It was Arthur Richards, Wright's partner-developer from 1916-1917, who decided to cover the American System-Built Homes (ASBH) in Magnesite pebbles, not Frank Lloyd Wright. And where does one get Magnesite before 1917?
The documented evidence tells us that Pebble Dash was an alteration of Frank Lloyd Wright's American System Built Homes designs -- something he hoped to cover up and forget about.
Why do the vintage American System Built Homes (ASBH) plans exist at all? Frank Lloyd Wright didn't plan to re-use or show them. Was his decision to store almost 1000 drawings based on nostalgia or pride, or something more practical?
This is a rare opportunity to experience an historic and well-preserved Wright-designed home that has been a private residence for 104 years running. The home is where Wright was compelled to rethink his approach to affordable housing and is the site of the split between Wright and his talented young assistant Russell Barr Williamson.
The Forgotten Elizabeth Murphy House has been hiding the clues that explain why Frank Lloyd Wright cancelled the American System-Built Home program and covered his tracks - never speaking publicly about the designs again. Read more.
In the latest phase of the kitchen restoration at the Elizabeth Murphy House, our goal was to rid the room of inappropriate materials and tie together the old and recent cabinets. But we found some lost details worth restoration.
Frank Lloyd Wright didn't tell the carpenter exactly how to craft an American System-Built cabinet so often the carpenter improvised.
This weekend, we are giving thanks for the friendships and the stories that continue to form about and around this historic, influential tiny home designed by 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.
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?
The Elizabeth Murphy House 