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?
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.
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.
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.
The level of Wright's brilliance and forethought contained on this one page seems stunning - out of this world - to us amateurs.
Citing a vast body of drawings and plans, historians have called the ASBH project the largest single design effort by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Elizabeth Murphy House 