Photowalk #04: Wingspread

Sarah and Adam’s new home is just a mile or so away from The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. Wingspread was originally the home of H. F. Johnson and his family and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who also designed the corporate headquarters for the SC Johnson Company. Completed in 1938, it remained their family home until the late 1950’s, when Johnson and his family moved into a newer home on the property and Wingspread became the home of the Johnson Foundation.

The Johnson Foundation is a retreat and conference center. “The mission of the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread is to create intimate, inspiring meeting and conference experiences that foster collaboration and innovative problem-solving.  Bringing almost six decades of convening expertise to regional, national and global groups of leaders and experts, the Foundation is wholly dedicated to convening for positive and lasting change.” Their initiatives have resulted in the formation of the National Endowment of the Arts, the International Criminal Court, and National Public Radio, among others.

When there are no conferences being held, they offer free tours of the building. Given the weather, we ended up having a personal tour of the house which includes a video about the design and building of the house, as well as some interesting history. Two of H.F Johnson’s children share their memories of growing up in the house and tell stories of some of the design problems inherent in Frank Lloyd Wright’s design.

We’ve been lucky enough to visit several Frank Lloyd Wright homes: Taliesin, Taliesin West, Oak Park, Fallingwater, and the Darwin D. Martin House. This home is more dramatic than any of the others we’ve visited. The main room is 30 feet high with four fireplaces.

The tall windows you see in the back are also doors that open onto the veranda and lawns. One hallmark of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture is the connection he makes between the home and the natural landscape. If you click on this link, you can see an aerial view of the home and can immediately grasp why it was named Wingspread. One of the design flaws involves the beautiful, small windows that encircle the main room. They leaked during rainstorms!! It took a long time, and lots of work to correct the problem.

One of the four fireplaces in the main room reaches from the floor to the ceiling. Frank Lloyd Wright thought it would be very cool to put birch logs in the bottom and watch them burn. Turns out the logs burned on the bottom (of course!) and fell out of the fireplace into the sitting room!

Another idea that didn’t work out was the dining room table. (Frank Lloyd Wright almost always designed furniture for the interiors of all the homes he built.) You can’t see them in this photo, but there are wheels just inside the legs. The cupboard at the end of the table opens up into the kitchen. His idea was to roll the table into the kitchen after the first course, reset the table with the next course, and wheel it back out. The problem was that not everyone finished their course at the same time, and some found their plates disappearing before they had finished. According to one of the family members, it was only used once or twice.

The light from all the windows changes constantly throughout the day. As we were finishing our tour, the sun came out and made lovely patterns on the walls. And now, some views of the outdoors.

The view of the patio from the main room.

And because I like trees, one of a snow-covered tree that was along the circular drive. (I had a tree image from the first photowalk as well. Maybe I’ll have a collection by the end of the year.)

On our next trip, we’re hoping to get in a tour of the SC Johnson company campus.