Arthur L. Richards Houses
Title
Arthur L. Richards Houses
Publisher
Lawrence Technological University
Date Created
February 26, 2015
Alternative Title or Name
American System-Built Homes
Creator
Wright, Frank Lloyd
Creator2
O’Connor, Thomas (photograph)
Creator Nationality
American
Work Type
Single Built Works
Date
July, 1965
Work Location
Wisconsin (state)
Milwaukee (inhabited place)
Style/Period
Prairie School
Subject
houses
prefabrication
Description
Exterior view of the front of house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built by Arthur L. Richards in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1916. "Crafted between 1915 and 1917 with precut factory lumber to save cash and labor, a half-dozen duplexes and bungalows on this block—the American System-Built Homes, as they have come to be known—were Wright’s first attempts at attainable architecture. He did more sketches for this project than any other in his career, according to Dale Gyure, a Wright scholar. Gyure notes that the homes embody ideas from “The Art and Craft of the Machine,” a 1901 speech in which Wright spoke of building affordable housing by letting machines free humans for more high-level design. Wright was cooking up an ambitious plan with a developer, Arthur L. Richards, to sell homes via a car-dealership model when the combination of a sluggish economy and the entry of the United States into World War I effectively scuttled the project, according to Sidney K. Robinson, a professor emeritus of modern architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago,"--A Look at Frank Lloyd Wright's Little-Known Prefabs, by Patrick Sisson, January 7, 2015.
Material/Medium
stucco
wood (plant material)
Reproduction Type
jpeg
Copyright Statement
©2013 Lawrence Technological University. These images may be used for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes without the explicit permission of LTU.
ID Number
LTU-TO-356
- Date Added
- February 26, 2015
- Collection
- LTU Digital Images
- Item Type
- VRA Core
- Tags
- houses, Prairie, prefabricated homes
- Citation
- “Arthur L. Richards Houses,” LTU Digital Images, accessed April 28, 2024, https://ltuimagecollection.omeka.net/items/show/14381.