A name well known among many artists and architects is Frank Lloyd Wright. He’s a genius architect who has designed some of the most original and highly productive buildings. Totaling around 800 structures, of which 380 have come to fruition and have been built.
There are also some famous pieces coming from Wright such as Falling Water, the Guggenheim Museum, Unity Temple, and as of most recent – a dog house?
Back in 1956, a young 12-year-old kid inquired as to whether – seeing as he was at that point already designing a home for his family, the Bergers – the extraordinary originator wouldn’t be upset to add on a dog house to go along with it.
Jim was a child of Gloria and Robert, who had as of late contracted Wright to create for them one of his unique ‘Usonian style’ homes for their family.
Wright commented saying that building a dog house for Eddie the Labrador retriever was an “opportunity,” however being the architect he is his schedule was quite packed for a while. He estimated that the young boy would have to hold off on plans if he were to take part in them for at least about a year and a half.
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As soon as he was able to, Wright kept his word to the boy and got around to his “opportunity” giving plans to the four-square-foot doghouse the following year, composed on the back of an envelope at no extra charge.
The dog house was three-sided and made to complement and fit the style of the primary house. It included signature Wright subtleties, such as a low-pitched rooftop with an exaggerated overhang. Wright even proposed that Jim use scrap bits of Philippine mahogany and cedar left over from the new home’s unique development to complete the project.
The young child never found the time to build it himself, but his dad and sibling didn’t let the project fade with time. They took it into their own hands and built it themselves. When they were finally done, everything looked great and the dog house was unique. However, they soon came to realize that the pup didn’t want anything to do with the fancy house, and instead preferred to sleep inside the normal house where it was much warmer and cozy.
Boy Asked Frank Lloyd Wright to Design Him a Dog House – And He Did https://t.co/HQyfhp3PNx
— LockShields (@LockShields) June 28, 2022
This didn’t sit well with Jim’s mom, Gloria, she eventually ended up throwing the entire dog house away in the landfill. In any case, in 2010, the narrative Designed by Frank highlighted Jim and his sibling revamping the doghouse as per the first plans, and, after they were done, they gave it to Marin County for show at one more of Wright’s structures, the Marin County Civic Center.
The piece was only displayed for a short while, but those who saw it only had good things to say about it. Presently, it sits in the storage and is maintained. It’s not often that we see busy big famous people come down to acknowledge the small people – especially requests from children that call upon those famous people to do work that they normally get paid for – and for free!
“The people love it,” Libby Garrison of the Marin County Department of Cultural Services said. We are a pet-loving community and I think it’s an intimate kind of lovely building and I feel like it tells a bigger Frank Lloyd Wright story. The doghouse adds a further dimension to Frank Lloyd Wright in Marin County, and it’s a fun family story.”