THE GEIGER DATABASE


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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT COMMISSIONS

CONTRIBUTING SPECIALIZATIONS:
Supervising Apprentice

One of the most encompassing approaches by John Geiger to the study of Frank Lloyd Wright commissions was the creation of 10 data tables that provided places to record project coordinator, preliminary drawing coordinator, working drawings coordinator, specifications writer, structural engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, landscape design, supervising apprentice during construction, and building contractor. Then, drawings for the commission were listed. While such level of detail was usually not available to Geiger, this search represents a refined model for the study of the design and building process that other researchers may want to carry forward. Only Wright commissions having information recorded for these categories of contribution are returned in this search, showing a total of 299 records.

Project Information

House for Mr. and Mrs. Douglas and Jackie Grant [Cedar Rapids, Iowa] (1946)

Note: The following information concerning this project represents original research and analysis by John Geiger, and is based in his long and detailed study of the Frank Lloyd Wright literature as well as personal contacts with members of the Taliesin Fellowship and architectural historians. In addition, he added his own categories of building type and compositional form, as well as other points of consideration that he deemed important to understanding of the design. As with any primary archival source material, the references and sources of attribution should be consulted where possible to affirm the data provided. Sometimes there is an indication of attribution for which there is no matching footnote recorded. Some understanding of the intended source may be discovered in remaining notes or frequently cited publications which appear in the comment field.

Name of client: Grant, Douglas and Jackie.

Sobriquet or alternative place name: None.

Design Status (as of 2011): Executed.

Occupancy form or use: HOUSING/Residential/Single Family.

Principal building materials: MASONRY/Stone, concrete.

Number of drawings for this project detailed in the database: 8.

Drawing Number and Description

4503.??1     Original conceptual plan and elevation
4503.??2     Lower floor plan and site plan
4503.??4     Perspective from below right
4503.005     Perspective from the entry side of house
4503.009     Perspective from below
4503.011     Floor plan of lower level
4503.012     Floor plan of upper kevek and cross section and fireplace detail
4503.013     Elevations

Individuals recorded as contributing to project:

Note: Not everyone who contributed to a project may be named; only those whose participation has been confirmed from a source appear above. Occasionally names presented as contributors to a project may seem chronologically anomalous. This usually occurs when an individual prepared drawings for publicity, exhibition, or publication long after the original date of a commission.

Besinger, Curtis
Hill, John deKoven
Wright, Frank Lloyd
Preliminary working drawings coordinator: Hill, John deKoven
Working drawings coordinator: Besinger, Curtis
Construction supervision: Hill, John deKoven

Notes and References

Comments by John Geiger and/or sources of attribution: (a) "C. B. did working drgs." Curtis W. Besinger record (b) All working drawings by Curtis Besinger, #0038. Geiger 09/15/96 (c) McCarter, Robert. Frank Lloyd Wright (London: Phaidon Press, 1997)w, p. 353.

Note: The information shown above is collected from a series of data table columns intended originally to record not only comments or notes, but also to cite sources of attribution for dates assigned to the various stages of drawing preparation in the design process. As with any primary archival source material, the references and sources of attribution shown here should be consulted where possible to affirm the data provided.

This commission is referenced and/or illustrated in the following publications:

Kaufmann, Jr., Edgar. Frank Lloyd Wright: Drawings for a Living Architecture. New York: Horizon Press.
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph 1942-1950 (Volume 7). Tokyo: A. D. A. Edita. [ISBN: 4-87140-518-4].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Complete Works 1943-1959 (Volume 3). Cologne, Germany: Taschen. [ISBN: 978-8228-5770-0].