I have seen photos of it and it is amazing how you can have these fireplaces and have kids around it. I guess you have to stop them from just willy nilly walking into the fireplace even if there is no fire in it.
There is a story on Samara's Fireplace, when it was constructed they were afraid it would fall so after it had set they remove the temporary brace and it has held since.
Weltzheimer has 2 fireplaces as well. I have a photo of Taliesin West Fireplace near the dining hall.
I also have one from The Wright's bedroom as well. I think I have more but can't remember. Odd to have a fireplace in the desert but I understand in the winter the temps drop.
Alternatives to fireplace as psychological center of home
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Jeff Myers
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Paul Ringstrom
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The main Schwartz House fireplace drew well and put out A LOT of heat. Very cozy in December as there was a storm blowing outside. I could never get the other indoor fireplace at the Schwartz House to draw and it just smoked up the house until I gave up.
Outdoor fireplace and patio were not yet restored when I was there. Looking forward to going back when it is. IMHO: One of Wright's greatest living rooms.
Outdoor fireplace and patio were not yet restored when I was there. Looking forward to going back when it is. IMHO: One of Wright's greatest living rooms.
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Laurie Virr
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I think i just found the tallest of all: Wingspread. Sort of the "Mile High Illinois" of fireplaces.
I think Wright intended that entire birch trees could fit vertically into that thing. I'll try to find a photo...
Isn't there an even taller one than this at Wingspread?
http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img ... 446032.jpg
I think Wright intended that entire birch trees could fit vertically into that thing. I'll try to find a photo...
Isn't there an even taller one than this at Wingspread?
http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img ... 446032.jpg
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Jeff Myers
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ozwrightfan
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Well, here are some things DRN sent me for Sweeton. To start, I'll recap what he said on the previous page:
"The Sweeton drawings indicate the fireplace was originally designed with its back wall sloped toward the front of the fireplace. As built however, the rear wall is plumb and the masonry "hood's" inside surface is sloped toward the rear toward the damper. I'm 5'6" and can easily stand in the fireplace with headroom to spare before the damper (apparently to the amusement of my wife). The as built damper measures the full width of the fireplace...I can't get a fix on its depth as it is sealed shut at this time. I'm not sure if this change was done to aid draw, or to improve the appearance of a firebox open on 2 sides...I'm also uncertain if the geometrical change helps or hinders draw.
(detail)
Here's TnGuy's photo again, lightened to show the fireplace a little better (on my screen, anyway):
Dan, if the block is 8" high, I count seven courses, which would be 56". You say you're 66", and can stand in the fireplace ? Enlighten me.
SDR
"The Sweeton drawings indicate the fireplace was originally designed with its back wall sloped toward the front of the fireplace. As built however, the rear wall is plumb and the masonry "hood's" inside surface is sloped toward the rear toward the damper. I'm 5'6" and can easily stand in the fireplace with headroom to spare before the damper (apparently to the amusement of my wife). The as built damper measures the full width of the fireplace...I can't get a fix on its depth as it is sealed shut at this time. I'm not sure if this change was done to aid draw, or to improve the appearance of a firebox open on 2 sides...I'm also uncertain if the geometrical change helps or hinders draw.
(detail)Here's TnGuy's photo again, lightened to show the fireplace a little better (on my screen, anyway):
Dan, if the block is 8" high, I count seven courses, which would be 56". You say you're 66", and can stand in the fireplace ? Enlighten me.
SDR
oz, here's the Fawcett fireplace -- tiny photo, but it shows better than others I have. You're right -- the fireplace is (nearly) a walk-in, and is very broad.
Looking up, within the fireplace, one sees an almost full-width damper -- and the "flue" is almost a skylight: a vast block-built chamber, well lighted by the sky. Impressive and strange.
The partially-blackened back wall of the firebox is odd -- the bricks appear to have been cleaned of soot on either side -- or painted over since the last real fire ?
SDR
Looking up, within the fireplace, one sees an almost full-width damper -- and the "flue" is almost a skylight: a vast block-built chamber, well lighted by the sky. Impressive and strange.
The partially-blackened back wall of the firebox is odd -- the bricks appear to have been cleaned of soot on either side -- or painted over since the last real fire ?
SDR
Berger -- not a really tall one, is it ?
DRN also send pages from a '50s or early '60s House Beautiful that his dad had saved. An article on fireplaces; perhaps the most interesting thing are two fireplaces from the same house, designed by. . .Edgar Tafel, in Durham, PA. The first one is "raised, because it is used for cooking," according to the caption. The second has a hinged screen (see bricks thru it), inspired (according to the magazine) by "hex signs on local barns."
DRN recalls having Tafel, during a lecture Q and A in Pittsburgh in the '80s, tell him that he (Tafel) prefers raised hearths in residential work "because they allow the fire to be seen when looking across the inevitable table that occurs in a room." He noted this was one of his few conceptual disagreements with FLLW.
DRN also send pages from a '50s or early '60s House Beautiful that his dad had saved. An article on fireplaces; perhaps the most interesting thing are two fireplaces from the same house, designed by. . .Edgar Tafel, in Durham, PA. The first one is "raised, because it is used for cooking," according to the caption. The second has a hinged screen (see bricks thru it), inspired (according to the magazine) by "hex signs on local barns."
DRN recalls having Tafel, during a lecture Q and A in Pittsburgh in the '80s, tell him that he (Tafel) prefers raised hearths in residential work "because they allow the fire to be seen when looking across the inevitable table that occurs in a room." He noted this was one of his few conceptual disagreements with FLLW.
Walk into Walker and you might never come out alive!
By the way, this house with its big and tall fireplace was designed the same year as Lamberson, (also sporting a supersized woodburner...)
By the way, this house with its big and tall fireplace was designed the same year as Lamberson, (also sporting a supersized woodburner...)
Last edited by peterm on Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Odd stuff, no ?
We need to be dating our Wright fireplaces, to track any trends, I guess. Walker, Lamberson, and Sweeton span the 1948-50 period (and I note that Carr has a Sweetonesque roof -- but that's a different subject). These are the very tall and (except Walker) very shallow ones. . .
I'm having trouble reading that (unbuilt) Sweeton fireplace section. Where is the lintel ? And the damper labeled 8" x 3'-6" is drawn at about half that width (4"), isn't it ?
SDR
[edit] Ah -- I was looking at the Sweeton section the wrong way -- the opening is at the right of the drawing, not the left. . .! Duh.
We need to be dating our Wright fireplaces, to track any trends, I guess. Walker, Lamberson, and Sweeton span the 1948-50 period (and I note that Carr has a Sweetonesque roof -- but that's a different subject). These are the very tall and (except Walker) very shallow ones. . .
I'm having trouble reading that (unbuilt) Sweeton fireplace section. Where is the lintel ? And the damper labeled 8" x 3'-6" is drawn at about half that width (4"), isn't it ?
SDR
[edit] Ah -- I was looking at the Sweeton section the wrong way -- the opening is at the right of the drawing, not the left. . .! Duh.
Last edited by SDR on Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
. . .The Berger fireplace seems, from the photo, to resemble the (built) Lamberson plan as drawn by Storrer -- a half-hexagon hearth projecting from the wall. . .
Note too the half-hexagon hob at one side of the fire, in Berger and Fawcett (1955). No hob at Lamberson, I guess. . .
Endless variation. . .
SDR
Note too the half-hexagon hob at one side of the fire, in Berger and Fawcett (1955). No hob at Lamberson, I guess. . .
Endless variation. . .
SDR