10 minute read
Wright and not so wright
BY PHIL HALL
Throughout his career, Frank Lloyd Wright challenged the limits of design and engineering. Many of his works were initially greeted with intense controversy due to his unorthodox approach to architectural aesthetics. But within Wright’s legendary canon is a property that generated controversy before construction began.
In 1949, Wright received a commission to design a house for Ahmed K. Chahroudi, an engineer who purchased Petra Island (also known as Petre Island), an 11-acre wooded oasis in the middle of Putnam County’s Lake Mahopac. Wright conceived a one-story, four-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot home based on a triangular grid that included a 25-foot cantilevered balcony that soared out over the lake. The latter design element recalled the famed terrace at Fallingwater, the rural Pennsylvania home that many consider to be Wright’s residential masterpiece. Chahroudi would later claim Wright envisioned this work to surpass his earlier achievement.
Wright created six drawings to illustrate his ideas initially, but Chahroudi balked when presented with a proposed $50,000 construction budget. Plans for the house were jettisoned and Wright circled back to design a 1,200-squarefoot cottage for the island’s center. This modest structure became the Chahroudi family vacation home for many years. In 1995, Joe Massaro, a sheet metal contractor, bought Petra Island and its cottage for $700,000. As part of the transaction, he received the drawings for the never-built Wright home. In 2000,
The Massaro House. Courtesy Derek Lindstrom.
Massaro sold his business to make the construction of the Wright home a fulltime mission.
But there were challenges in Massaro’s path, not the least being an absence of Wright-crafted blueprints to serve as a guide for the project. He hired Thomas Heinz, an architect who worked on the renovation of several Wright structures, to fill in the missing aspects and introduce modern elements that were not available in Wright’s day, including air conditioning and radiant heating. Heinz used 3-D computer software to visualize Wright’s sketches at greater depth and kept all of the work in line with contemporary building codes.
But Massaro quickly ran afoul of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the nonprofit launched by the master architect in 1940 to preserve his legacy. The foundation claimed copyright ownership of the Wright sketches, while Massaro claimed the foundation demanded $450,000 to render working drawings from Wright’s sketches and to serve as the construction supervisor on the project. The parties went to court, with each claiming a victory: Massaro retained copyright ownership of the sketches, but the foundation forced Massaro to refer to his property as merely “inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright” and not being a bona fide Wright creation.
One aspect of the design that surprised Massaro was Wright’s fireplace fondness. The master architect was not content with a single living room cubbyhole for burning a few logs.
“Frank Lloyd Wright was big on fireplaces and we have six of them,” Massaro said in a 2007 interview with the trade journal Alternative Energy Retailer, “in the master bedroom, the library, the dining room, the living room, another bedroom and one outside on the deck that backs up to the living room and shares a chimney. The one in the living room is over 5 and ½ feet high and 8 feet wide.”
Oddly, Wright’s design had nothing regarding chimney caps. Rather than welcome the elements down the chimney, Massaro tapped Derek Lidstrom, owner of Chimney King in Gurnee, Illinois, to fill this void. Lidstrom began researching Wright’s houses to see what he used to cap chimneys, only to discover something strange.
“I went through about 120 Frank Lloyd Wright houses and blueprints and none of them had chimney caps,” he told Alternative Energy Retailer. “That was Wright’s eclectic style. He made his own rules.”
Obviously, those rules did not work on this project, and Lidstrom created custom-designed chimney caps for the property that encircle a rooftop helipad, another non-Wright feature.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation would publicly complain about other changes to the Wright concept that strayed from his modus operandi. These included the decision to have the decorative “rubblestone” protrude from the wall rather than be flush with it and the use of domed skylights rather than the flat variety Wright preferred. Massaro claimed flat skylights have a tendency to leak. He also insisted he could not build Wright’s planned exterior stairway from the balcony due to code problems.
Nonetheless, what Massaro, Heinz and their construction team brought forth was visually dramatic, starting with the entry hall’s naturally occurring “whale rock” measuring 12 feet high and 60 feet long. The “tail end” of the rock is incorporated into the kitchen, which includes African mahogany woodwork custom-built to Wright’s specifications. Twenty-six triangular skylit windows offer brilliant natural illumination. Massaro commissioned Wright-designed furniture, including built-in pieces that further enhance the setting.
Massaro’s construction crew reportedly poured 150 tons of concrete for the floors and some of the walls to hold this creative vision in place. The total budget for the construction has never been made public. While Massaro invited a PBS camera crew to record the construction’s completion in 2007 for a documentary, he never opened the house for the general public. Walter Cronkite was among the prominent guests invited for a private tour, and Massaro stated the veteran newsman commented, “I feel Frank in this house.”
Massaro and his family used the property as a residence until 2012, when he listed Petra Island, the house and the Chahroudi cottage for $19.9 million. But the listing attracted no serious inquiries. A 2013 rumor that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were house hunting on Petra Island put the house back in the news, but potential buyers were not that starstruck. The listing has been on-and-off the market for the past eight years, most recently in 2017 with a listing price of just under $15 million and then again in early 2019 for $12.9 million, where it remains today.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Massaro acknowledged the criticisms he shouldered with his property but would not offer regrets.
“You hear these purists that talk about how no unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright house should ever be built because Frank Lloyd Wright isn’t here anymore,” he said. “And then you take a look at this masterpiece of his. I’m sure Frank would rather have it built than not built at all.”
ON DESIGN FAIRS — AND FARE
BY CAMI WEINSTEIN
Wares columnist and interior designer Cami Weinstein at “Déco Off” in Rue de Jacobs, Paris, in January. This past January, designing eyes turned to Paris as the City of Light played host to “Maison et Objet,” a biannual interior design fair at Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, and “Déco Off,” which focuses on trade showrooms. I was fortunate enough to attend and, despite the many trains and subway strikes making it difficult to get around the city, thought it was fantastic. It was wonderful to see all the new spring offerings in the trade and the passion that everyone involved in our industry has for interior design. The last several years have given us the rise of online furniture — fast, inexpensive and generally generic. What has been lost and minimized is the time-honored traditions of custom-made furniture, lighting, fabric and wallpaper houses. It was wonderful to see beautifully constructed materials and furnishings that are still being created for
homes. I was delighted to meet many of the owners of these venerated companies. Their love and commitment to their products reassured me that there is still a vibrant industry with many gorgeous product offerings available to the public through interior designers.
The industry offerings at “Maison et Objet” included those from many American companies as well as from businesses around the world. The diversity of products and design viewpoints was inspiring. There were several takeaways from the weeklong fair. First, color was everywhere. Fabrics and wall coverings at “Deco Off” had many bold patterns and felt fresh again. Wall coverings were au courant, offered as they were in paper weaves, grass cloth and vinyl. Thin pieces of wood veneers are making the scene, creating outrageous wall coverings. Hair-on-hide was also popular and was featured on many wall coverings. Prints, either bold and graphic or antiqued, took center stage on walls. Wallpaper panorama panels were new and suggested an interesting way to create a feature wall if you don’t collect art. The panoramas also popped up on fabrics, giving plain panel window treatments a new focal point.
Custom rugs were woven in sisals, leathers, wools and some mixes of all the materials mentioned. I also found leathers that were so beautifully woven and colored that they looked and moved like fine fabric — perfect for dining room chairs, ottomans, pillows and, for full-on luxury, club chairs or sofas.
Other huge hits of the shows were the performance fabrics. The new performance fabrics can withstand spills and heavy use and are becoming harder to distinguish from finer fabrics. Although they are initially more expensive to use on upholstered furniture, their ability to withstand kids and pets is unparalleled in the marketplace. Many clients don’t realize that fabric that is on their furniture and used heavily only has a three-to-five year lifespan. Performance fabrics can withstand a longer time frame or at the vey least “perform” better by holding up to stains, pets and kids. For active households they should be a definite consideration.
Spending time at the fairs allows you to see upcoming trends and innovations in the field, expanding the knowledge you can give to your clients. The new trends also invigorate your work and creativity. They also include the use of environmentally friendly paints, stains, fabrics and furniture that is ethically sourced as well as the mixing of materials. There were tables made of wood, metal, marble or some combination of these and rugs made of combined wool, leather, natural fibers and cotton. A delicious edition — chunky throws to curl up with or those made of the finest wool and cashmere..
Whatever your style is, mix in some of the newer trends to freshen up your rooms. Update them with a new wall covering or a bold color. Recover that old sofa in a new performance or panorama fabric. Then sit back and savor the transformation.
For more, call 203-661-4700 or visit camidesigns.com.
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