Frank Lloyd Wright didn't tell the carpenter exactly how to craft an American System-Built cabinet so often the carpenter improvised.
Carpentry Improv in Frank Lloyd Wright’s ASB Homes
Video: What we can Learn from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Forgotten House
Thanks to host Heather Sabin of Monona Terrace's Wright Design Series and Brian Hannan of event-sponsor Wright in Wisconsin, we are able to bring you this recorded presentation and tour of the Elizabeth Murphy House - Frank Lloyd Wright's Forgotten House.
What We Can Learn About Historic Preservation from Frank Lloyd Wright
Though Wright designed over a hundred modest American System-Built Homes he quickly cancelled the program with only twenty or so built and filed away the drawings forever when he realized that his art would not be preserved if its occupants didn't themselves participate in the preservation.
Art by Committee
If you had created something, a piece of art, for example, that was subsequently altered by others in ways that you disapproved, would you want that object preserved?
Did Wright plan to furnish his American System-Built Homes?
Did Frank Lloyd Wright plan to furnish his American System-Built Homes? Evidence suggests that limited studio resources left most owners to their own decorative devices.
Kids, what do you see in Mr. Wright’s art glass windows?
Matthew Smith - an expert in fine leaded art glass - points out that Frank Lloyd Wright's motif in the Elizabeth Murphy House reflects the proportions of the Elizabeth Murphy House herself.
Plywood in a Wright-designed American System-Built Home, before “plywood” was a thing
Wright and Richards were exploring ways to ensure quality while lowering costs in the American System. So cabinet doors were built of "ply" fifteen years before "plywood" became a thing.
ASBH owners organize and invite others to join in stewardship
A group of ASBH owners have been meeting and collaborating in the last few years (first physically and then virtually), sharing ideas, tours, parts and pieces and pictures to study, and have even been purchasing materials for renovations in bulk to ensure affordability and continuity. Six of the homes are represented!
Vast Brilliance in One Simple ASBH Drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright
The level of Wright's brilliance and forethought contained on this one page seems stunning - out of this world - to us amateurs.
On the hunt for a long-lost ASBH? This could help.
If you, like many fans of Frank Lloyd Wright, are on the hunt for a long-lost American System-Built Home, here is a simple tool that you can use in your field work and that may tell you if you're warm.
The Elizabeth Murphy House 