A House Is a House Is a House
Frank Lloyd Wright believed that architecture was the greatest of the arts, and he may have had a point. One of the primary functions of art, he said, was to teach us how to live our lives. Wright's innovative and revolutionary designs certainly did that. When Stanley Marcus, of the Texas department store, received Wright's plans for a new home, he discovered to his dismay that there were no bedrooms or closets. "In your climate," Wright told him, "you don't need bedrooms, you can sleep outdoors." Wright had never been to Texas, however, and had no idea how bitter cold it could get. As for closets, Wright frequently short-changed his clients. As far as he was concerned all they were good for was accumulating junk.
posted by John M Crowther @ 6:54 AM
8 Comments:
Now if Wright were a woman his policy would have been entirely different. No closets indeed! Where the hell are you supposed to stuff the laundry when company comes?! Love it John!
As a graduate of Illinois Tech where Mies Van der Rohe reigned I have always had mixed feelings about FLW as an architect. His buildings are certainlly works of art, but many of them don't work as buildings. The Guggenheim is great sculpture but a terrible place to look at paintings. Kaintuck Knob , about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh has a hallway only 20'"wide. Mary I will be in Chicago in late may. maybe we can meet. Roger
Roger, as you always end up signing your posts as “Roger” you are no longer anonymous as far as I am concerned so I wish to hell you would use the Name function and call yourself by our own name. It's a grand old name, as was Mary’s before the fashions came, and as far as I am concerned there’s no reason not to use it. As for myself my real name is obviously not L.R. Ellerman. It’s something else, but as I am currently under the Witness Protection program that’s what they told me to call myself. There was an art program in the federal prison in which I was incarcerated before my release and, until they stopped the program for lack of funds, we had a choice—either we studied Crowther’s drawings or they put us in the hole. It’s thanks for that that I am what I am today. No longer a petty thief, a wiseguy, but the proprietor of one of Arizona’s best pizza parlors. You can thank John for that so honor him but using your own name. A word to the wise is sufficient, right?
HEY! My name is still fashionable!!!
Hey, ease up on Roger, big mann. As I'm sure you heard in the slammer, hey nonny nonnymous. Whatever the heck that means. -- John
Great cartoon and great comments on this one.
Mary Jansen, back in 1906, long before the fashions and fashionistas came, our great Irish-American patriot, songwriter and playwright George M. Cohan, wrote this verse to a song:
My mother's name was Mary
She was so good and true.
Because her name was Mary
She called me Mary, too.
She wasn't gay or airy
But plain as she could be.
I hate to meet a fairy
Who calls herself Marie.
Thank God, Cohan never lived to see a Gay Pride parade!
Almost makes me wish my mother had named me Tabitha...Mary's just too easy to mess with. Sigh. But yes, it IS a good old-fashioned name. And as with so many of those other oldies I have confidence the sentimental wheels of time will regurgitate it once again to future vogue mothers, (and fathers, of course!)
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