I only just discovered "Bottle Rocket" this summer but I am definitely under it's spell.

Didn't know if anybody had posted this yet, but to anybody who is interested, we live in Dallas and drove past "Bob's house" (the Frank Lloyd Wright house on Rockbrook) on Sunday and they are renovating it!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO. They changed the roof and it looks horrible! I hope they don't do too much more to it.

i didn't know it was a frank lloyd wright


Edited by: contull at: 7/19/05 11:59 pm

Remodling a FLW building is a sin.

I. Love. Bob's house. Can't stand Bob though. ;)

Welcome Mike's Chick! <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->I never liked kids. They're like small drunk adults. </p>Edited by: KumarsTouch at: 7/20/05 1:38 am

Anybody who builds a marihuana crop in their parents' garden is cool. ;) <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->"When I was a little kid I wanted to know what caused thunder."
</p>

wow, MIkes chick, thanks for the inflo. But I to am shocked by this news!

I thought the house belonged to some friend of Wes'? and I didn't know it was FLW either. Surely there's some rule against modifying a historical building? <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> "There’s never any time to have too much self-doubt" - Wes Anderson </p>

Maybe it was time for a new roof? Maybe repairing a FLW roof is too difficult? Possible? Questions? Huh?

I should go blow up the house. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->I never liked kids. They're like small drunk adults. </p>

Putting a new roof on it is understandable, but I would have thought they would have put on the same type and color roof so as to keep with the original look of the house.

The construction trailers we saw on the property worry me a lot, but perhaps the joint just needs some updating which doesn't require big changes. The rick folks in Dallas just LOVE to knock down old cool homes and put up big, hideous, ostentatious eyesores. Hopefully the FLW aspect will keep these people in check, :b

Thanks for the welcome!!!

Can you take a couple of pictures? :)

Edited by: mazzi at: 7/25/05 10:37 am

Holy mother. That is effed. up. They can recreate the roof to match the original. It's 2005. We build space stations for crying out loud. And if that house is actually registered as a historical landmark, the State would help with the cost to maintain it as it was created, and the owners would be beholden to the renovation standards of a historical structure designated as such. What Mike'sChick (hello, lady!) describes above sounds like it's not on TX's or Dallas' books, and that's a shame.

I will say, though, FLW has built way cooler houses than Bob's house. They suck the air right out of me, some of them.

The Unitarian Church in KC? Not so much, though. :) Zzzz on the outside, didn't get to its inside. Looked pretty institutional though, I found that odd but inspired. Heh.

We have so little cool to hang on to in Arizona, we don't even try to touch anything FLW unless it's with the force of a feather duster. Day-uhm.

<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> <!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:navy;font-family:times new roman;font-size:x-small;">"And that's the whole idea of the film: it's a fake documentary; it's about fake secrecy. It's really important to me that it's all transparent, all totally coy. It's about what happens when you keep secrets, because they're transparent anyhow. Things will come out one way or another, and just because they come out doesn't mean they are true." - Jennifer Montgomery</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></p>

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I will say, though, FLW has built way cooler houses than Bob's house. They suck the air right out of me, some of them.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->I think I'd faint if I ever walked inside some of them. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->I never liked kids. They're like small drunk adults. </p>

I saw my first R.E.M. show in a venue designed by FLW. Gammage, at ASU. I know! It's true! And the Biltmore.

And then of course his old house out in the northeast Valley-desert, which I've never taken the time to see for myself.

For shame. I honestly don't know if it's open to the public or what. Arizonans are weird like this. We have the old Wrigley Mansion near the Biltmore but it's owned by someone, and the eateries inside are private. So strange.

Beautiful view from Wrigley. But that's not a FLW. Just saying, someone might own the house, might have it classed as a historical landmark, but that doesn't mean I can go inside.

I need to check on that. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> <!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:navy;font-family:times new roman;font-size:x-small;">"And that's the whole idea of the film: it's a fake documentary; it's about fake secrecy. It's really important to me that it's all transparent, all totally coy. It's about what happens when you keep secrets, because they're transparent anyhow. Things will come out one way or another, and just because they come out doesn't mean they are true." - Jennifer Montgomery</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></p>

dayton has one that i believe is a doctor's office or a realtor or something like that now.
realty would make more sense but i forget which it is. anyway i gawk every time i drive past

I almost bought a book on his houses the other day. It was about his less famous houses. I was thinking Bob's house might be in it. It had floorplans and everything . <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.appliedcommunications.net" target="top">Lobsteriscos Rocketiza</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--></p>

My girlfriend has the BR DVD and told me that the movie had a house by Frank Lloyd Wright in it. I had seen the movie 3 or 4 years earlier and thought the house was cool, but hadn't made the connection. We live in Dallas and had to go check it out since I'm a fan of his work. I too found that it was under renovation after we went to find it in July. I took pictures if anybody wants to check them out:

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://redwood.smugmug.com/gallery/698676/1/30427154">redwood.smugmug.com/galle...1/30427154</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->

I've looked in quite a few books on FLW including "complete works" that don't even have pictures of the house. It is not mentioned often for some reason. I did find this info in my research:

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.edallashomes.com/cgi-bin/wright.pl">www.edallashomes.com/cgi-bin/wright.pl</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->

The Wright Stuff

ONE OF THE largest homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is on the block, and it could command one of the highest prices ever paid for a residence done by the master architect. Last month, Dean Guerin, a retired investment banker, and his wife, Jo, put their Dallas home up for sale for $6.5 million.

In the early 1950s, Mr. Wright designed the house based on geometric shapes that took full advantage of sunlight to show off the structure’s intricate detail. It was built for John Gillin, a geophysicist.

When Mr. Gillin died, the Guerins bought the seven-acre property in 1975 for $1 million after admiring it and living two doors down from it for more than a decade.

Built with Texas sandstone and lots of glass, the 10,000 square-foot, four-bedroom house has a hexagonal-shaped living room with marble terrazzo floors, a polished cedar ceiling and built-in teak furnishings. The dining room has a Wright-designed banquet table in the form of a parallelogram with all obtuse angles.

According to listing broker Dave Perry-Miller of Adleta & Poston in Dallas, the house has been preserved “in its original state and has not been compromised by substandard remodeling or design changes.”

Here is the value of the house/land:
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.dallascad.org/AcctDetailRes.aspx?ID=00000419983000000">www.dallascad.org/AcctDet...9983000000</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->
This says the house is valued at $1million and the LAND is worth $4.6million.

Here are a bunch more pictures of the house up close:
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.dougnewby.com/Architecture/Architecturally%20Significant/9400rockbrook.asp">www.dougnewby.com/Archite...kbrook.asp</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->


From:
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/cityguides/dallas/2003-10-20-spotlight-bighouses_x.htm">www.usatoday.com/travel/d...uses_x.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->

Another half-century-old house can be found at 9400 Rockbrook. Oilman John A. Gillin commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright in 1950 to design a work of art that would also be suitable for living and entertaining. Completed in 1954, it's the only Frank Lloyd Wright residence in Dallas.

The result is a house that has three wings built off a central hexagon. The roof is made of copper, and the outer walls are of understated sandstone. It is a magnificent example of the type of work Wright was doing later in his career. Though Wright enthusiasts pass this way specifically to look at the house, it's a good bet that the many joggers and walkers who pass by on a daily basis are unaware of the significance of this house, which is still a private residence, in the architecture world.


It can also be seen in this Google Maps view (to the right of the balloon past the trees):
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=9400+Rockbrook+Dr.,+Dallas,+TX+75220&ll=32.867242,-96.829451&spn=0.006344,0.009948&t=k&hl=en">maps.google.com/maps?q=94...&t=k&hl=en</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->


Also, I noticed the name on the contractor signs for the renovation. They match this real estate listing mentioning the house was sold.... "A landmark property designed by Frank Lloyd Wright at 9400 Rockbrook, purchased by preservationists Elysianne and Michael Bishop. " Hopefully it will get restored to the way it was meant to be when it was done. There was a lot of ducting work and such out on the grounds, but it probably needed to be replaced by this point.

I need to go back by when I return to town after the holidays and check the progress.

-Sean "Redwood" Martin

Edited by: Redwood at: 12/24/05 12:30 pm