Sturges House created by Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lautner. History and walkthrough.

Great job on this vid!

The projected cost of $220,000 may be the adjusted for inflation cost, but materials and labor costs have not followed that linear line. The cost of building the house would be 3x-4x-that today, more in the 700k-1million range.

Once again, a perfect walkthrough with the combination of your artwork and the still photos. Thank you again.

Peak FLW house

Verynoic

Wow 1939 It looks so modern

Franks designs just arnt that great

Thrilling structure lifts the spirit !

FLW was a notoriously appalling bad engineer and the house was almost made with timber beams instead of i-beams (see Wikipedia.) Apparently the LA city engineers stopped this from being a disaster. Nasty little bedrooms -- a Wright signature. And the usual vile, cramped, dark kitchen. I think Wright had contempt for women. Interesting piece of sculpture, but looks miserable to live in.

@John Lautner Architecture Videos Thank you for the drawings. Do you know about Wright’s Clark Foreman House or Any Rand’s “cottage” and studio? Neither were built. The only images and plans I’ve seen of both projects are what’s in the Columbia archives. I can’t believe you got to tour the Wolff house. Does it feel small or large because of the 16’ ceilings in the living room?

AWESOME!

Genius. Truly inspired

Great stuff

Really enjoy the steep slope solving architecture the best.

i love the natural concept thank you

Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Lloyd Wright made North By Northwest a great movie.

That was excellent. Beautifully explained, thank you and best wishes.

Thank you for so beautifully translating these masterpieces!

After visiting some of his houses the guides said the roofs leaked and he didn't care.

Very well done ! all you can expect of a video visit is here ! I learned a lot about this house in 12 minutes, more than with books about FLW

Love it!! 😎💯

Was that Peter Lougherys house?

I believe this house was long owned by the actor that played Jimmie Olsen on the original Superman TV series. The nuts and bolts explanation was just lovely.

Nice!

"Proper education" maybe "academic education" would be more accurate. Apprenticeship was the predominant path for the education of architects when FLW apprenticed with Adler and Sullivan and was not uncommon when Lautner apprenticed with Wright and was still an option in the 1980's.
The tableware on the dining table looked like Japanese porcelain custom enameled with Wright's designs.

Love your videos - thank you! I so much like to look at unusual homes.

Architects in the future should be trained to not just design but also shop for special materials, lean manufacturing and actually manage and construct the house they design so it's one stop shop giving nearly accurate results.

This is the "North by Northwest" movie house !!! I LOOOOOOVE THIS HOUSE !!! This the most glamourous house in the world ! Eva Marie Saint and Clark Gable are about to kiss each other on the terrace...

You neglected to mention that the staircase you said went to the "cellar," led to a small room under the main floor where Sturges spent hours at editing film. I don't think it had a window, but surrounded by bricks and concrete, it was probably a very good place to work without distractions.

Isn't this house like Fallingwater which is built over a brook ?

Never been a fan of wright. He supposedly designed structure that were in harmony with nature, yet his buildings , with their unrelenting lines and sharp angles,are jarring to their setting, and seem intrusive, not harmonious, to their setting. In my opinion, Gaudi is a much more innovative architect, whose smoothly curving lines are more attuned to their surrounding—vastly superior to wright. I lived in oak park Il.,where there are multiple wright structures, and their owners often complain of bad design and poor construction. Sad to say, but wright was apparently a cad( he abandoned his wife) and a fraud —a not so great Great Man.

Very enjoyable but your property valuations are way off. Real estate prices have increased exponentially compared to other measures of purchasing power. In the major population areas of the country a $15,000 house in the early 1950s could easily be a million dollars or more in 2021.

The Sturges House is a longtime favorite of the Usonian houses, and to learn about the connection between Wright, John Lautner and this house has literally added a new dimension to my life. Thanks for posting .

Excellent tour! Thanks!

Most interesting 🧐😊

It looks like when Minecraft generates a village into the side of a mountain and it makes weird village buildings

Für einen derart häßlichen Bunker braucht man echt 'nen Architekten ???

Exciting design! Several photos show water damage; and the LA sun doesn’t help the naked wood either; and termite heaven?

Nice guided tour by marking inside to outside window openings gives you a better understanding of the outside form and it’s relation to the interior function.
thank you!

Frank Lloyd wright is a unique architect that never repeated and his theory inspired and followed by many architects

Thank you admire the work the two did.

This house has always haunted me with it's structural design, and yet so simple layout. It's a testament to FLW's brilliance in every possible circumstance. It's really difficult to imagine anyone else pulling something like this off, and doing it so well.
That's what makes him the boss, in my opinion of course. And Lautner obviously owes much to him.

As a resident of Los Angeles, a FLW fan, and a licensed building contractor,I have to say that this vid shows the man at his essence, both good and bad. Mr. Cornelis gives us the very good; his picture selection shows the bad. We can see the undersized passageways, kitchen and bath. FLW disliked these spaces as they detracted from the design. The hallway is especially narrow. This house is unusual in that the bathroom and kitchen are on the same floor as the living area. However, there is no basement per se to tuck them in as he did in his more sumptuous signature houses.

The architect was famous for the bad roofs on his structures and how difficult it would be to repair them. On the exterior walls, especially around the windows, there is evidence of major and long-term water damage. The source would be those cantilevered, horizontal 2x stock he used to break up the slab-sided aspect of the back-sloping clerestory. These created a water catching surface that invites water intrusion. Today, we would cap each 2x with a a galvanized drip cap - albeit a custom bent one for this project. Once on the top deck, I could feel how the redwood decking seared my bare feet. This is not at all unusual in Southern California. 

Redwood is not native, and while it is resistant to rot, it is NOT resistant to the effect of the sun. UV degradation of these materials is quite evident, especially on the deck. This degradation of local materials elsewhere is also fairly common, especially in the houses that relied on local workers and local materials: Falling Water, Ennis House, Millard House. The cantilevered concrete beams at Falling Water were poured in sections with cold joints and had to be propped up. The textile blocks in other houses have to be destroyed to be removed for repairs and the rebar has to be cut to put new ones back in. IF - and that's a big if - you can find FORMS to cast the replacements. [Of course, they could be cast as two halves and grouted together; but that would impair the structural value of the blocks and the thin re-bar behind the bad panels would usually be rusted through as well.]

The original furniture was striking and it is awesome to see that it stayed with the house all this time. It is always interesting to see how his newer styles grow from the older ones. I was able to observe this at a retrospective exhibit of his *complete* oeuvre at the MoMA in about 1977. They had his concept sketches, the earliest renderings from his apprentice days and the subsequent completed works: Hollyhock House, Textile Houses, Usonian houses. The very last item on display was his 6 foot high concept sketch for the "Mile High City" in Chicago. The guy was no small thinker. No sir.

There is so much exposed wood for all the termite problems we have here in California. Is redwood particularly termite-resistant? I wonder if the house has had problems with this over the years.

Ugly execution of nice idea. And i had art, architecture, history of art as major in high school.
Bauhaus fetish gone wild and out of context globally, no connection to human needs and connction to nature lost.
Also, when i worked in home care as a nurse, male architects and male designer always forget to think about getting old, weak and disabled: entrance with steps, too tight doors to push walker or wheelchair with own arms and hands,, to small bathrooms and levitated shower that is dangerous. No space for two nurses to help plegic ppl. No space for lifters in bathrooms.
European homes are not better.

Frank seemed to be more of an artist than an architect. In my opinion, most of his designs aren't practical for residential living.

They should really differentiate between the father and son. The son did the architecture on the West Coast...

Nice presentation. The house has not aged well.

gran persona ! fue mi abuelo se caso con mi abuela francisca mexicana.