In the wake of the failure of the American System Built Homes project, in which Wright and Williamson had invested over 3 years of mutual effort, the men never spoke again and, tellingly, erased the experience from their professional and personal Curricula Vitae.
In a way, our quest to preserve this tiny home is like time travel. We want to understand what Frank Lloyd Wright intended at the time he intended it.
It can seem strange to think of a Frank Lloyd Wright dwelling as a standard product - something that could be built with interchangeable parts and pieces - but American System-Built Homes were exactly that. One of those pieces was Byrkit Lath.
The March 2021 issue of MKELifestyle is on shelves all over town and features interior and vintage images of Frank Lloyd Wright's Forgotten Elizabeth Murphy House, along with an interview by Don Butler about our upcoming book.
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!
Our goal is to mix historic-appropriateness with modern energy efficiency. We're going back to Wright's framed casement design, but will allow for double-paned glass and proper weatherstripping. We will make the stiles, rails and beads in Cypress and have organized a shop in which to mill, fit and assemble the windows in batches.
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 new book Frank Lloyd Wright’s Forgotten House - How an Omission Transformed the Architect’s Legacy, published by the University of Wisconsin Press, will be on store shelves in the spring of 2021.
The Elizabeth Murphy House 