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Wright in Racine
December 2008
Thursday December 18, 2008
Posted by: mhertzberg at 9:10PM CST on December 18, 2008
by Mark Hertzberg - Journal Times The status of a desk chair that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in 1936 for the SC Johnson Administration Building that has been consigned for auction in Chicago remains unclear, after the company announced Thursday that it has completed an internal audit of its Wright chairs. "SC Johnson has completed the inventory and we have several missing chairs. SC Johnson has never authorized anyone to take a chair from the building, nor has the company given a chair as a gift to anyone. We continue to work with Racine Police Department and they are continuing their investigation," said Kelly Semrau, a company spokesperson. The chair had been consigned for auction at the Wright Auction House, 1440 W. Hubbard St. when a Johnson employee saw it previewed on the ebay on-line auction site last week, with an opening bid of $5000. The chair was removed from the auction site after authorities were contacted. Richard Wright, owner of Wright Auction, said Thursday that he had heard "that official response." He deferred comment until he has further information from Racine police. "Our original position remains the same. We are here to fully cooperate and work out this situation." He declined to identify whom he got the chair from. "We have a confidentiality agreement with our consigners." Wright said in an interview last week that even if the chair is from the building, that does not mean it is stolen, noting that some chairs are in museum collections and that he has seen the chairs auctioned by such dealers as Christie’s. The auction house is named after its owner, rather than to imply that it specializes in Frank Lloyd Wright’s work.
Friday December 12, 2008
Posted by: mhertzberg at 5:03PM CST on December 12, 2008
by Mark Hertzberg/Journal Times
One of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous desk chairs made for the SC Johnson Administration Building, 1525 Howe St., is still at a Chicago auction house, while police try to determine whether or not it was stolen from the company. SC Johnson contacted police Tuesday after an employee saw it listed on the ebay on-line auction web site, with an opening bid of $5,000. Richard Wright, owner of the Wright Auction House, 1440 W. Hubbard St., said Friday that he is waiting for further information from Racine police. "We take this matter very seriously. The chair is going to be held here, until we determine clear title to the chair. We are cooperating fully with the authorities." He has no doubt about the authenticity of the chair, but says that does not mean it was stolen from the company. "Obviously it was made for the Johnson company in about 1937. These are well documented chairs. It is important to know that just because a piece from the Johnson building is put on the auction block, it is being painted as, defacto, it would be stolen. To me that’s not the case. There have been numerous pieces on the market from this commission. Through the years, there is material from this commission at the Art Institute (of Chicago). It’s been sold at Christie’s, many other places. It didn’t raise any suspicion, i.e., it must be stolen." Wright says he has worked in the auction industry for more than 20 years. He has owned the gallery since 2000. The gallery is named after him, rather than to imply any connection to Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, Wright says, "We sell relatively little Frank Lloyd Wright." He said Friday morning that he is waiting to hear from the police. "We are just waiting to resolve the title of the chair. We have no desire to traffic in stolen goods. If Johnson Wax proves good title to the chair, then they get the chair. We’re absolutely not fighting this." Sgt. Bernie Kupper, spokesman for the Racine Police Department said Friday that police are waiting for the company to complete an internal review of its furniture assets. Kelly M. Semrau, spokeswoman for SC Johnson, said the audit should be completed early next week.
Wednesday December 10, 2008
Posted by: mhertzberg at 5:19PM CST on December 10, 2008
One of the chairs that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine (1936) was apparently stolen, and put on ebay Tuesday December 9. Our newspaper story is on-line now, and will be in Thursday's print edition, as well. It has also been offered to the Associated Press. The link to the full story is: http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/12/10/local_news/doc49403cb05f544954608820.txt - Mark Hertzberg
Photo (c) Mark Hertzberg - The Journal Times Thursday December 4, 2008
Posted by: mhertzberg at 3:46PM CST on December 4, 2008
Text and photos (c) Mark Hertzberg Call it a restoration. Call it a rescue. Call it a save. Call it a success. Lynette Erickson-Sikora and Steve Sikora have realized their dream for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Willey House. The house, which is considered Wright’s first Usonian design, is nestled at the end of a . The house, which is considered Wright’s first Usonian design, is nestled at the end of a dead end street in the quiet Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. The house was designed in 1932 for Malcolm and Nancy Willey. He was a dean at the University of Minnesota, nearby. Wright’s first design for the house was for a two-story home. It was more ambitious than what his clients could afford, especially during the Depression. The house was threatened in the 1960s when I-94 was being laid out. The house lay smack in the middle of the proposed route. Engineers agreed to curve the road at that point (east of the Huron Street exit) and built a concrete sound barrier at the edge of the Willey House property. The Sikoras bought the house in April, 2002. The house was not being lived in, and its condition had deteriorated. Steve, a graphic designer, remembers how idealistic he and Lynette were. “Our vision for it, first and foremost, was to save it because we saw this thing slipping away and believed we had the wherewithal to intervene and change its fate. We had vague ideas beyond that, of what this might mean to our lives. We knew we wanted to share it, with the community, and interested parties. We wanted to make sure educational institutions would have access to the house periodically so students could experience it and learn from work of Wright.” Was their vision realistic? “I can’t even believe our stupid optimism at the time!” Was it worth it? “I am grateful that we were able to complete it because there were times of doubt in my mind. I’m very happy with the results to be sure.” The painstaking restoration, which has won numerous honors, was not easy. “It was a series of constant obstacles. It took me almost six months after the time when we said the project is done, before I could go over there and feel comfortable. In the past, anytime I was on site, it was to meet with Stafford or his contractors, always dealing with problems and issues. It started become really overwhelming after awhile.” One of the most daunting aspects of the project was the lack of a deadline, says Sikora. “I’m in a business where projects take place generally in a matter of days, occasionally a matter of weeks, very rarely a few months, never ever over a period of years. We set out with the intention of a pay as you go restoration. I really didn’t think it would be five and a half years’ of paying as you go. Of course there was always incremental progress, but from day to day it felt like we were in the same place for a long time. It was very distressing.” Sometimes the work could not be put off. “When you remove skylights and open up the roof, you can’t postpone putting them back together again for very long.” Steve credits Stafford Norris III, his stepson, for undertaking and overseeing much of the restoration. “Luckily Stafford is incredibly detail-oriented and takes his time. He also demonstrates an extraordinary degree of common sense. He constructed a tent over the house, and weatherized with rubber roofing, as we waited for skylights, trellis steel and new French doors. “One of the big blows occurred in year one. Some brick replacement had to take place. People from the two different brick restoration companies examined the house. Instead of just studying the condition of the brick, they started running their fingers in the mortar joints, and said ooh, this is kind of powdery. “The mortar was failing and the house was actually in jeopardy. So in year one we faced with our biggest expense of all, grinding out every mortar joint and retuck-pointing the house. This creates dust clouds and of course potentially jeopardizes the irreplaceable bricks. Typically, in a commercial building such as a warehouse, the grinding is not required to be all that careful. In our case, we said you have to be absolutely fastidious in what you’re doing. Reapplying the grout, of course, had to be historically correct. All joints are raked _” deep and butt joints are pointed up flush with the brick surface.” Sikora elaborates about the challenge. “In the red colored butt joints, the old mortar had faded over time. It was very pink in some places, so matching it was a bit challenging. It is supposed to match the brick color in order to make the brick courses feel like long horizontal bands. Once the match was made, applying the new grout was a slow process. All those things weighed very heavily on me, because it was like an open-ended expense hanging over us. I’ll admit, I panicked once in a while.” Stopping at the house daily the first two years was unavoidable. It is halfway between his house and his office. He always consulted with Stafford, whom he says worked seven days a week for four of the five years of the restoration. “He was completely passionate about what he was doing. . Everyone on the project had a high measure of respect for the effort. Nothing was done thoughtlessly. Stafford would often mock things up in scrap wood before executing the final thing. The wood (red tidewater cypress inside and out) was quite rare (and expensive) so you wouldn’t want to make an error of judgement with that. “Stafford in many senses is a hero. His brother, Josh, came in after the second year. He was great assisting Stafford. His specialty is metal work. He was able to bring a lot of those skills to bear.”
Josh, left, and Stafford cut a door threshold. (c) Steve Sikora
Today the Sikoras enjoy entertaining in the house. Despite the petite1350 square feet of space, there is plenty of room for a gathering of 50 people. “The house is a perfect model for affordable living. It is simple. It is green and it’s a very comfortable house.” There are no plans to rent the house out for overnight stays. “I don’t think that it’s in the cards. We considered whether or not rentals would be a good thing to do. But this house is very different from a place like the Seth Peterson Cottage where the interior has been done anew and the furniture is of reasonably simple plywood construction, that can be renewed periodically. As we were working on the house, we realized how fragile certain aspects are. A person could, without meaning to, cause damage to the house, just by closing a door a carelessly. That could outweigh any money you would make. “ “We considered, would that be a good thing to do? It is very different from a place like the Seth Peterson Cottage where the interior was done anew and the furniture is simply plywood furniture that can be renewed periodically.” I asked Sikora if there have been any golden moments in the project. “There were times when I was there, saw some aspect of the house and was so moved that it brought me to tears, not for the usual financial reasons, but because of the beauty. There was one day in particular, in the living room. It completely overwhelmed me. I was just taken aback. I couldn’t believe I was in this astounding space!” “You don’t necessarily own something like this, we are the current stewards. It’s not about ownership, it’s a sense of pride that we were able to have anything to do with preserving this treasure for another century or so.” “One of the golden moments came last year when we held our open house. The second owner (Russell Burris) came quite by surprise. The father brought along his two daughters and grandchildren. His look of pleasure and delight at seeing the restored house and the completed furnishings was unexplainable. He was so happy. For a period of years he avoided the house. He had heard it had fallen into disrepair, and didn’t want to see it that way. He was so pleased with us and the state the house was in. The family hung around and took pictures for quite awhile.” Some of the harshest critics can be people who study Wright’s work closely. “They have turned out to be our best reality check. You get to watch them examine the house, see their jaws drop, and you say, good, it wasn’t just me.” Suzy Hart, who is 24, has lived in the Twin Cities her whole life. She had never heard about the house. She is a friend of one of ours sons, who lives in Minneapolis, and saw the house when we toured it in August. She later told him that the tour was one of the highlights of her summer. I told Sikora about her comment. “I love it when people have that reaction, because it means people are paying attention!” Steve and Lynette have won several awards for their restoration and stewardship of the Willey House. Harvey Glanzer’s praise means more to them than any awards, however. “We sent an invitation to the open house to Harvey (from whom they had bought the house). ‘You and Beth should come up. This is our moment to say were done, we completed it.’ “He wrote back that they weren’t able to attend the open house, but he went on to say that we didn’t just to a restoration, we set a new standard for restorations. He can be pretty critical, so coming from him; the words in his letter were high praise indeed. It was the best award we could have received.” Links: (The flip book in the Shop link of the house web site is fun!)
http://www.thewilleyhouse.com/ Willey House Restoration Awards: Monday December 1, 2008
Posted by: mhertzberg at 5:41PM CST on December 1, 2008
Text and photos (c) Mark Hertzberg unless otherwise noted In 1947-1951, the 100 members of the First Unitarian Society of Madison worked furiously to help build the new church that Frank Lloyd Wright had designed for them. Membership had grown enough by 1963 that Jack Howe was commissioned to build a classroom addition. Another addition, the “Lower Meeting House,” was built in the early 1990s. The congregation now numbers about 1500, and has again outgrown the landmark Wright building as well as the additions. It is the largest Unitarian Universalist congregation in the United States and, perhaps, in the world, according to Tom Garver, a member of the church’s Building and Preservation Committees. The congregation realized the need for not only a larger auditorium, but also more classroom and office space, in 1998. Architects were interviewed in 2004. Controversy swirled not only through the congregation, but also through the world of Wright, as solutions, including a new building at another site, were debated. The solution, an addition that gracefully circles out of the south end of the original building, opened this fall. The new $9 million building was designed by The Kubala Washatko Architects of Cedarburg, Wisconsin. The building is “green,” and has earned LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certification.
 (c) Craig Wilson - From a Kite photography, used with permission
The two buildings meet where the Lower Meeting House once stood. The new auditorium or sanctuary is opposite the famous hall that Wright placed under a dramatic soaring copper roof 60 years before. A glass connecting hallway leads from the new auditorium to Wright’s limestone building. “There is no change in profile to make the connection,” Garver points out. The project included needed repairs to the original building, such as rewiring lights, painting, and plastering. The original building had seven tiny -they were only 10 feet wide- classrooms in the loggia, when it opened in 1951. They were remodeled into offices, a library, religious education office, and a minister’s office when the 1963 religious education center addition was built. They have now been remodeled again, into one large office, four smaller offices, and a small conference rooms. The loggia now looks much as it did in 1951. This slide show has photos of the addition, the remodeled loggia, and a unique use of the original auditorium - a blood drive the day I visited the church. A blue sky would have made for better photos, alas. The crane visible in some photos is from an unrelated construction project at the nearby University Hospitals campus. Garver is pleased with the new addition, “It is a very constrained site, but that worked to our advantage because it had a gentle slope to the south. The new auditorium...is set well below grade, well below the entrance level. The curve allows for a parking lot and decent distance between the buildings. “It will take a few years, after the roof is planted and seeded, which will soften the edges of the roof. A berm by the parking lot is planted. Eventually plants and shrubs will soften the horizon line. It will make this building become ever more discreet.” Links: Craig Wilson photography (they hyperlink may not work, you may have to type the URL in yourself):
First Unitarian Society of Madison new building website: http://www.fusmadison.com/green/intro.shtm
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