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Frank Lloyd Wright (1867—1959)

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California, 1923

John Storer House

This house was the second of four houses that Frank Lloyd Wright built out of textile block in California in 1923 - Using pre-cast textile concrete blocks reinforced by an internal system of bars. The Textile block repels heat in the summer and retains it in winter - acting as an insulator.

Unlike other Wright's houses, this house had far less windows, hidden doorways, the main floor housed the dining room and bedrooms while the second floor contained the living room. One of the glories of this house are its terraces: one for the living room and two others on main floor.

For the first time the architect could exploit his grid system vertically as well as horizontally: in Wright's own words, 'Standardization was the soul of the machine, and here I was the weaver ... crocheting with it a free masonry fabric ... great in architectural beauty.'

At the time, Wright's second marriage was in trouble and led to a bitter divorce proceedings and trouble with the law. Perhaps this isolationist, futuristic style construction was somewhat influenced by his life at the time. Wright's eldest son, Lloyd, supervised the construction of this and the other three textile block houses in California.

Wright designed a rectilinear floor lamp, with black shaft and base which complemented the austerity of the concrete block walls.

The John Storer House is located at 8161 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California. If you are looking for publications on the 'John Storer House' or the 'Textile block homes' click here.
 

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