In 1943 Joseph Eichler, then working in the family egg and butter business, rented one of Wright's Usonian homes in the San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough.
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| Sidney Bazett House utahstyleanddesign.com |
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| Interior of Bazett House eichlerforsale.com |
"Usonian" is a term Wright coined for the series of homes he designed in the 1930s at the height of the Depression. They were built to be economical, custom homes for the middle class, and they were typically single-story dwellings which had no attics, no basements, no garages and little ornamentation.
Eichler loved the Bazett House, but he and his family stayed there for only two years, as it was sold to Louis and Betty Frank. However, the time Eichler spent in the FLW home had a profound influence on his life. He left the family business and in 1949 founded Eichler Homes Co. Over the next 20 years, his company built more than 11,000 houses, and those still standing are in great demand for their iconic mid-century design.
Wright's influences on Eichler's homes include floor-to-ceiling glass which provided openness to nature, street walls containing almost no windows, radiant floor heating, and carports.
Eichler innovations included post-and-beam construction, glazed gables, central courtyards, and open kitchens incorporated into multipurpose rooms.
Eichler innovations included post-and-beam construction, glazed gables, central courtyards, and open kitchens incorporated into multipurpose rooms.
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| Typical Eichler exterior eichlerforsale.com |
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| Typical Eichler interior homes-in-anza.com |
No basement. No attic. Sounds like all the houses in Florida -- also no closets no storage space! I do love the FLW versions though. The house sure seems more modern than the 1930s. Looks quite roomy, unlike most houses in Florida.
ReplyDeleteSure would be nice to own a house with a lot of space, attic, basement or not.
Basements are rare in most of Texas too, but most houses have attics. The size (and importance) of closets in U.S. homes today really shows how obsessed with clothes and shoes we've become as a society. I have a feeling the house we live in now was built by an affluent family because of some its features, but the bedroom closets are still very modest by current standards, even though there is a tremendous amount of storage elsewhere.
DeleteIt was such an exciting evolution in modern architecture, you can definitely see the connection. It is so easy to forget that before FLW, mainly Victorian houses were built.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that the Usonian houses are extremely modern for the time they were built. They have always fascinated me.
DeleteTo build an Eichler house today requires tighter energy codes and stronger earthquake resistant structural codes. The same look would be hard to achieve today although some have been built in Nevada.
ReplyDeleteInteresting...I'd love to see some of the new versions.
DeleteSuggest a visit to the Bachman-Wilson House at Crystal Bridges website to see a beautiful relocated house by Wright.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous house! I wasn't aware of the Crystal Bridges Museum. It's close enough for us to take a trip there easily, so that's on my to-do list.
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