Customer Reviews

Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House: The Illustrated Story of an Architectural Masterpiece (Dover Architecture)

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This book is an excellent study, in marvelous detail
and analysis, of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpieces
of architecture. Too often the words "artist" and
"genius" only dimly suggest the true nature of the
person or work being discussed; but this book with
its keen and accurate delineations about Robie,
the client and his desires, Wright, the architect/
artist/genius and his desires, and the work of art
itself -- the Robie House -- help one to fully
understand the harmonious combination of elements
which can come together in producing a masterpiece.
The author of this work is Donald Hoffmann, and
he has himself produced a work of magnificence
in this full presentation of the design and execution
of a "dream house." Hoffmann gives full and interesting
accounts of Robie and of Wright as their two psyches
come together to promote an "idealized" artwork which
pleases both client and architect.
The book also has wonderful footnotes filled
with insightful comments and quotes. Here is
an example of one:

Louis H. Sullivan at the end of his life wrote
quite beautifully that Wright was gifted with
"an apprehension of the material,so delicate as
to border on the mystic, and yet remain coordinate
with those facts we call real life." (p. 31)

The text itself is filled with suggestive and
provocative commentary:

Wright's ideal was the comprehensive and unified
work of art, the *Gesamtkunstwerk. German culture
fascinated him. He spoke of Bach and Beethoven
as the two greatest architects, and he confessed
his love for the old Germany of Goethe, Schiller,
even Nietzsche. (p. 14)

Wright stood almost alone in his intuition of
the prairie. * * * Everything about the site
suggested a long, low, stream-lined, ship-like
house: the prairie, the nearby lake, the new
sense of speed, * * * and the shape of the lot ,
three times as long as it was wide. (p. 17)

Radical and masculine, the Robie house would be
built in a part of Chicago characteristically
stern and urbane. (p. 13)
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The book is filled with "160 carefully selected
illustrations" --which include architectural
drawings and many photos, both of the house,
of Robie and his family, of Wright, and of some
of Wright's other previous houses leading up to
the Robie House. Hoffmann also did excellent
research by gaining access to complete
taped transcripts by Robie, and interviews with
Robie's son, and others.

There is something very compelling and involving
to my sense perceptions about Wright's long, sleek,
tiered approach to architecture, as well as the
various designs of lamps and chairs and lights
which he included in the house. But on seeing the
photos of the dining room...and the rigid but
beautiful "Gothic" like chairs, as well as the
photos of the "stuff" that the Robie family
cluttered the Spartan rooms with in their
attempts to "customize" it to their living
desires...the house seems incredibly beautiful,
but not incredibly utilitarian: idealized, abstract,
geometric beauty and organic harmony with the
beauty and structure of Nature, but not necessarily
"organic" in its relation to people and "common
creature" comforts.

I bought this book after visiting the Robie House in Chicago. The book is outstanding with lots of old photos of the house in the construction stage. Also a good narrative about the history of the house. Highly recommend to Frank Lloyd Wright buffs.

Dieses Buch, wie sein Thema, wird wie ein Ziegelsteinouthouse aufgebaut. Unassailable Forschung. Gute Arbeit, Don.