Seth Petersen’s Cottage, Frank Lloyd Wright Architect

by Bo Mackison on 02/04/2011

Entrance to Seth Peterson Cottage, Mirror Lake, Frank Lloyd Wright architect

Seth's Cottage Entrance © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Seth Peterson, located on a bluff above Mirror Lake near Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton, Wisconsin, was one of the last commissions completed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The cottage was designed to include much in a very small space. The bedroom is small but very functional with built ins and closets. The dining and living area is almost spacious. When dining, one can gaze out at Mirror Lake and watch the water fowl. The flagstone floor has a radiant heating system underneath the surface and the floor is toasty warm for bare feet. Nice touch!

View from Entrance, Seth Peterson Cottage, Frank Lloyd Wright architect

From the Front Door to the Back Door - A View © 2011 Bo Mackison

Wright knew how to make the most of lighting and windows, and the cottage has plenty of both. The western exposure is a wall of windows set on a short stone base. The rear wall also has windows and insures a great view of the lake and the wildlife.

Central Fireplace at Seth Peterson Cottage, Frank Lloyd Wright architect

Central Fireplace at Cottage © 2011 Bo Mackison

He also employed stone in his exterior design and in the mammoth, central fireplace. The kitchen walls, located immediately behind the fireplace, are also entirely of stone. Modern appliances complement the warmth of the small alcove.

Seth Peterson never lived in the cottage he talked Frank Lloyd Wright into designing for him when Wright was 90 years old. Seth committed suicide before its completion, and the home was sold and finished by another party. In 1966 the state of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources acquired the building and property as a part of the adjoining Mirror Lake State Park, but due to its remote location, the building fell into disrepair.

In 1989 a non-profit group formed to save the building which was in near ruins. After much fund-raising, the cottage was fully restored. It has received numerous architectural awards and recommendations for the stunning rehabilitation. The mission of the Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy is one of preservation and education. But even more, it is one of opportunity, for it provides the opportunity to experience this unique building in an intimate setting, perhaps the exact setting Mr. Wright himself envisioned.

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Painted Desert Inn Interiors, Petrified Forest National Park

by Bo Mackison on 12/04/2010

Trading Room Glass Art Panels

Trading Room Glass Art © 2010 Bo Mackison

The Painted Desert Inn was built in the 1930s under the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the architect, Lyle Bennett, was in charge of the project. Under his guidance, two CCC workers hand-painted these skylights in the Trading Room of the Inn. The designs are based on prehistoric art found in Southwestern archeological sites. The concrete floors were also painted with patterns based on Navajo blankets.

Painted Desert Inn Mural by Fred Kapotie

Mural by Fred Kapotie © 2010 Bo Mackison

In 1947, the Painted Desert Inn was purchased by the Fred Harvey Company. The company placed their architect, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, in charge of renovation and repairs. She changed the color scheme to harmonize with the Inn’s natural surroundings.

She also hired Fred Kobotie, a famous Hopi artist, to paint blanket-sized murals on the walls of the dining room and lunch room. Kapotie’s murals depicted his culture and provided a glimpse into Hopi culture.Some of his subjects included the Buffalo Dance, a journey to a sacred place, spring planting time, and the sun’s face. The sun face also became the logo of the Fred Harvey Company.

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Hubbell Trading Post

by Bo Mackison on 10/21/2010

Wagon Wheel

Wagon Wheel © 2010 Bo Mackison

One of the last sites we visited in Arizona before reaching the Four Corners area was the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site located in Navajo Nation in northern Arizona.

John Hubbell purchased the trading post in 1878, ten years after Navajos were given permission to return to their homes from their enforced exile at Bosque Redondo in New Mexico. The Navajos were introduced to many, different material goods during the four years they were in New Mexico and Hubbell and his family traded with the Navajo once they returned home.

Hubbell Trading Post

Hubbell Trading Post © 2010 Bo Mackison

He built a trading empire that included stage and freight lines as well as several trading posts.

Historic Hubbell Trading Post

Historic Hubbell Trading Post © 2010 Bo Mackison

This historic site is surrounded by the Navajo Nation. The 160 acres are on the Colorado Plateau in the high desert, approximately 6300 feet in elevation. The environment is comprised mostly of shrub land and Pinon and Juniper vegetation.

Hubbell Trading Post, Interior

Hubbell Trading Post, Interior © 2010 Bo Mackison

Various members of the Hubbell family operated the trading post continuously until the site was sold to the National Park Service in 1967. The trading post remains active, continuing the trading traditions the Hubbell family began in the 1870s.

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Painted Desert Inn, Historic Landmark

by Bo Mackison on 10/20/2010

Painted Desert Inn and Autumn Blossoms

Autumn Blossoms, Painted Desert Inn © 2010 Bo Mackison

On our swing through some of the Southwestern National Parks in October, we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in the east central region of Arizona. This park also includes the Painted Desert and this building, the Painted Desert Inn Museum. The architectural style of the inn was influenced by Pueblo Indian dwellings and Early Spanish architecture. It was built to harmonize with its surroundings and blends well with the surrounding Painted Desert.

Garden at the Painted Desert Inn II

Desert Garden and Painted Desert Inn © 2010 Bo Mackison

The original inn was built in the 1920s, mostly of available stone and petrified rocks and the builders used a mud mortar to hold the structure together. It was a trading post and had a lunch counter, but it had no water or electricity. The Park Service purchased the building in 1936 and used WPA funds and Civilian Conservation Corps labor to essentially rebuild the entire structure.

In the late 1930s, National Park Service architect Lyle Bennett redesigned the building, utilizing the Pueblo Revival Style. The Painted Desert Inn re-opened for business on July 4, 1940 and was a stop on the Historic Route 66. (Petrified Forest National Park is the only national park that has a portion of the Historic Route 66 within its boundaries.) The inn’s life as an oasis in the middle of the desert lasted only a couple of years, and ended with the beginning of World War II. Traveling was greatly curtailed and the inn closed in 1942.

Not to be ignored for long, the Inn again opened and was operated from 1947 through 1963 by the Fred Harvey Company, a company who was a concessionaire in many of the Western National Parks. Then, after sitting unused for a dozen years, the building was scheduled for demolition in 1975. However a public outpouring of concern for the historic building convinced the Park Service to save the Painted Desert Inn. It opened in 1976 as a museum and bookstore on a limited basis.

Painted Desert Inn, National Historic Landmark

Painted Desert Inn, National Historic Landmark © 2010 Bo Mackison

It again underwent extensive repair in 2004-06 and then reopened as the museum and bookstore now pictured. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a National Historic Landmark.

The building is a stunning example of architecture, and has a history well worth exploring. There are exhibits inside the Inn which shed light on its fascinating history. A walk around the entire structure and through its many rooms reveals small architectural gems such as arched doorways and windows, hand crafted metal lamps, and an intriguing wooden beam support system in the ceilings.

In the next posts, I’ll feature the interior of the Painted Desert Inn, so lovingly and meticulously restored, and filled with art and intricate design features, and also photographs of the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest landscapes.

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Wingspread

by Bo Mackison on 06/09/2010

Wingspread in Racine Wisconsin, architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Wingspread © 2010 Bo Mackison

Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built Wingspread as a residence for Herbert F. Johnson and his family in 1938-39. It was his largest and last Prairie style building. Set on property near Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin, the 14,000 square foot home is surrounded by lagoons and ponds, and the home eases gently into the open space. Multiple sculptures and gardens enhance the landscaped grounds.

Statue at Wingsread, Racine Wisconsin, architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Statue on Wingsread Grounds © 2010 Bo Mackison

The home is in the shape of a pinwheel – four wings stretch from the Great Hall, a huge space with floor to ceiling windows and a central fireplace that has five hearths on three different levels. There is also an aerie at the very top of the great room – a circular stairway rises next to the fireplace to reach the glass space – which was requested of Mr. Wright by Johnson’s son. He wanted to have a look out where he could watch for his father’s airplane as he returned home to the family from his many trips.

The pinwheel extensions split the home into zones and housed the bedrooms and the kitchen areas. Johnson’s daughter’s bedroom was in the extension seen in the background of the above photo.

Made almost entirely of natural, organic materials — a warm red brick, wood, quarried limestone, and stucco — the home emphasizes Wright’s embrace of the natural surrounding lands.

One of Extension Wings at Wingspread, Racine Wisconsin

Office Wing at Wingspread

The Johnson family (Herbert was the grandson of SC Johnson of Johnson Wax fame) lived in the home for over 20 years. In 1959, the Johnson’s moved into a smaller home (referred to as “The House”) on the property and gave Wingspread to the Johnson Foundation for use as a conference and education center. Since that time, it has served as a primary think tank for non-profit corporations, and is said to be the birthplace for the ideas for both National Public Radio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Wingspread was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

The center was one of nine buildings in the Racine/Kenosha, Wisconsin area featured on this year’s Wright and Like Tour held on June 5th. The tour is sponsored by  Frank Lloyd Wright® Wisconsin, a non-profit organization devoted to preserving and sharing Wright’s Wisconsin heritage.

A second Wright landmark, the SC Johnson Administration Building, also a National Historic Landmark, was also featured. (Photos of the Johnson Administration Building including rare photos of the Penthouse floor to be posted soon.)

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Pew House by Wright

by Bo Mackison on 05/25/2010

On the Shore of Lake Mendota

Pew House by Wright © 2009 Bo Macksion

The Pew House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1938-40, is seldom available for public tours, so it was with great enthusiasm that I explored this home, inside and outside, during the Wright and Like Tour held in June, 2009. For those of you Wright fans who are in the Midwest, the next Wright and Like tour will be held in Racine/Kenosha, Wisconsin on June 4-6, 2010. There are great homes on the tour and an opportunity to see the Johnson Wax Company’s campus, one of Wright’s more iconic projects. For more information, contact the Wright and Like Tours.

Hidden from View

Hidden from View © 2009 Bo Mackison

Not much of a view of the Pew House from the dock or from Lake Mendota. The view from a boat on the lake would give no clue that a Wright home was tucked into this hillside.

The home is a two-story Usonian design, unusual but delightfully compact and full of Wright’s built-ins. In one of the small bedrooms, tiny in size, the room worked well because everything was built into the room – bed, desk, storage.

I read a delightful story about an interview with Ruth Pew who voiced unhappiness with the home for the first two years she lived there. It seems she felt that Mr. Wright did not take her wants and needs into consideration when he designed the home, and she was nearly ready to put the home on the market. Instead, she decided she would “give the house a year without struggling with it.” And in that year, she discovered that the home had been built not for the woman she was, but for “the woman I could become.” Talk about self-discovery!

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