notes, ironically, that he had wanted to be an FBI agent. Jones is an articulate, affable young man. He knows how and where his life took bad turns. He does not duck responsibility for what he did. He knows he will never live outside of Waupun, but he is determined to make the most of every day he serves his sentence. That is why he reads.
 Marshall Jones, November 17, 2008
Marshall Jones will never be able to join us on a Wright and Like or Wright Plus home tour. That does not mean he cannot appreciate Wright’s work. Put aside the fact that Marshall Jones is behind bars. There are Marshall Joneses in everyone’s community: people, perhaps of color like him, people who are not part of our typical Wright circles of friends. That does not mean they cannot appreciate Wright’s work. Mr. Hertzberg, This correspondence is to thank you for sending me the book you’ve written. I tore into the pages almost immediately and it was a good read. I had no idea that Wright designed so many homes and businesses in Racine. He was quite arrogant and while his work was in a class of its own, his arrogance wouldn’t allow him to produce flawless results. It’s unfortunate that Wingspread is used as everything but a home because it is fabulous. What I liked most about Wright was 2 things. First, was his abstract vision. He was destined to see himself apart from other architects, and normal was abnormal to him. Second was his persistence and persuasiveness because he had to “twist arms” a little to get his projects approved. He also had a “me or bust” mentality, perceiving a second opinion or option other than his own was a form of discrediting his capabilities. Wright never seems to take any form of responsibility for his flaws and had a weird way of responding to complaints about his work. Overall one could not deny his vision or ability to capture someone’s immediate attention when they observe his works. It makes me look at Racine with a different set of eyes. I truly appreciate you for your generosity. I hope success continues to be with you and yours. God Bless. Respectfully, Marshall I wrote Jones to get permission to print his letter. His reply follows: I appreciate you for selecting my letter to be printed on your website. I also appreciate how well you spoke on my behalf. You were right when you stated that just because we’re not part of the Wright network doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate his work. All it takes is a door to be opened and maybe a seed to be planted to open an individual’s mind to something new. Many of us in here have realized at some point in our lives that there is a whole world of beauty we haven’t experienced. That’s why books are very important to me. Not to necessarily look at what I’m missing out on, but to welcome new perspectives and experiences to what I’ve started already. I thank you for giving me a voice and I give my permission for you to print my letter. Respectfully, Marshall Jones  Friday January 23, 2009
Posted by: mhertzberg at 5:27PM CST on January 23, 2009
Photo by Mark Hertzberg Story by Marci Laehr Tenuta Journal Times RACINE — Police have ended the investigation into whether a Frank Lloyd Wright chair being sold at auction had been stolen from SC Johnson, and determined there was no theft involved. It turns out that the particular chair being offered online by an auction house was rescued out of a Dumpster, had been sitting in a Waterford garage for years and was passed up at two rummage sales with a $25 price tag. "I do not see that a theft of the chairs had occurred in this case," the investigator wrote in his report. "It appears that all of the parties involved did obtain these chairs in good faith." From exhibit to auction According to the investigator’s reports, police traced the Wright chair — one of hundreds originally made for the SC Johnson headquarters at 1525 Howe St. — from a Chicago auction house that had put it up for auction back to a Milwaukee antiques dealer. The antiques dealer told police he had bought the chair and two others just like it from a Waterford man who had listed them on eBay. Investigators tracked down the Waterford man, who asked The Journal Times not to use his name. He reportedly had rescued the chairs from a Dumpster and had been using them in his garage for two years. The report says the man worked for an exhibit building company that did work for SC Johnson in the 1980s. Some of the famous Wright chairs were part of an exhibit they built. When the exhibit was no longer being used, its contents were put into storage in a Racine warehouse. In 2003, the Waterford man and co-workers were asked to clean the warehouse out. Police said about five or six of the chairs were tossed. "(The Waterford man) described the chairs as being dirty, molding, bent and beat up," states the police report. The man allegedly called his boss a few days later to ask if he could take some of the chairs, and was given permission. For two years he used the chairs when doing repair work in his garage. The Waterford man said he had no idea what the chairs were or what they were worth. "I couldn’t even sell them at a rummage sale," he told The Journal Times Friday. "They’re not that attractive." According to the police report, the man had put $25 price tags on the three chairs he had in his garage. They sat unsold during two rummage sales. In 2005, the man decided to sell them on eBay and asked a friend with an account for the online auction to list them for him. Reports say they agreed to split the profits. In April of 2005, the three chairs were sold to the Milwaukee man for $500, who then sold them to Wright Auction House in Chicago. Bought and sold When one of the chairs showed up on eBay last month, an SC Johnson employee saw it. The company started looking into whether the chair had been stolen. In order to stop the online auction, SC Johnson contacted police. Officers called eBay security and requested the auction be stopped because the chair was part of a theft investigation. When the auction ended, four bids had already been placed. The chair was ultimately bought by the owner of a design company in California for $12,000. However, the investigation stalled the transaction until recently. Richard Wright, the owner of the Wright Auction House, said the sale of the chair will now go through. He said he never doubted it would. "I knew it wasn’t stolen," Wright said. "The buyer knew it wasn’t stolen. A lot of this material has been on the market." During their investigation, police also learned that the recent sale of the Wright chair is not the first time such pieces have been put up on the auction block. Investigators spoke with three different auction houses that had documentation of selling similar chairs. A piece of history "These chairs are a part of a very important culture here," said SC Johnson spokeswoman Kelly M. Semrau. "We want them to always be here for generations to come." She said they are very grateful that the police department did such a thorough investigation. "It’s important to understand how this happened, so it can never happen again," she said. The office furniture that H.F. Johnson Jr. asked Wright to design for the SC Johnson administration building in 1936, is a part of the company’s culture and history. For many years, every employee in the building sat on the Wright chairs and the late Sam Johnson sat on one for 40 years, according to a newspaper story he was interviewed for in 1994. The metal chairs have simple circular pads on the seat and back. The back support pivots up and down and casters on the four legs allow the chairs to roll across the office. The 1994 story says the chairs were thought to be the most innovative office furniture in history until ergonomic designs surpassed them. Some still believe it’s the most beautiful office furniture ever made and art collectors covet the furniture. Much of the furniture is still in use at SC Johnson. During an audit of the company’s collection for the investigation, it was determined that four chairs out of nearly 500 were missing. Semrau said they are looking for the missing chairs, checking other storage areas and facilities.
Tuesday January 13, 2009
Posted by: mhertzberg at 3:22PM CST on January 13, 2009
Story and photos (c) Mark Hertzberg The weather forecast says that the wind chill will be -25 when I wake up Thursday. It wouldn’t be a bad day to be Ian McCully. He lives in Los Angeles, where Thursday’s low will be about 50 (and the high will be in the 80s). I write about, and photograph, people who live in Frank Lloyd Wright houses. As if the weather isn’t enough of a bonus, McCully is paid to live in a Frank Lloyd Wright house that people travel from the world over to see, even though it is not open to the public. (Wanna trade for a week, Ian?)
 McCully, the facilities coordinator for the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California, is caretaker of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman House. Built into the Hollywood Hills in 1924-25, it is one of Wright’s four “textile” or concrete block homes in Los Angeles. He enjoys living there. “I am above the chaos of the city. In the morning and throughout the day you have this light that comes into the house. It’s a great contrast for me between the austerity and harshness of the concrete, and right here [in the living room and dining room] you have this openness, and it’s very airy This room is nice at night because the view is great. Downstairs [the bedroom level] is more dungeon-like.” Many people define Wright’s work by his signature horizontal Prairie-style homes in the Midwest. His work in Los Angeles is quite different from his early Prairie-style and later Usonian homes. His first LA commission, the Aline Barnsdall (or Hollyhock) House (1917), constructed with stucco over wood, reminds some observers of a Mayan temple. Wright then designed four homes, the Millard House (1923), Storer House (1923), Ennis House (1924), and the Freeman House, using his concept of building with concrete blocks rather than more conventional construction methods. The blocks, which are 16 inches square, are hollow, and designed to cool the house during the day, while trapping the sun’s heat for the evening and night. The blocks also trapped moisture, a problem which challenges today’s owners. Wright designed a different block pattern for each of the four concrete block homes. Those for the Freeman House have a tulip pattern. The Freeman House has had only two owners. It was commissioned by Harriet and Samuel Freeman. She was a modern dancer, and he was a businessman. They entertained often. Martha Graham danced in the living room and dining room which overlooks the city. The Freemans divorced, but continued to both live in the house. It was bequeathed to the university in 1985. Wright’s son, Lloyd Wright, initially supervised the project. Rudolph Schindler finished it. Mrs. Freeman is said to have had an affair with Schindler, who designed some of the furniture for the house, and enclosed a porch, turning it into a bedroom below the garage, on the lower level of the house. McCully says that USC faces a challenge beyond the physical restoration of the house. “Do you restore it to pure Frank Lloyd Wright, or put Schindler in there, as well? One camp says ‘Schindler,’ because he is such a big part of the house. One of the things Schindler did here that incensed Wright was when he painted over concrete block [there is yellow block in the Schindler bedroom below the garage].” The house sustained significant damage in January, 1994 during the Northridge earthquake which shook Los Angeles. The house is being retrofitted to make it better able to survive another earthquake. McCully opens a door on the lower level - around the corner from his bedroom - to show where concrete caissons have been sunk 45 feet underground to shore up the foundation, and anchor it to the hill. He expounds on Wright’s reasons for turning from his more typical stucco and brick homes to fashioning the concrete blocks for these four homes. “Wright’s idea with the block was to see a connection between the material of the house and the landscape. [His] vision for an alternate construction method with the block was a house attainable by the middle class. That was the impetus for the experiment. The blocks are mixed with decomposed granite dug out from the foundation of the house. When Schindler painted over the blocks, you couldn’t see that anymore. It undermined one of the design concepts, and he got angry about it.” There is no formal network between all the Los Angeles Wright homeowners. McCully knows that the massive Ennis textile block house shares some of the problems of the Freeman House, but he has not had the opportunity to tour it. He says that , the new dean of USC’s School of Architecture, is “very proactive” about having the house restored. The challenge is daunting. One of the most significant repairs will be invisible to visitors but will do nothing less than virtually assure the structural future of the house. Seismic retrofit casons have been inserted into the lower level of the house, continuing about 45 feet below grade. Countless textile blocks are in storage, and countless ones need to be replicated. In addition, the redwood Douglas fir ceiling panels must be restored. All are parts of the puzzles of restoring a home that -in Wright’s fashion- was two to three times over budget, according to McCully. In a sense McCully cannot escape work, living in the house he is helping restore. But he does not mind. “I just had a friend from out of town visit and he was in disbelief.”  These photos were shot in April, 2007. Publication was delayed until now. The house restoration is a long-term project. The photos still accurately represent the house.
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