THE GEIGER DATABASE


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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT COMMISSIONS

CONTRIBUTING SPECIALIZATIONS:
Structural Engineer

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

Beth Sholom Synagogue [Elkins Park, Pennsylvania] (1954)

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: Beth Sholom Congregation.

Sobriquet or alternative place name: None.

Design Status (as of 2011): Executed.

Occupancy form or use: CIVIC/Religous.

Principal building materials: CONCRETE/Poured in place.

Number of drawings for this project detailed in the database: 22.

Drawing Number and Description

5313.001     Perspective from street
5313.001     Perspective, early, study
5313.002     Elevation, Wright's origial sketch
5313.004     Floor plan, very early study
5313.005     Cross section
5313.006     Cross section
5313.018     Light basket details with work by Wright
5313.021     Perspective, interior
5313.022     Site plan
5313.023     Floor plan of lower level
5313.024     Floor plan of amin level
5313.025     Plot plan
5313.049     Floor plan. main level
5313.060     Floor plan maiin floor and lower floor
5313.061     Elevations and top view
5313.062     Cross sections and entrance details
5313.064     Tripod beam details
5313.065     Details of tripod beams, window and cross beams
5313.068     Details of super structure
5313.070     Details of Ark and Choir
5313.075     Night perspective
5313.142     Night perspective

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
Davison, Allen Lape
Howe, John
Wright, Frank Lloyd
Preliminary working drawings coordinator: Howe, John
Working drawings coordinator: Howe, John
Working drawings coordinator: Besinger, Curtis
Structural engineering: Glickman, Mendel

Project Drawing Date Range

Note: Dates for preliminary and working drawings, as well as the start and completion of construction, appear here only when present in the database. Through careful study of original, reproduced, or published Wright drawings, John Geiger developed an elaborate granulation for design process dates and their attributions. Such information is largely available only for Wright projects dating from the mid-1930s until 1959.

Date recorded by John Geiger for chronological sorting: 3/20/1954.

Preliminary drawings date: 3/20/1954.

Notes and References

Comments by John Geiger and/or sources of attribution: None recorded.