Customer Reviews

Richard Neutra's Windshield House

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An illuminating miniature on a legendary house that was almost destroyed by the New England hurricane of 1938 and succumbed to fire in 1973. It was NeutraÕs grandestÑand most unlikelyÑcommission: a summer house for a famous Rhode Island family on Fishers Island. John Nicholas Brown picked Neutra after seeing the MoMA exhibition on modern architecture that included the Lovell Health House. Neumann, a professor of architecture at Brown University, recently curated an exhibition on the house that may eventually be shown in LA. Meanwhile we can enjoy his entertaining account of how the patrician client and progressive architect corresponded and faced off, and the camel that resulted from the collaboration of this odd couple. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

I enjoyed this book and reading about the history of this very ornate and unusual house. I had the honor of living at Windshield House on Fishers Island back in 1965 and 1966 and wish now I had a better understanding of the house and its history at that time. What a shame that it was destroyed by fire.