The James B. Christie House is a large,
flat-roofed Usonian on a wooded site in
Bernardsville
Bernardsville () is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is nestled in the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,707, , in
Somerset County,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States. The Christie House, built in 1940, is
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 ...
's oldest and, at , Wright's largest house in New Jersey. The residence has one story and is made of brick, cypress, and redwood.
It is designed in an L-shaped plan with a rectangular living room and a dining area that is perpendicular to a wing with three bedrooms and three baths. The kitchen is in the corner of the L, like a hinge connecting the two sections, separating public from private areas. The flat roof with its overhanging
soffit
A soffit is an exterior or interior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of any construction element. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of beams, is the underside of eaves (to ...
reinforces the sprawling horizontal design.
Wright advised James B. Christie, his first New Jersey client, to select a setting that has "as much individuality as to topography and features—stream, trees, etc. and as much freedom from adjacent buildings as is possible."
See also
*
List of Frank Lloyd Wright works
Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 425 houses, commercial buildings and other works.
"The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a selection of eight buildings across the United States designe ...
References
* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''.
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 2006, (S.278)
External links
Mr. and Mrs. James Bryan Christie House, Bernardsville, New Jersey, Exterior perspective from southwest. 1940. Graphite and color pencil on tracing paper, 18 × 35½" (45.7 × 90.2 cm). Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. © 2008 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkMr. and Mrs. James Bryan Christie House, Bernardsville, New Jersey, Exterior perspective from east. 1940. Graphite and color pencil on tracing paper, 18 × 35½" (45.7 × 90.2 cm). Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.Photos on Arcaid
Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
Houses in Somerset County, New Jersey
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