Sturges House created by Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lautner. History and walkthrough. - (12:43)
David
Video/talk: Sturges House - Los Angeles, CA
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Re: Video/talk: Sturges House - Los Angeles, CA
Jop Cornelis does excellent work on his videos, but in this case, he perpetuates a myth. The ceiling of Sturges is supported entirely by the longitudinal beams across the room at the full height of the space, not the slight posts from the cross beams that connect the two. They are there for visual impact exclusively. Remove them (as Jack Larson did for me back in '89 when I visited the house) and nothing happens, they perform no structural task. Minor error, but significant as well.
Re: Video/talk: Sturges House - Los Angeles, CA
I've never quite understood those; they appear on the Sturges section drawings. Perhaps Mr Wright (uncharacteristically ?) thought the space needed a bit of vertical emphasis---or maybe he liked playing with the observer by suggesting that he could miraculously support a roof on matchsticks. Of course it's also possible that they were intended to provide support if necessary to a lightly loaded roof structure whose beams are laid flat and are thus relatively flexible ? That the roof was not bearing on the spindles when Roderick was there could have been a seasonal effect, or perhaps the wood of the roof---decking and the flat 2x12 atop the spindles---was selected to crown upward and never descended . . .

Similarly decorated verticals are found at the Price desert house:


A skinny steel post, one of several at Wingspread holding up a large trellis, is just visible in this photo and is reminiscent of those supporting the stair canopy at Fallingwater.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j283/ ... ject-1.jpg
S

Similarly decorated verticals are found at the Price desert house:


A skinny steel post, one of several at Wingspread holding up a large trellis, is just visible in this photo and is reminiscent of those supporting the stair canopy at Fallingwater.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j283/ ... ject-1.jpg
S
Re: Video/talk: Sturges House - Los Angeles, CA
The drawing notes "mill construction" floor and roof decks; I believe the specs call for 4x6s to be split and then spiked to each other---successively, one assumes.




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Re: Video/talk: Sturges House - Los Angeles, CA
Of course, Sturges wood spindles and Price steel spindles are alike only in appearance.
At my viewing, Jack grabbed a spindle and removed it to show that it was in no way a structural element, and he fitted it back without a problem. A more serious structural concern is with those 4"x12" cross beams, which were intended to be solid redwood. Unable to acquire 4" beams long enough to span the living room and continue outside to support the trellis, thinner beams (I believe 3 per) were joined together to make up 4" in shorter, overlapping lengths. This eventuated in the failure of the trellis, which had sagged well below head height by the time Jack bought the house. Lautner added steel to the top sides of the beams to correct that problem.
At my viewing, Jack grabbed a spindle and removed it to show that it was in no way a structural element, and he fitted it back without a problem. A more serious structural concern is with those 4"x12" cross beams, which were intended to be solid redwood. Unable to acquire 4" beams long enough to span the living room and continue outside to support the trellis, thinner beams (I believe 3 per) were joined together to make up 4" in shorter, overlapping lengths. This eventuated in the failure of the trellis, which had sagged well below head height by the time Jack bought the house. Lautner added steel to the top sides of the beams to correct that problem.