"What about the concrete block? It was the
cheapest (and ugliest) thing in the building world. It lived mostly
in the architectural gutter as an imitation of rock-faced stone.
Why not see what could be done with that gutter rat? Steel rods
cast inside the joints of the blocks themselves and the whole brought
into some broad, practical scheme of general treatment, why would
it not be fit for a new phase of our modern architecture? It might
be permanent, noble beautiful." -Frank Lloyd Wright
“The textile block method of construction consisted of stacking
concrete blocks three inches thick, cast in molds, next to and atop
one another without visible mortar joints. In all but the Millard
House, thin concrete and steel reinforcing rods were run horizontally
and vertically in edge reveals 'knitting' the whole together. A double
wythe was common, held together by steel cross ties, the cavity air
space serving as insulation.”
- William Allin Storrer. The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright:
A Complete Catalog
|
Millard House – 1923
645 Prospect Crescent
Pasadena |
Storer House - 1923
8161 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles |
Freeman House - 1923
1962 Glencoe Way
Los Angeles |
Ennis House - 1924
2607 Glendower Avenue
Los Angeles |
The first
of four textile-block houses constructed in Southern California. Its two-story
high living room is delicately lit by pierced, patterned block and overlooks
a lovely pool surrounded by lush gardens deep in the ravine-traversed site. |
The second of the four. The lowest story contains a
variety of work spaces. The second floor features a two-story-high
living room, textile block throughout. One side opens from the hillside
perch to a full view of Hollywood, Los Angeles, and the San Bernardino
Valley. |
The
living room has been called one of FLW’s best rooms. The Freemans made
their house a center of avant-garde artistic and political activity in Los Angeles.
Harriet Freeman gave the house to the USC School of Architecture to protect and
preserve . |
The
last of the four LA textile-block houses, and the most monumental. Along Vermont
Avenue, looking north, one sees it completing its ridge on the southern reaches
of the Santa Monica Mountains. The textile block pattern is almost symmetrical
along the diagonal. |
