A landmark building in Wright’s career, the Winslow house was his
first major commission as an independent architect. While the design
owes a tremendous debt to the earlier Charnley house, Wright always
considered the Winslow house extremely important to his career. Looking
back on it in 1936, he described it as "the first 'prairie house’.”
Defined by an overriding sense of simplicity and a mastery of form and materials, the Winslow house anticipates Wright’s mature Prairie buildings of the next decade. Sheltered beneath a gently sloping roof and wide eaves, the house stands as a symmetrical monolithic block, divided into bands of cast stone, golden Roman brick, and a terracotta frieze of sinuous Sullivanesque ornament. In contrast to the calm, classical front elevation, the private, rear of the house is a dynamic mass of irregularly sized geometric forms comprising a stair tower, chimney, conservatory, and second floor sitting room. On the interior, the plan echoes that of Wright’s own home, with an inglenook fireplace at the center, around which a library, entrance hall, living room and dining room are arranged.
Defined by an overriding sense of simplicity and a mastery of form and materials, the Winslow house anticipates Wright’s mature Prairie buildings of the next decade. Sheltered beneath a gently sloping roof and wide eaves, the house stands as a symmetrical monolithic block, divided into bands of cast stone, golden Roman brick, and a terracotta frieze of sinuous Sullivanesque ornament. In contrast to the calm, classical front elevation, the private, rear of the house is a dynamic mass of irregularly sized geometric forms comprising a stair tower, chimney, conservatory, and second floor sitting room. On the interior, the plan echoes that of Wright’s own home, with an inglenook fireplace at the center, around which a library, entrance hall, living room and dining room are arranged.
No comments:
Post a Comment