Mark Hertzberg's blog, Wright in Racine, just posted an update with tons of photos about the restoration of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed American System-Built house on Burnham St. in Milwaukee, WI. Read and see more here.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
Searching the internet often yields some surprising results. Case in point: This fantastic historic photo of Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park Studio showing an early configuration of its loggia entrance. The photo was part of a blog post on Steelcase, Johnson Wax and Wright on the weblog "Beach House". Check it out here.
Image via Beach House
Chicago is America's "first city" when it comes to architecture, yet we continue to have a pretty checkered record of honoring that title--especially in preserving historic architecture. The sins of tearing down Louis Sullivan's Chicago Stock Exchange Building in the 1970s are being revisited by the current action of tearing down Walter Gropius-designed buildings today. Read about it at Blair Kamin's weblog here.
Image via Gropius In Chicago Coalition website
Joseph Sandy's newest 350 sq ft small house design is an homage to the Usonian residences of Frank Lloyd Wright. It would be interesting to see one of these built (or at least get a peek at a perspective drawing!) Check out more here.
Image copyright Joseph Sandy
MocoLoco provides a look at designer Tomek Rygalik's modular Interlock carpet. See more here.
"E.R." stands for "Emergency Restoration." As part of the South Temple roof slab emergency stabilization, more scaffolding went up and the interior of the Temple has been covered for protection. Click over to the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation blog to get more images and details (and to help support the work!)
Image copyright UTRF
Blair Kamin's "Cityscapes" blog reports that the City of Chicago is set to demolish Michael Reese Hospital, but will spare one Walter Gropius co-designed building. Preservationists remain baffled by this half-hearted effort. Read more here.
Image via Blair Kamin's Cityscapes
It's amazing what you'll find stumbling around the Internet. Case in point is this really great drawing from the Ball State University archives for a Indiana Dunes State Park fountain that Prairie School landscape architect Jens Jensen did for Chicago's Prairie Club in 1932. Read more about it after the jump...
The blog, Jetson Green, recently posted on Dow Chemical's new "solar shingle", which could be a low-cost way for consumers to capture and utilize alternative energy. Read about it here.
Image via Jetson Green
Image copyright PrairieMod
Design*Sponge has a great DIY project for a recycled wine bottle torch. Check it out here.
Image copyright Design*Sponge
Images via Jetson Green
We had the privilege of meeting Metropolis Magazine's Mason Currey at the Meyer May House Centennial Symposium hosted by Steelcase a few weeks back. Here's his take on that very cool event over at Metropolis' blog.
Image via Metropolis P/O/V blog
Stumbled across a cool website called redblackbrown that posted on an equally cool Usonian-esque house design by Tician Papachristou. Check them both out here.
Image copyright redblackbrown.com
Dezeen, a design magazine, has a sweet post about Jack Bresnahan and his series of biodegradable, plastic lids. Check it out here.
Image copyright Jack Bresnahan
PrairieMod reader Paul R. sent us a link to The Daily Reviewer's list of architecture blogs. Aside from usual suspects like Treehugger and Jetson Green, James Polk's New American Village is listed...the architect who partnered with Taliesin on Lily Valley. Check out the blog for insight into James Polk's work, such as the cool post about the "Modern Dogtrot".
One of my frequent stops on the internet every week is at the blog design*sponge. They recently posted a great DIY post about how to crochet your own mini baskets. These little gems are perfect as Beautiful decorations and Useful places to keep little odds and ends. Check out the tutorial here.
Image via design*sponge.com
I absolutely love the whimsical art of Matte Stephens. The bright colors, the fun animals, the child-like abstraction of his buildings—It all adds up to a smile. See more of Matte's fantastically fun artwork by following the links to his blog and his etsy.com store.
Image copyright Matte Stephens
PrairieMod reader, Paul R. sent us a really interesting article from a blog called buildllc.com. In the article, the myths and misconceptions of pre-fab designs are laid bare, resulting in their proclamation that the pre-fab home movement is dead. Read about it here and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Image via buildllc
The blog Curbed LA (along with everyone else) jumped on the Ennis House-for-sale story this morning, but also added some circa-1924 construction photos of the "Textile Block" residence courtesy of the Ennis House Foundation. Check them out here.
Image via Ennis House Foundation
Mark Hertzberg sent us another update for his blog, Wright in Racine, but this time it's about Wright in Milwaukee! Check out new slide shows exhibiting the wonderful restoration work on one of Wright's earliest prefab housing designs: an American System-Built house on Burnham Street. See it all here.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
Mark Hertzberg had a chance to visit New York and see the new exhibit "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward" at the Guggenheim Museum. He offers up an in-depth review at his blog Wright in Racine. Check it out and lots of great photos here.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
I came across this really cool design blog called "Dinosaurs and Robots." It covers all sorts of quirky, vintage design-related objects and artifacts. I especially enjoyed their post about a recent auction of Modernist posters. Read more here.
Image via Dinosaurs and Robots
It's amazing what a little sleuthing on the internet can yield. Here's a link to a story about Stanley Marcus (of Nieman Marcus fame) and Frank Lloyd Wright, the house Wright almost designed for Marcus, and the less-than-polite correspondence (in PDF form) that occurred between the two. There's also news of how preservationists are trying to save the Marcus House that was built. Read about it here.
Image via Unfair Park, the Dallas Observer Blog
Frank Gehry, eat your heart out! Ponoko Blog posted on the finalists of the 2009 corrugated board chair design competition and I must say, those are some interesting looking former boxes. Check it out here.
Image courtesy of Ponoko Blog
Design*Sponge posted a great interview with Bay Area garden and "green-guru", Flora Grubb. There are also plenty of photos of her absolutely amazing floral planters, wreaths and other creations. Check it all out here.
Image via Design*Sponge
I thought we'd end the week with a link to MocoLoco's best objects of the week. I'm especially digging the beaded cords and the minimalist füsball table. Check out the complete list here.
Image copyright Piet Hein Eek
Scandinavian Superstore, IKEA has a slew of new products that would work great in any PrairieMod Kitchen (the Pope-Leighey one, included). I especially love their new Drömmar angled baking pan. Check it out here.
Via Apartment Therapy The Kitchen.
Image copyright IKEA
Apartment Therapy's The Kitchen blog featured a look at a classic small kitchen: the sunlight-filled Wrightian "workspace" at the Pope-Leighey House. Check it out here.
Image: Flickr member cliff1066
Author, Mark Hertzberg has posted a very different type of article on his weblog Wright in Racine. In it, he describes the importance of looking (and reaching) beyond the regular Wright-ophiles. Read about it here.
We'd like to hear from PrairieMod Readers: What do you think should be done to reach out as Mark describes? Give some feedback and who knows, your ideas could be put into practice!
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
I came across this post on the Dwell Blog discussing great speeches from the world of Architecture. Of course, that means a Frank Lloyd Wright mention was not far behind. Check it out here.
I stumbled across an interesting blog by Ben, a former student of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. He writes extensively about what it was like to be an apprentice at the School, some of his travels and other general musings on art, architecture and life. there's also some great photos of many of the Wright sites he's visited. Check it out here.
Image copyright Ben
Mark Hertzberg at WrightinRacine.com has posted a new article about the challenges of restoring the Samuel Freeman House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's California concrete block designs. Check it out here.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
Mark Hertzberg has posted a new entry over at his blog, Wright In Racine. This entry is all about the amazingly restored Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Willey House in Minneapolis, MN. Check out this interesting story and Marks fantastic photos by following the link.
Image copyright Mark Hertzberg
I stumbled upon a photography-related blog that had some great shots (including the terra cotta griffin shown at left) and thoughts on Louis Sullivan's Merchant's Bank in Grinell, Iowa—one of his "jewel box" bank designs. Check out the post here.
Photo copyright Bo Mackison
I recently stumbled upon a amazing blog by Kristina Werner. There are great tutorials for everything handmade. I really love her tutorial on how to make an Origami Gift Box. I think this will come in handy next month! Head on over and enjoy her beautiful site.
Image copyright Kristina Werner
Here's a great blog entry I stumbled upon that shows a bunch of old postcard views of Chi-town buildings. Check it out by following the link.
Image copyright dbostrom
There's a couple of important PrairieMod Squad birthdays coming up this week and I've been looking for creative ways to celebrate and decorate. I found this great post at How about orange on decorating cakes with stencils.
How cool is that! I'm thinking of making a square cake with this stencil.
Let me know if you have any great ideas for birthdays and celebrations.
Image copyright pointclickhome.com
Interested in getting weekly updates on the restoration progress at the D. Martin House in Buffalo, NY? Then check out the blog of Curator for the Martin House Restoration Corporation, Eric Jackson-Forsberg. Follow the link to see more.
Graphic copyright Eric Jackson-Forsberg
An average couple in Toronto, Canada want a bigger house to start a family. After looking and not finding what they wanted, they decided to tear down their postwar bungalow and build the modern eco-house of their dreams.
On the surface this seems like a fairly straight forward, everyday situation. However, it seems regrettable that all the inherent energy and materials in that quaint little bungalow have to be wasted in order to pave the way for a bigger, better "green" house. Could a well-designed remodel have been the answer to this issue? I'd really like to know what readers think. You can follow the progress and get more details at their blog by clicking here.
Photos copyright 360 Winnett Ave.
Mark Hertzberg has posted an excellent article on wrightinracine.com about the recent book, Louis Sullivan’s Merchants National Bank. Check out the article by following the link.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
The blog, Chicago History, posted an interesting article on the contents of Louis H. Sullivan's private library and its sad fate. Check it out here.
Image courtesy of Chicago History.com
The Mid-Century Modernist receives regular posts from people to their Flickr photo pool. The most recent uploads by m.bibelot feature some gorgeously warm images that are a tasty little afternoon treat.
See all of them here.
Image copyright m.bibelot
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