Frank Lloyd Wright Trip #1- Jacobs 1, Madison, WI

Jacobs 1

Built in 1937, Jacobs 1 was Wright's first Usonian home to be built. This was Wright new design that was both practical and efficient, he called these houses the affordable one family homes. They were said to be Wright solution to the nations housing shortage.

 

Each of the Usonain homes were designed to fit the surrounding and budge of the clients. The Usonains were advertised as being able to be built for $5,000, and Jacobs 1 was built for that much, but if you know anything about Wright the budgets were pretty much a joke to him.

 Wright would place the front of the home on the front edge of the lot so as to utilize and enlarge the back yard. He also designed the front side of the house to be plain & unattractive to thwart unwanted guest.

 The home was an L plan, with one wing being the living and dinning room and the other wing being the bedroom wing. The bathroom & kitchen sat in the corner of the two wings.

The back side of the house has a much more open feeling, the windows and door open up extending the living space to the outside and giving the house a bigger feeling.

The Jacobs house is a beautiful start of the Usonion homes and after visiting I can see many similarities between this home and Cedar Rock.

Frank Lloyd Wright Trip #1- Gilbert House aka The Airplane House, Madison, WI

The Gilmore House aka The Airplane House

This house is classified as a prairie style home. Eugene A. Gilmore was a law professor at UW and had bought this parcel of land with the intentions of having another architect design him a home. After reading an essay written by Mr Wright, as well as an unsatisfactory design from his previous architect, Gilmore commissioned Wright to build him a home.

 

The first floor of the home includes a library, as well as a living & dinning room. 

 The second floor of the home has 4 bedrooms.

When we pulled up to the house I noted it was at kind of an angle, after reading into it later I found out Wright did that to create privacy (not uncommon with a Wright house) as well as to take advantage of the morning sun. 

This house was given the nickname "The Airplane House" because of the broad straight lines of the design.