Herman T. Mossberg Residence
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Herman T. Mossberg Residence is a house designed by the American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
. It was built for Herman T. Mossberg and his wife Gertrude in 1948 in
South Bend South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...
,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, and remains in private hands today. It is one of two Wright residences in South Bend, the other being the K. C. DeRhodes House.


Background

Mossberg grew up in Chicago and it was his youthful appreciation of Wright's
Robie House The Frederick C. Robie House is a U.S. National Historic Landmark now on the campus of the University of Chicago in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois. Built between 1909 and 1910, the building was designed as a sing ...
that instilled an idea that, if possible, he would like to have a house like that one day. The Mossbergs settled in South Bend, where Herman Mossberg became a successful lithography press printer, Mossberg & Company Inc. remains in business today, operated by second and third generations of the family. When Wright's career had its resurgence in the late 1930s, with broad press coverage of such works as
Fallingwater Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States. It is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill R ...
and the
Johnson Wax Building Johnson Wax Headquarters is the world headquarters and administration building of S. C. Johnson & Son in Racine, Wisconsin. Designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for the company's president, Herbert F. "Hib" Johnson, the building was ...
, the Mossbergs wrote to Wright asking if he would recommend one of his former students to design a house for them in the manner of Wright. Wright responded, "Why have an imitation when you can have the original?" and invited them to visit him at
Taliesin Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the '' Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts ...
in
Spring Green, Wisconsin Spring Green is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,628 at the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Spring Green. Geography Spring Green is located at (43.177268, -90.067277). According ...
.


Initial visit to Taliesin

This, they did, on a cold day when Wright and Wes Peters had been to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to see the site of the Parkwyn Village homes Wright would be designing there. Wright was so cold and tired from the trip that Peters had to carry him into the house from the car. After dinner, as was the custom at Taliesin, there was a musical performance. The Wrights and the Mossbergs were seated together as one of the apprentices played
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's
Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name ''M ...
. When the music concluded, Wright turned to Gertrude Mossberg and said, "Ah, that man Beethoven! The greatest genius the world has known! Save my own!" Gertrude Mossberg whispered to her husband, "What have we gotten ourselves in for?" Nonetheless, the Mossbergs gave Wright the commission to design their home.


Designing the home

At the time, Wright's
Usonian Usonia () is a word that was used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general (in preference to ''America''), and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country, including the planning of ...
style had matured, and the Mossberg Residence is one of the finest examples of it. Even so, it also displays concepts that harken back to his mature
Prairie style Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...
. The living room's design and proportions are inspired by the living room at Taliesin. The stairway to the balcony gallery and daughter's bedroom is suspended from above, like the stairway from the living room to Bear Run at
Fallingwater Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States. It is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill R ...
. Belden brick and tidewater cypress, as well as radiant-heat poured Cherokee red concrete floors, are all elements typical of the best Usonian homes. Wright and Gertrude Mossberg had a great appreciation for one another which resulted in Wright breaking some of his famous rules in the design of this house. One of the hallmarks of a Usonian house was that the smallish, windowless kitchens that Wright called the "workspace" were normally placed at the center of the house, with a ceiling higher than the rest, to allow cooking odors to rise, rather than to drift into the rest of the house. Wright's first design for the Mossbergs had such a kitchen. When she saw it, Gertrude Mossberg expressed her dismay that the kitchen had no windows. This was a common aspect in the Usonian house designs. For example, a window was added in the Robert Levin House despite Wright's wishes, and he never signed the house. A similar expression of dismay from one of the Kalamazoo clients at about this same time had resulted in Wright imperiously rolling up his drawings and saying, "Madam, you are not worthy of a Frank Lloyd Wright home." That couple was left with the problem of finding a new architect. But in Gertrude Mossberg's case, things went differently. "Why do you need a window in your kitchen?" asked Wright. "Why, Mr. Wright, to see my birds," she replied. "Well then, you shall have your window," Wright responded. And in fact, the Mossberg house as built has a large bank of French doors in the kitchen, looking directly into the back yard. Wright was also famous for having eliminated basements from his residential designs. The Mossberg house has a basement, again, at Gertrude Mossberg's request. Gertrude Mossberg bore a striking resemblance to Frank Lloyd Wright's beloved Aunt Susan, wife of the Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, which may have been among the reasons he worked so sympathetically with the Mossbergs.


Building the house

The house was constructed by the well-known South Bend builder, William A. Reinke Contractors who built over 100 homes in the South Bend area.


Living with Wright

Wright-trained architect John H. "Jack" Howe, who was then a Taliesin apprentice, was assigned to live with the Mossbergs and oversee the building of the house. The Mossbergs developed a great fondness for Jack Howe which proved to be lifelong. Following Wright's death, whenever repairs or slight renovations were needed, the Mossbergs would consult Howe to be certain that all they did was in keeping with Wright's design principles. As a result, this remains among Wright's best-maintained and preserved residences, now owned by one of the grandsons of the original clients. In later years, Gertrude Mossberg would say that the best education she ever had was to live in a home designed by Wright.Private conversations with Gertrude Mossberg in the 1980s


References

* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.302)


External links


Herman T. Mossberg House including history and photos

Photos on Arcaid


{{Frank Lloyd Wright Mossberg Residence Houses completed in 1948