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KLMNO
SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2010
PHOTOS BY KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST The front of the Robert Llewellyn Wright House in Bethesda is an imposing facade of concrete blocks. The architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, “wanted building materials to be visible,” his grandson says. His grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright, created his Bethesda home wright continued from E1
the house was cantilevered over the ra- vine below and stared straight across to the trees on the other side. But the house in the sketch wasn’t to
be. The design was too costly, and so the man who wanted to create modest homes for people on middle-class budgets adjusted his vision to meet his son’s financial limitations. Away went the pedestal; the almond-shape house was planted firmly on the ground, a modest cantilevered balcony off the master bedroom a reminder of the original plan. The house was complet- ed in 1958, the year before the famed architect’s death. Today Thomas L. Wright, the archi-
tect’s grandson, lives in the house with his wife, Etsuko Saito. The face the house shows a visitor is
a formidable one, all cut-concrete block trimmed with Philippine mahog- any. The house arcs away from the paved parking area, the curve inter- rupted on the right side by a chunky round tower that rises above the home’s two stories. The only relief in the fortress-like facade comes from the front door and from small windows that could just as easily be a medieval castle’s arrow loops. The payoff is inside: The far wall of the living/dining room is a band of pic- ture windows, many of them floor to ceiling, still looking out over the trees but at a lower, and less expensive, ele- vation. The windows make a grand curving sweep across the open floor plan and give onto an open concrete deck. The greenery outside tempers the bright sun; on cloudier days, the interi- or becomes moody. As Wright, 74, shows a visitor around the residence, his reverence for his grandfather’s legacy is apparent. “He wanted building materials to be
visible,” Wright says, “no paint, no wall- paper.” And indeed, the interior wall displays the raw concrete block, just like the outside. The house has amenities that were coming into vogue in the 1950s. There’s a powder room next to the front door and a half-bath en suite with the mas- ter bedroom. A full bath on the second floor serves the other two bedrooms. The scale of all of these rooms is tiny — how else would a living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms and as- sorted baths fit in only 1,800 square feet? But it’s also the scale of another era and another mind-set: Frank Lloyd Wright’s bedrooms are famously de- signed for sleep — in a modestly pro- portioned bed — and little else. The house’s curving shape and the
pointy ends accomplish an interesting visual trick: The individual spaces, Tom Wright points out, are on the small side, so the house feels quite cozy,
various rooms. And he had a master craftsman in Hawaii re-create a famous four-sided music stand designed by the architect for string quartets that per- formed at Taliesin, his estate near Spring Green, Wis. Also dotting the room are Japanese
textiles and trinkets, contributed by the Japanese-born Saito, 62. She and Wright married in 2003. There are probably more objects displayed in the house than Frank Lloyd Wright would have sanctioned, but the architect was quite influenced by Japanese design and the Japanese use of space, so he might been sympathetic. The most striking spot in the house is arguably the stairway to the bed- room level. The stairs curl tightly around a mahogany wall to the left and severe concrete block on the right, bringing to mind a medieval tower. The effect is only enhanced by the light glimpsed from tiny windows high above. Tom Wright did not grow up in this house. His parents lived in a series of rented houses in Silver Spring while they saved up to build. By the time the house was finished, he was in his 20s and completing the studies that would steer his career with the U.S.Geological Survey as a volcano specialist. He spent a good portion of his adulthood living and working in Hawaii and Japan, where he met Saito. He returned to the Washington area in 1993 to help his mother, who was in failing health. The house has health issues of its own. After several attempts at repair, Wright thinks the flat roof is now sound, but the concrete blocks that form the big round chimney have taken on water over the years, and a serious renovation is required.
Top left: A tile bearing the famous architect’s signature near the entrance of Tom Wright and Etsuko Saito’s home in Bethesda. Top right: A lamp in the master bedroom is a reproduction of a Frank Lloyd Wright design. Above: The staircase is reminiscent of a medieval tower. The 1,800-square-foot house has three bedrooms, a curved kitchen and some original built-in furniture. It was completed in 1958, the year before the architect’s death.
but because of the curve, you can’t see the whole area at once, giving a feeling of more space just beyond view. In ad- dition, the living room is open, making it seem more spacious. The tower seen from the front of the house encloses an unusual curved kitchen, complete with semicircular counters. There’s no dishwasher here —and no fantasies of creating a trophy kitchen. Wright is a righteous custodi- an of his grandfather’s vision, pointing out typical touches such as a clever wood table that slides into the lower
cabinets when not in use but can serve as a table or an additional work sur- face. The other half of the tower forms
part of a large round fireplace in the center of the house that marks where the living room segues into the dining room. The eating area is an elongated sliver in one of the pointy ends of the oval. A half-round dining table is against the window wall, with chairs ringing it so everyone can look outside. The home’s unusual shape also lays a foundation for Frank Lloyd Wright’s re-
nowned built-in furniture. At the pointy end of the living room, a ban- quette of slim proportions hugs the curved wall to offer seating (although there are freestanding chairs in the room as well). The children’s bedrooms have small built-in desks and trundle beds. Not built in but original to the house is the lozenge-shape coffee table in the middle of the living room surrounded by six upholstered stools that mimic its contours. Tom Wright points out origi- nal lamps that provide task lighting in
— Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, writing on a preliminary drawing of a house for his son and daughter-in-law “Dear Llewellyn & Betty et al. How’s this? Dad.”
“I would need to spend at least $100,000 to do the things I need to do to the house,” says Wright, who lives on a government pension. Organizations such as the Frank Lloyd Wright Preser- vation Trust do not provide funds for properties that remain in private hands, so Wright tries to use preserva- tion tax credits and his own savings to underwrite repairs. His grandfather “was very irrespon- sible with money,” Wright says, ac- knowledging the architect’s famously prolifigate ways. With a laugh, he adds: “We’re a downwardly mobile family.” But it’s a family still interested in
preserving its famous forebear’s lega- cy: Tom Wright’s son and daughter are both married and live in the Washing- ton area. He consults with them when discussing the needs of the home, “be- cause it will affect them.” And both of them, he says, have expressed a willing- ness to take over the house — and the legacy — when the time comes.
mckeonn@washpost.com
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