Let's stop blaming WWI and credit Frank Lloyd Wright for preventing the theft of his American System-Built Homes.
Thieves Caught Thieving
Correcting a Wrightian mistake – but at a cost
It is not a spoiler alert to say that after Frank Lloyd Wright sued Richards and cancelled the ASBH program in 1917, Richards and Williamson continued designing and selling Prairie Style homes around Milwaukee. Distinguishing those homes from Wright's ASBH work can be difficult. Here is a clue.
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.
Arthur Richards had a different idea than Frank Lloyd Wright
For Wright, American System-Built Homes met a complex design challenge: to create affordable beautiful modest homes. But for Richards, the ASBH program was one item on vast menu of real estate products he could offer.
The System within the System
Citing a vast body of drawings and plans, historians have called the ASBH project the largest single design effort by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Beauty in an imperfect system
Underneath magnificent art lie the trials, troubles and lessons-learned by the artist.
Sharing Secrets
It was a joy and a privilege to share secrets from the Elizabeth Murphy House at the Annual Conference of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.
The Elizabeth Murphy House 