Price House in Bartlesville, OK

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:44 pm

And looks like they are one piece, meaning they are not like bi-leafed french doors but the entire square piece opens 180 degrees. Is it designed for the hand to gain leverage from the bottom or the top?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:24 pm

Larger panels would be heavier, opening at an angle. I assume it was to reduce the visual clutter of many small doors. Do we know what sort of storage is behind them ? Flat art-storage shelves ?

S

uponourhill · Post by **uponourhill** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 2:12 pm

One of my favorite houses ever. My husband worked for Price Company for several years in the 70's and 80's (his office was on the 4th floor of the Price Tower), and we were guests in each of these houses often. Mary Lou's home being demolished makes me very sad; it was a lovely home though with small bedrooms. The treat of it was that the house's heating system was in the floors. One could walk around without shoes and be totally comfortable. reading these posts has been fun, though there are some mistakes. Joe's house had large pieces of anthracite in the exterior, but was not made of the material. When visiting, one removed one's shoes. The living room carpeting led to a sunken hexagonal seating area, and the carpet came up on the slanted walls. Our understanding of Joe's collection of Japanese art of the Edo period, is that it was the 2nd largest in the world, 2nd only to the Japanese Emperor. His home was built in the shape of two cones, joined by a small hall. One entire half of the house was a museum for his art collection, which was studied by people from all over the world.

Deke · Post by **Deke** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:57 pm

That's an interesting cabinet on the photo on the previous page...angled face with piano hinge doors. Was it intended for the display of prints?

Deke

Jeff Myers · Post by **Jeff Myers** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:04 pm

Deke, The cabinet were for display, and i take it also for storage.
There is a photo showing pints being displayed on them.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:05 pm

Thanks, uponourhill. It's always a treat to have a report "from the front" on a visitor's experience of a Wright space.

SDR

uponourhill · Post by **uponourhill** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:58 am

I find I misspoke in one subject, after talking with my husband. The exterior of Joe's house was indeed made of anthracite, with large chunks of blue glass imbedded in it. I was under the impression that the glass was the anthracite. He had a room at the top of the house which had a concealed door; one pushed a panel, and a staircase appeared. The room was made of onyx, and there was an onyx cabinet holding three televisions so he could watch the networks all at once. That was all the networks at the time.

In Harold and Carolyn's home, the dining room was usually set up from three or four small tables pushed together to make one large one. It was a gracious home, but not over large. There are many large homes in Bartlesville because it's the home of Phillips petroleum (at that time). I never felt that Harold was uncomfortable there, but he did love to say outrageous things and see who would be duped. LOL!

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 6:55 pm

Just now putting the Price family story together.
Questions:
Is it correct that their house in Phoenix, their house in Bartlesville,
and the Price Tower were all commissioned and built within 5 years?
Second, was Goff's Shin'Enkan (sp?) for son Joe on the same property as the house
that is the main subject of this thread?

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:08 pm

Read back thru this thread and the brief history of Star View Farm.
I'd never put any of this together before.
Remarkable clients.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:32 am

BTW
In the living room at Hillside in the clerestory above the angled print display cabinets:
are those marvelous wood "triangular" pieces.
In addition to looking gorgeous I bet they stabilize the pitched rafters from rotation.
similar to the Southbend house ... and others.

On opposite wall - structural double columns outboard all the glass.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:43 pm

Living room, back to fire place facing piano.
What is the angled wood piece that looks like Call Building model.
Far left hand corner.

ZacharyMatthews · Post by **ZacharyMatthews** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:58 am

Tom wrote:Living room, back to fire place facing piano.
What is the angled wood piece that looks like Call Building model.
Far left hand corner.

Tom, that angled corner unit is a built in stereo cabinet speaker.

Zach.

ZacharyMatthews · Post by **ZacharyMatthews** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:08 am

Tom wrote:Just now putting the Price family story together.
Questions:
Is it correct that their house in Phoenix, their house in Bartlesville,
and the Price Tower were all commissioned and built within 5 years?
Second, was Goff's Shin'Enkan (sp?) for son Joe on the same property as the house
that is the main subject of this thread?

Tom,
The Price family held a great collection of Architectural pride. Yes, all the homes you mention were done in a 5-6 year period.
Star View Farm was a massive plot of rural land in the early 1950's. The sense of privacy was perfect for a cluster of homes, none of them really intruding on the others.

Shin'enKan was the most remote of the 3, Joe (aka Tahiti Joe!) didn't want to feel like he was in land locked Oklahoma when he was at home so BG gave him the exotic escapist bachelor pad. Enlarged twice in to a home for he, his wife and two daughters, plus an enormous gallery space for his Asian art collection.

Zach

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:16 am

Enlarged twice into a home for him, his wife and two daughters . . . (He did something; something happened to him.)

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:44 pm

Anybody know what the best available existing documentation is for the lost Shin'Enkan?
I know GA did one of those large thin Monographs on it.