Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House: The Birth And Rebirth of an American Treasure [Hardcover]

Barbara Kimberlin Broach (Author), Donald E. Lambert (Author), Milton Bagby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2006

Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House book tells the story of the building's design, construction--which, like so many of Wright's commissions, involved high drama punctuated by humor--remodeling, and restoration. Written with lucid wit and plentifully illustrated with photographs and drawings, it is insightful and entertaining in equal measure.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Pomegranate (September 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764937634
• ISBN-13: 978-0764937637
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saving a Frank Lloyd Wright House, December 9, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House: The Birth And Rebirth of an American Treasure (Hardcover)

To argue that Frank Lloyd Wright's house designs were anything less than spectacular is to look at the lines of the design rather than to the details of the construction. This delightful little book describes the Rosenbaum House in Florence Alabama.

Basically the house was one of the early Usonian homes that interested Wright a great deal in the years just before and after World War II. These were homes designed with spectacular design features but were small homes intended for the average family.

The Rosenbaum house was 1,540 square feet. It is a spectacular design, as you would expect. But built at what was then pushing the state of the art, the construction details were not quite up to the design aspects. The dead flat roof wasn't strong enough to remain flat, as it sagged it created catch basins that held water that the roofing material was not designed to keep out. Termites had their way with some of the wood. The heating system had never worked properly, and on and on. The building was condemned with the building inspector recommending that it be torn down.

The City of Florence bought the house, originally constructed with a target price of $7,500 and an actual construction cost of $14,000 for $75,000 and then spent $540,00 rebuilding it. The result is as spectacular as it was in 1940. It is a work of art.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful Guide to a Beautiful & Instructive Usonian Home, March 13, 2007

By 

James Michael Scott (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House: The Birth And Rebirth of an American Treasure (Hardcover)

I offer warm praise for this informative book, which is now offered to students of Frank Lloyd Wright's work. Frank Lloyd Wright's 2nd, and most beautifully preserved, Usonian House must have startled the quiet Florence, AL neighborhood in 1940 when it appeared as a finely crafted Alien on its 2-acre corner lot. Supremely private from all public views, the exterior view reveals the design's fluid openness and elegant use of red Tidewater cypress wood, red brick, concrete, and glass. The young Rosenbaum family produced several children. So Mrs. Rosenbaum requested that Mr. Wright design an expansion of the original home, to incorporate their wish for a 4th bedroom (with its own bath), additional storage, an enlarged kitchen and laundry facility, and a playroom with extra integrated dining space. The finished product screams modernity, sleekness, horizontal flow, and intimacy, as the surrounding land plot appears to melt outward and flow from the intensity of the design of the dwelling. An enclosed Japanese Garden rounds out the entire concept of a spiritual and private enclave offering a quieting style and peace. Following a multi-million dollar historical renovation, completed in 2002, the house is now open to the public by appointment, and operated by the City of Florence as the finest small FLW home in the world. Based on traditional wooden Japanese houses--built around a Tatami Mat grid--all elements of the design derive from the repeated rectangle-grid floor forms that Mr. Wright determined for the grounding of the placement of doorways, halls, windows, book shelving, and elegant built-in storage cabinets. The house features one of the 1st cantilevered carport structures ever built in the world, the daring early use of flat metal roofs, original use of glass clerestory windows up to the roof line, extensive documentary photographs of the design features, and correspondence to and from Mr. Wright's atelier as ideas for the original structure and its expansion just nine years later emerged. The result is a supremely edited whole that will induce fascination and delight.

[I have introduced several groups of interior design students to the home and grounds. All groups have loved it! I also offer great praise for the remarkably well-informed docents at the property, who serve as the most delightful and elegant tour guides. These people absolutely love this home. They are well-versed regarding the history of the home, and are great admirers of the work of Mr. Wright. The docents also have the added learning, year after year, of speaking with an admiring Public from everywhere! Wright fans from all over North America and Europe travel regularly to visit and revisit the home. Wright scholars have rightly praised the renovation, which was overseen by the book's primary author, Barbara Broach. To speak with Ms. Broach is to have Lunch with the Voice of Experience with regard to historical renovation! Her love for the place is palpable.]

This book should be welcomed by Wright fans, and students of interior design, architecture, and real estate development. But better yet, schedule a trip to the home itself. And meet the docents. Contact with this house has completely transformed the images of what the students felt was even possible in a finely crafted home environment. What you will learn from the book is how all of this Art in architectural expression came to be. And the immense work required to rejuvenate the inherent Beauty of it all. Complete with scaled floor plans and beautiful photographs. Warmly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rosenbaum House, January 11, 2007

By 

Bob White "turtle1752" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House: The Birth And Rebirth of an American Treasure (Hardcover)

Being intimately familiar with this house-family and location-it is with great pleasure that I rate this book 5 stars. As most people familiar with FLW houses realize, the problems with construction can sometimes be many-yet can be overshadowed by the problems encountered over the years with malfunctions and upkeep of the original design. These problems can be nagging enough to become monumental! This book pulls no plugs about these situations.This is pleasantly refreshing.

A great read for students of FLW houses or architecture in general--a must visit to the actual house for anyone anywhere--especially in the

South!