Design & Desire in the Twentieth Century

Design and Desire learned last week that one of our favorite bloggers, Eric Jackson-Forsberg of The Weekly Wright-up will be leaving his position as curator of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, NY. Jackson-Forsberg curated the house for the past nine years, during which time the complex has undergone a dramatic forty million dollar restoration. He departs to become the new Executive Director of the Western New York Book Arts Center.

We’ve always enjoyed Jackson-Forsberg’s lively and sometimes humorous dispatches and musings about the events at the Martin House. He will be missed very much as the voice of The Weekly Wright-up and more likely missed most by the staff and visitors of the Martin House Complex.

Read Jackson-Forsberg’s farewell post on the Top Nine Moments of Nine Years at the Martin House.

Eric, congratulations and best wishes as you embark on the next phase of your career.

Eric Jackson-Forsberg, Curator of the Darwin D. Martin House in 2003. (Photographer unknown)
Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jIs0-Sw8Q8M/T6KaYoFJZOI/AAAAAAAABMM/3cbzK1kiv8g/s320/DSCN0269.JPG

Just as I was running out of items to publish for Silly Saturday, this cute post on the Architects and Artisans blog came to my attention by way of Architizer.

In 1956 California paper boy Jim Berger asked architect Frank Lloyd Wright to build a dog house for his black lab, Eddie. Berger’s father was a client of Mr. Wright’s. Not one to turn down a challenging commission, Wright designed a modernist home for Eddie. Berger, however, never got around to building the home Wright designed for his beloved pet. According to Architects and Artisans, “His father and brother took up the project, completing it in 1963.”

Filmmaker Michael Miner obtained permission to rebuild the dog house as part of his documentary film, “Romanza,” about Wright’s work in California.

For more about the Frank Lloyd Wright dog house read the full story at Architects and Artisans.

For details on Michael Miner’s documentary on Wright visit Designed by Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright, plans for Berger Dog House, 1956. Photo credit: photograher unknown,
Source: http://www.architizer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FLWdoghouse-600x402.jpg

Eric Jackson-Forsberg, curator of the Darwin D. Martin House Complex in Buffalo, NY, tells the interesting story of how one of the surviving blocks from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel (demolished) found its way to the Darwin D. Martin House’s collection in Buffalo, NY. As the rock band the Grateful Dead said, “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

Read the details. »

Frank Lloyd Wright, Imperial Hotel (1917-22), Tokyo, Japan.
Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vxMFkJltFAk/TxCKpw7xVJI/AAAAAAAABFE/b3rG88sTp_g/s320/Main+Lobby+from+third+level.jpg

Happy Holidays to you all! Design and Desire will be back again in 2012 with more posts on Twentieth Century Design.

With Christmas at close hand we’re rerunning a Silly Saturday post on everyone’s favorite toy, LEGOS. This post orignally ran on January 15, 2011.

LEGOs - they’re not just for kids anymore! Former architect Adam Reed Tucker builds iconic skyscrapers out of LEGOs. His work is on display at the National Building Museum in Washington DC.

Not only has Prairie Mod posted Grant W. Scholbrock’s Gamble House and Robie House built out of LEGOs, but they’ve also designed their own version of Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect himself, in LEGOs using LEGO Digital Designer.

LEGO Frank Lloyd Wright presents a LEGO model of his Guggenheim Museum.
Source: http://www.prairiemod.com/.a/6a00d8341bf72a53ef013485fb117f970c-300wi

Interested in emulating Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings in LEGOs? Check out these LEGO Architecture kits of Wright’s most famous works: Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum.

LEGO’s Landmark series features kits on the Empire State Building, the John Hancock Building, and the Seattle Space Needle.

Design and Desire has featured the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his work several times. Today, however, we’re highlighting a Hollywood Hills home designed by his son, California architect Lloyd Wright.

Built in 1928 for Louis Samuel, personal secretary and companion to silent film star Ramon Navarro, the building has served as home for other notable celebrities. According to an article on msnbc.com, “Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green rented the home while they worked on the Broadway musical ‘On the Town.’” Actresses Dianne Keaton and Christina Ricci and record producer  John Carter were all former owners of the property.

The house, which prominently features Lloyd Wright’s signature Mayan influences, is currently on the market for $4.195 million. Read more details.

Lloyd Wright, Samuel-Navarro House (1928), Hollywood, CA.
Source: http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=null-nullAEA59085-C8DD-62CD-5712-26FBD50A2AA6.jpg&width=500

Prairie Mod has recently posted a photographic virtual tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue in the FEATURES section of their site. See the tour »

Frank Lloyd Wright, Beth Sholom Synagogue (1954), Elkins Park, PA.

Want to know more about this masterpiece from late in the architect’s career? Outta The Way has posted an informative article on the Beth Sholom Synagogue.

Last month Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal photographer, Pedro E. Guerrero, visited the Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York. According to Mark Sommer’s article in the Buffalo News, Guerrero was impressed with the complex’s restoration: ” ‘Marvelous, absolutely spellbinding. It’s breathtaking it’s so beautiful,’ Guerrero said.”

Pedro E. Guerrero at the Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo, NY, August 30, 2011. Credit: Harry Scull, Jr., Buffalo News
Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article538652.ece/BINARY/w620/flwrightphotog.jpg

Read the entire article. Thank you to The Weekly Wright-up for sharing this news.

Read more on the Darwin D. Martin House, and Mr. Wright’s relationship with Darwin D. Martin.

Pedro E. Guerrero, David Wright House, Phoenix, AZ (1952).
Source: http://www.guerrerophoto.com/Wright-Architecture-II-Gallery/images/11dWexterior1-1952.jpg

Olivia Walch (2010). Lesser-known Works Frank Lloyd Wright
Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/IMQ0922.jpg

First published by The Washington Post in September 2010, this cartoon was created by Olivia Walch winner of The Post’s “America’s Next Great Cartoonist Contest. According to Ms. Walch, “This is what you come up with if your Dad is an architect.”

Design and Desire in the Twentieth Century is celebrating its first birthday. The blog began as part of a class assignment for an online course in Social Media at Syracuse University’s iSchool. I had so much fun researching and writing about my love for Twentieth Century design that I kept on posting after the course ended.

In the past year D&D has covered topics as diverse as architecture of the Arts and Crafts Movement to the origins of the Coca Cola Santa Claus. Some of the artists and designers featured were: architect Louis Kahn, sculptor Isamu Noguchi, photographer Julius Shulman and film production designer Ken Adam, among others. I hope I’ve been successful in adding a human dimension to the design greats discussed.

Design and Desire has given me the opportunity to connect with some very interesting folks who share my passion for great design. I strongly suggest you take some time to check out their excellent and informative blogs:

•    Designslinger
•    DesignCrave
•    Aqua Velvet
•    Frank Lloyd Wright Newsblog
•    Josh Taylor Design
•    Fin de Siecle
•    Wood and Light

You may want to follow the additional blogs listed in the Blogroll on the right.
Sorry there’s no cake to celebrate with but here’s a photo of one that comes to us via Edward Lifson; it’s from the celebration held earlier this year, sponsored by the Mies van der Rohe Society, to commemorate the architect’s 125th birthday on March 28, 2011.

Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6wXxksjLWs/TZLhDS3X7BI/AAAAAAAANqw/4dnFut-MGNk/s400/Mies+birthday+cake.jpg

I sincerely want to thank all of you who’ve followed Design and Desire and enjoyed my blog. Please don’t hesitate to suggest ideas for future posts or just connect and say “Hello.” I’m so looking forward to another year of looking back at great design of the past century.