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"A Fireproof House for $5000" is an article and house design by
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
published in the ''
Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...
'' in April 1907. It is Wright's third and final publication in the journal following " A Home in a Prairie Town" and " A Small House with 'Lots of Room in It'" from February and July 1901, respectively. The drawings for the house were also included in Wright's 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio ''(Plate XIV)''.


Design

Frank Lloyd Wright was not the only voice advocating for fireproof homes in the early twentieth century; from 1902 to 1908,
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
was also experimenting with designs for
mass-produced Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...
houses as part of the Edison Portland Cement Company. The notion of concrete houses was further popularized in several books by the Atlas Portland Cement Company. The appeal of concrete dwellings was not only the resistance to fire, but also to insects, moisture, and the effects of weather. The walls, floors, roof, and chimney of Wright's design were to be constructed of
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
or as Wright stated: "a masonry monolith ... interlaced with steel fibres". Interior partitions were specified as
plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
over either metal lath or three-inch clay tile blocks. Unlike the house shell, the interiors were to have been outfitted with more combustible wood millwork, casework, and flooring. As the title of the article suggested, Wright intended the house to be relatively inexpensive. He determined
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
5,000 to be the best balance between low cost and quality, low-maintenance construction ($ in dollars). However, at a time when the average American salary was less than $700 a year ($ in dollars ) and Gustav Stickley was advertising houses in '' The Craftsman'' that could be built for as little as $2,000 to $4,000, Wright's design was still only affordable for middle-class households. Nevertheless, economy was one of the key considerations in conceiving the plans. Cost cutting features included a compact, two-story floor plan which measured square plus a narrow entry and stairway extension. The four sides were also designed identically, so that a single set of concrete forms could have been used — only minor modifications would have been required to accommodate the stairwell. Interior spaces were pared down as much as possible by eliminating the back stairwell, butler's
pantry A pantry is a room or cupboard where beverages, food, (sometimes) dishes, household cleaning products, linens or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. Etymol ...
, and food pantry, by limiting circulation space on both levels, and by combining all public spaces into a single, combined living room and dining room. In typical style, Wright also did away with the attic. However, defied his own doctrine by giving the dwelling a full basement storeroom. In addition to durability and expense, Wright incorporated such factors as
thermal comfort Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses subjective satisfaction with the thermal environment.ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2017, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy The human body can be viewed as a heat engine where ...
into the design. First, he indicated that concrete construction would keep the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Concrete walls have greater
thermal mass In building design, thermal mass is a property of the matter of a building that requires a flow of heat in order for it to change temperature. Not all writers agree on what physical property of matter "thermal mass" describes. Most writers use ...
than walls of wood, and thereby lessen temperature fluctuations during the day and throughout the year. Furthermore, the roof overhang would have reduced overheating by shading part of the walls in summer. A third feature was perhaps the most innovative: Wright specified that the ceilings for the second floor rooms be installed eight inches below the roof slab. The resulting air space was to be fed by vents beneath the eaves and exhausted through the chimney to create a constant stream of moving air. Modern homes often use a similar soffit and ridge vent combination to keep the attic and the floor below cooler. Yet, at the time of publication, most wood houses lacked attic ventilation, because buildings were not constructed as tightly as those built in recent years. The monolithic construction of the Fireproof House would have prevented most natural air infiltration, making the ventilated air space a necessity. The layout of the Fireproof House is a response to the
American Foursquare The American Foursquare (also American Four Square or American 4 Square) is an American house vernacular under the Arts and Crafts style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the ...
, a format popular across the United States in the early 1900s. The Foursquare and Fireproof House shared the common cause for simpler, more economical design. The typical American Foursquare was a simple two-story box divided into four equal quadrants per floor. On the main level, the entrance hall and living room occupied the front corners, while a dining room and kitchen split the back of the house. Three or four bedrooms and a bathroom fit into each quadrant of the upstairs. Wright modified this basic plan by shifting the stairs and entrance to a less prominent location at the side of the house, allowing the living room an entire half of the first floor. The wall between the dining room and living room was removed to create a single L-shaped room ''(see floor plans at right)''.


Built examples


By Frank Lloyd Wright

Wright was never commissioned to construct the Fireproof House exactly as it had appeared in the ''Ladies' Home Journal,'' but several variations of the design were built in the following years. Most of the houses were erected with
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
covered wood-framed walls, and so were not "fireproof" in any way. * Tan-Y-Deri (Andrew T. Porter House),
Spring Green, Wisconsin Spring Green is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,566 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Spring Green. It is perhaps best known for the architect Frank Lloyd Wright's estate ...
, 1907 * Stephen M. B. Hunt House I,
La Grange, Illinois La Grange ( ; often spelled LaGrange) is a village (United States)#Illinois, village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. The population was 16,321 at the 2020 census. History The area around La Grange was first s ...
, 1907 * Dr. G.C. Stockman House,
Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mason City is known for its musical heritage, a significant ...
, 1908 * Raymond W. Evans House,
Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, 1908 * Rev. Jesse R. Zeigler House,
Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...
, 1909–10 * Edmund D. Brigham House,
Glencoe, Illinois Glencoe () is a lakefront village in northeastern Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,849. Glencoe is part of Chicago's North Shore and one of the wealthiest communities in Illinois. According to t ...
, 1909. The only Fireproof House for $5,000 — and only Prairie house — actually made out of fire resistant concrete * The 5 Ravine Bluffs Development rentals, Glencoe, Illinois, 1915 * Emil Bach House


Variations by other architects

* P.F. Travers House,
Mamaroneck, New York Mamaroneck ( ), is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2 ...
, 1907; architect: C.C. Crosley * Gocke-Vance House,
Overland, Missouri Overland is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 15,955 at the 2020 census. History The area south of the King's Road to St. Charles, Missouri, St. Charles was first settled in the ea ...
, 1910; architect: Lawrence Ewald * Arthur Rule House (Blythe-Rule House),
Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mason City is known for its musical heritage, a significant ...
, 1912–13; architect:
Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and Leeton, New So ...
* J.G. Melson House,
Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mason City is known for its musical heritage, a significant ...
, 1914; architect:
Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and Leeton, New So ...
* Gustav Becker House,
Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...
, 1915; architect: Ware & Treganza * Lawrence Buck Residence, Marshman Ave.,
Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in southeastern Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipali ...
(Ravinia), Illinois – 1911; architect: Lawrence Buck


Related designs

Prior to publishing "A Fireproof House", Wright designed and constructed two houses with very similar floor plans. The first was the Robert M. Lamp House (1903) in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
, followed by the Charles A. Brown House (1905) in
Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...
. In 1909, Wright designed three compact houses for an unexecuted subdivision for Edward C. Waller with floor plans that resemble the Fireproof House and Ravine Bluff rental properties. These houses also appeared in the Wasmuth Portfolio on Plate XLVIII. He also reused the basic Foursquare layout for at least three models of his later
American System-Built Homes The American System-Built Homes were modest houses in a series designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They were developed between 1911 and 1917 to fulfill his interest in affordable housing but were sold commercially for just 14 months. The ...
.


See also

*
List of Frank Lloyd Wright works Frank Lloyd Wright designed 1,141 houses, commercial buildings and other works throughout his lifetime, including 532 that were eventually built. , there were 409 extant structures designed by Wright. Over one-third of the extant structures are on ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fireproof House for 5000 Prairie School architecture 1907 documents Fire prevention Frank Lloyd Wright Works originally published in Ladies' Home Journal