History

BERNARD SCHWARTZ HOUSE

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

In 1938, Frank Lloyd Wright, at 71 old, was entering the most productive period of his life and, once again, in the media spotlight. The Architectural Forum devoted an entire issue to his work, Time Magazine ran a cover story entitled Usonian Architect the Johnson Wax Administration building was under construction in Racine Wisconsin, and Fallingwater was being completed in Pennsylvania. Edgar Kaufmann was a supporting patron in promoting Wright’s Usonian ideas. While considering the idea to build a version of the Jacobs House inside Kaufmann’s Department Store in Pittsburgh, the concept took on a much larger scope when Life Magazine, in collaboration with The Architectural Forum, invited Wright to participate in an article called “Eight Houses for Modern Living”. The magazine commissioned designs of a "dream house" for four typical American families with incomes ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 a year; with both a traditional and a modern architect assigned in each case. Edgar Kaufmann was developing a plan to sell furnishings for the “dream houses” as well as market the houses themselves.

Wright designed a “Modern” house for the Blackbourn family, who were in the $5,000~$6,000 a year income range. In a letter to the Blackbourns, he writes “American (I prefer to say Usonian) family life is unlike any other in the world and I think this plan recognizes it for pretty much what it is --a little private club-- with special privacies, ultra conveniences and style all the while."

The Blackbourns, however, ran into a number of obstacles and were unable to build the design.

Meanwhile In Wisconsin, Bernard Schwartz, a Two Rivers Business man was ready to build a house for his family and give Wright the opportunity to build his Life Magazine “Dream House”. Bernard and Fern Schwartz made the trip to Taliesin, where Frank Lloyd Wright, eager to see the house built, was happy to fulfill their dream of owning a Wright design.

Wright modified the Life Magazine plans to accommodate the new site and client; changing materials from the original stucco and stone to brick and red tidewater cypress board and batten. He went on further to refine the design by pushing up the ceiling in the living area making room for an interior balcony overlooking the sixty-five foot long, aptly named, recreation room. Wright continued on to design tables, chairs, hassocks, beds, fruit bowls, lamps and a custom couch with built-in bookshelves and cantilevered end table.

Wright, clearly happy with the completed Schwartz House, continued to produce plans for extensive landscaping, a pergola leading to a farm unit and large boathouse on the river.
Michael Ditmer

Frank Lloyd Wright

Usonian
Houses

photo courtesy: Steve Schwartz

Restoration

Schwartz Manufacturing, Two Rivers, Wisconsin

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The Schwartz House is a participant in the “Associate Site Program of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation”™