Broadacre City

Frank Lloyd Wright

and his vision for the urban future

American System-Built Houses

by Franz Sdoutz

'American System-Built Houses' [American System-Built Homes, ASBH, American Ready-Cut prefabricated housing, American Ready-Cut System, American System Ready-Cut, American Ready-Cut System Houses] 1911 - 1917, Frank Lloyd Wright …

» I do not want any mistake made about this new "System". These buildings are not in any sense the ready cuts buildings we have all heard of where a little package of material is sold to be stuck together in any fashion. The American System-Built House is not a ready cut house, but a house built by an organization, systematized in such a way that the result is guaranteed the fellow that buys the house.
[…]
I do not want to lose sight of the central idea of using the machine and all modern industrialism to produce beauty. […] Simply selling houses at less cost means nothing at all to me. To sell beautiful houses at less cost means everything. […] « I.) 1

Frank Lloyd Wright designed different housing units A.) for real-estate developer Arthur L. Richards, using a system of industrially manufactured and trimmed elements B.) assembled on site in order to reduce costs. C.) Small homes were advertised from $2.750, larger ones for up to $10.000 ($100.000). D.) Some E.) units have remained. The enterprise failed however. F.)

So far consent; further detail depends on the expert respectively.

1. ^ The scale of the enterprise:
   Richard Cleary (2009) writes: "Wright produced designs for approximately three dozen residences […] (for which he planned 138 types)" II.) 2
   Allin Storrer notices 2009: "The ASBH drawings alone count nearly a thousand."
   According to Kamps/Das (in 1991) 966 drawings for 38 different designs of System-Built Houses are catalogued in the Taliesin archives. VIII.)
   Anthony Alofsin counts some 800 drawings in 1993 [page 343, note 57].
   […]
2. ^ The system's engineering:
   Colin Davies (2005) identifies Wright's system as a 'balloon frame' construction.
   The MoMA specifies (2002) "wood framing, floors, joists, rafters, roofs, and trim" as its pre-cut parts.
   "Building components, including precut lumber, doors, and windows would be sent to the jobsite from a mill and warehouse in Milwaukee. The business plan had much in common with other mail-order-house enterprises of the time […]" II.) 2
   A ready-cut Sears home came in approx. 30.000 pieces - counting each and every nail … [IKEA concept] youtube.com [2007]
   
   Details are referred to: Kenneth Martin Kao 'Frank Lloyd Wright: Experiments in the Art of Building' published in Modulus 22, the Architectural Review at the University of Virginia 1993 [page 79-90] http://www.savewright.org/
   
3. ^ Its assembly:
   Customers of a Sears kit-home would have saved 1/3 (even 40%) the price compared to a traditionally built house mainly due to the in-necessity of skilled labour. The houses could be assembled in a DIY fashion. [Possibly my rather than] Wright's ideal for the 'proliferation' of Broadacre City and common practice in his "Organic Architecture" a few years later. III.) 3
   
   But as Wright himself emphasised I.) 1 his system-homes were to be assembled by local builders and contractors stressing quality and depending on skilled craftsmen to implement their beauty.
4. ^ Costs:
   … are simply [… even artfully I.) 7] avoided
   
   In 1918 the Sears most expensive 'Carlton' cost $4.875, the "Magnolia" $4.485 IV.) (»Honor Built, already cut and fitted«). "The Saranac" (»Standard Built, not cut or fitted«) was sold for $390.
   
   According to William Allin Storrer [2002] - referring to an announcement in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, March 4th, 1917 - small homes were offered from $2.750 to $3.500, larger ones from $5.000 to $100.000. [!] V.) 4 I.) 7
   
   This price range is either misprint or the true reason why the project never took of in the first place. Even at $10.000 (as quoted by Christopher A. Meyers from the same advertisement) the System Built House would have been (compared to its competitors) an up market product, not the low cost housing scheme for which it is generally perceived.
   
   Richard Cleary acknowledges: "The premise of the American System-Built Houses was to offer middle-class home buyers the opportunity to build customized homes with guarantees of price and quality." II.) 2
5. ^ Their number:
   Those are the 6 buildings in W. Burnham St., Milwaukee.
   According to Michael Lilek speculative investments intended to be sold of immediately, VII.) not show-case-houses demonstrating the system to potential customers (as one was previously led to believe), which would explain why 2720-2734 W. Burnham St. are [were] identical.
   
   And at least 9 other (remaining Houses) are listed. V.) 5
   
   There is a re-count:
   "Mysterious 29" ASBH have been [re]discovered in 2008.
   http://www.franklloydwrightinfo.com/
   http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/
   http://www.prairiemod.com/
   http://my.journaltimes.com/
6. ^ The end:
   Most sources identify the United States participation in World War I (from April 1917 until November 1918) as the primary (economic) cause for the projects closure.
   
   Some explain the 'abandonment' of the project with Wright's other endeavours (Imperial Hotel) and a difficult phase in Wrights live. VI.) 6
   
   And there is the lawsuit between Wright and Richards in 1917 as an indicator… VII.)

'Arthur L. Richards Duplex Apartments'
1916
'Arthur L. Richards American System-Built Homes Bungalow'
'Arthur L. Richards Small House' [for $1835 compare D.) ]
1915 [according to Storrer V.)]
by Frank Lloyd Wright

Geoposition: E.)
+43° 0' 37.47", -87° 56' 55.23"
http://maps.live.com/
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53215
2714,
2720-22, 2724-26, 2728-30 and 2732-34 West Burnham Street
and
1835 South Layton Boulevard

All 6 are situated next to each other!
[Numbers are consistent to most sources, and meanwhile confirmed by http://wrightinmilwaukee.org/.]

References:

1. IN: 'Frank Lloyd Wright: Essential Texts' edited by Robert Twombly, published by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. NY 2009
   
   'The American System of House Building' [page 181 - 185]
   » This excerpt from Wright's "recent" speech to an unidentified gathering of Chicago businessmen (most likely realtors) was published in the Western Architect, 24 (September 1916). «
   
   1 ^ [page 183] [page 185]
   First part very similar online: www.chameyer.net, www.appraisercitywide.com
   7 [page 181] "[…] the least expensive advertised in the Chicago Tribune in 1917 for $2,730." [!]
2. IN: 'Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward' published on the occasion of the exhibition 'Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward' at the Guggenheim Museum NY 2009, by Skira Rizzoli Publications Inc. 2009
   
   'Frank Lloyd Wright and the Romance of the Master Builder' by Richard Cleary [page 47 - 57]
   
   2 ^ a b [page 50] Emphasising "a degree of customization, unmatched by the competition."
3. 'Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses: Designs for Moderate Cost One-Family Homes' by John Sergeant, published by Watson-Guptill Publications / New York, 1984 Paperback Edition (First published 1976 in New York, by Whitney Library of Design) http://books.google.at/
   
   3 [page 138 onwards]
4. ^ Prices quoted from: 'Houses from Books Treatises, Pattern Books, and Catalogs in American Architecture, 1738-1950 : A History and Guide' by Daniel Drake Reiff, published by Penn State Press, 2000) http://books.google.de/ [page 192]
   
   Compare prices and architecture with the Sears Archive: www.searsarchives.com
5. ^ 'The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: a complete catalog' by William Allin Storrer, Frank Lloyd Wright, published by University of Chicago Press, 2002 http://books.google.at/
   
   4 [page 201]
   5 [page 198 onwards]
6. 'Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture' by Robert C. Twombly, published by Wiley-IEEE, 1979 http://books.google.de/
   
   6 [page 174]
7. ^ a b 'The American System-Built Homes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Frank Lloyd Wright's earliest system of low-cost housing' by Michael Lilek, 2005 http://www.wrightinmilwaukee.org/
8. ^ a b Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service, Survey No. WI-326, School of Architecture University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, drawn by: James Kamps, [Shapna Das, Brian Milnick, Todd Ovard, …], entered in 1991 [1991 Charles E. Peterson Prize Competition] http://memory.loc.gov/
   
   Img. 02 Retracing [from promotional materials] of 'Arthur L. Richards Duplex Apartments' 2720 West Burnham Street [sheet 1 of 4 sheets]
9. Img. 01 Web images:
   
   Left and right image are likely taken from:
   Frank Lloyd Wright: American System Built Houses - 1999, Pomegranate Publishers
   www.steinerag.com
   architecture.about.com
   
   Centre and right image are likely taken from:
   Frank Lloyd Wright: American System-Built Houses - 1994, Published by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York
   www.steinerag.com 2
   www.fba.fh-darmstadt.de 2 [offline ?]

Links

Varying descriptions:
books.google.at
books.google.com
www.chameyer.net
http://www.wrightinmilwaukee.org/
www.franklloydwrightinfo.com
http://www.city.milwaukee.gov/ (PDF)
http://www.wrightinmilwaukee.org/ (PDF 'Model B1')

Drawings:
www.moma.org [D101 E03 J902 A221 (A243 view A241 A242 A343 variations from one plan) B23 (C3 view isometric interior)]
www.npl.org
news.webshots.com 2 [A101 C3 interior]
www.chameyer.net 2 3 […] [D101 D1]
www.1art1.de
www.american-architecture.info
http://www.scalarchives.it/ [D101 C3 E3 B23 A243 A221 J902]
http://sdrdesign.com/ 2 3 […]
http://www.baunetz.de/ [D1]

Images:
http://contentdm.unl.edu/ (database-images)
www.bluffton.edu
www.prairiestyles.com
myweb.msoe.edu […]
www.wisconsinhistory.org
www.galenfrysinger.com
prairiemod.typepad.com 2
http://wrightinmilwaukee.org/ 2 3 4 5 6

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/ (B1) 2

Model:
http://ps.theport.com/ […]
http://ps.theport.com/ […]

Forum :
http://www.savewright.org/

Context (the Ready-Cut Industry):
www.oldhousejournal.com (Sears)
www.searsarchives.com (Sears)
http://books.google.de/ (Sears)
www.amazon.com (Sears)
www.inspect-ny.com Video www.oldhouseweb.com (Sears)
articles.latimes.com (Pacific)
www.amazon.com (Pacific)
http://clarke.cmich.edu/ (Aladdin) PDF [1917 Catalog]

more Broadacre

• 'Broadacre City' model; illustrations 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007 for 'The Living City'
• related housing schemes:
  Quadruple Block Plan; Willey House; Cloverleaf Quadruple Housing; Galesburg Country Homes; American System-Built Houses; Usonian Houses
• additional architecture:
  Huntington Hartford Play Resort; Gordon Strong Automobile Objective; Rogers Lacy Hotel

File Log

• Outlining Broadacre City became necessary in the course of my urban diploma project 16/3 in 1999. Put online the same year in German, this 'preliminary' English translation became available in 2007.
• All links to http://contentdm.unl.edu/ [University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries] have been updated (25.11.2008).
• Links to http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/ [Columbia University in the City of New York] added (2.8.2009)
• All dates according to source [!]. Wikipedia and 'The Complete Works' by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer accomplish [even here] a certain 'conventionalisation', superseding conflicting 'chronologies' supported by [prior] publications of the time.
  
  

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