Usonian...
Women’s Club of Denver
Women’s Club of Denver designed 1962 by William Muchow Associates.
The building is still there on Lincoln between 9th & 10th.
March 16th, 2013 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Orchid and Bromeliad House
Denver’s premeire Usonian architect Victor Hornbein signed this watercolor of his design for
his 1979 Orchid and Bromeliad House addition to the Denver Botanic Gardens Boettcher
Memorial Conservatory, which he also designed (in 1966 with Ed White Jr.)
(as always, click to enlarge)
February 23rd, 2013 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Vent
A rooftop vent from the Usonian-style First Christian Church in Boulder, designed
1960 by Thomas Nixon and Lincoln Jones.
July 8th, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
House on the Mesa
As everyone should know by now, there are *no* official Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Colorado. When you inevitably see his name dropped by ill-informed Colorado real estate agents in their ads, feel confident that they are quite mistaken.
Wright did design two structures for Colorado, his unbuilt version of The Horseshoe Inn in Estes Park in 1908 and his 1932 entry into the the International Exhibition of Modern Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, the unbuilt House on the Mesa.
The House On the Mesa was a four-car luxury home made of steel, glass and concrete with a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains. A long building, it extended 360 feet on a flat site of several acres. A concrete blockshell wall faced the major highway that ran past the property. The house featured a swimming pool covered with a cantilevered roof and an open lake with surrounding woods.
It is not likely there was ever a true location identified for this building in Denver or even in Golden where two large mesas separate the town from the rest of wider Denver. No location in the area fits all of Wright’s plans, orientations and descriptions.
The House on the Mesa was designed for a moderately wealthy American family of considerable culture — master, mistress and four children, cook and two maids, chauffeur and gardener.
Their architect intended to help them make something of machine-age luxury that would compare favorably in character and integrity with the luxury of the Greeks or Goths, within the limits of an expenditure of some $125,000. -Frank Lloyd Wright 1932
Wright’s inspiration of the wealthy American family of considerable culture comes from a visit in 1930 to give a speech at the Denver Art Musuem. He was invited to stay at the home of George Cranmer, who lived in a Italian Renaissance Revival villa designed by J.B. Benedict in 1917. The house still sits today in the Hilltop area on the edge of Cranmer Park with the mountains viewable to the west.
Robery Sweeney’s book Wright in Hollywood states “Wright explained later that he had used the Cranmers’ family and situation merely as an ideal American family … as an example to the country, when designing House on the Mesa; their set up seemed worth interpreting. He added that he had no idea whether they would at all like the interpretation.”
In 1935 George Cranmer became manager of Denver’s parks and recreation system and oversaw the construction of Red Rocks Ampitheater, the Valley Highway (now the Denver portion of I-25), the Boulder Turnpike, Winter Park and the purchase of the land for Stapleton Airport.
(Information and photos borrowed from SaveWright.org’s WrightChat using information from Robert Sweeney’s book Wright in Hollywood, [©1994 Architectural History Foundation/MIT Press] and Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer’s third volume of collected writings [Rizzoli, 1993, pp 126-30]).
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June 26th, 2012 / 2 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Boulder modern
Although I do not know the facts about this house, I am fairly confident that this Usonian
home was designed by Roger Easton in the late 1960s.
March 19th, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Boulder Usonia
One of the best Usonian-style houses in Boulder, the Menkick House from 1970 by
Charles Haertling. Behind it is Green Rock.
November 4th, 2011 / 2 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Boulder icon
I am happy to note that this iconic Usonian building, the First Christian Church, located
where the 36 Hwy becomes 28th St at the entranceway to Boulder, is still standing despite
having been for sale for years now. There was concern that it would be torn down and
replaced with student housing.
Designed 1960 by architects Thomas Nixon & Lincoln Jones.
With it’s prominent Boulder location, it is nice way for residents to regularly view a historic
example of the direct influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.
October 27th, 2011 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Horizontal
A long, low, horizontal home oriented to the spectacular view.
Another one of the earlier houses in Panorama Heights. (Probably late 1950s)
September 29th, 2011 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Panorama Heights
The original show home for Panorama Heights, likely circa-1955.
September 28th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
