| Page 3 of 3 < |
For Purists, N.Y. House Is Just Not Wright
Joe Massaro's new home is based on a Frank Lloyd Wright design.
(J. Gregory Raymond - Bloomberg News)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Critics' concerns center on four details of Massaro's house.
They point to the so-called desert masonry, or decorative "rubblestone," a Wright trademark. Wright embedded native rocks in the concrete supports of his homes. In most, the rocks were flush with the concrete. In Massaro's home, they stick out.
"That's not the way Wright intended, plain and simple," Storrer said.
Such talk infuriates Massaro.
In order to follow building codes, Massaro said, he had to add four inches of Styrofoam insulation inside the support posts, making it impossible to embed the odd-shaped granite stones he harvested from the island and still keep the house from collapsing.
"Frank would have changed this," Massaro said. "He would have had to."
Flat vs. Domed
Wright purists argue that Massaro's 26 skylights are domed; Wright designed skylights that were flat.
Massaro counters that the flat ones leak.
Wright defenders insist that the designs stamped into the home's copper fascia are too shallow. They also point to some of Wright's drawings that show a stairway coming off the cantilevered deck.
Massaro said he didn't build the stairs because they would descend into three feet of water.
If the purists' objections seem petty, it's because the little things matter a great deal to Wright's fans.
"It's the small details that we'll never know about," said Rich Herber, who owns a Wright house in Fort Wayne, Ind. "The outside of the Massaro house is dead-on. When you go inside, it's such a big house, it will be very hard to make the details" the way Wright envisioned.
Massaro, however, said he's worked hard to fulfill Wright's vision, searching for craftspeople who could make custom furniture, copper fascia, triangular skylights, angular doorknobs and mahogany ventilation grilles, among other detail work, in an effort to please not Wright's acolytes but the architect himself.
"When Frank says this is what I want, I try to go find it," he said.
