frank lloyd wright's usonian houses for jewish...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses for Jewish Clients

George Goodwin

Throughout his extraordinary life, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), a Unitarian reared in central Wisconsin, attracted numerous Jewish admirers, patrons, and proteg6s.l At the beginning of his career, the most important was Dankmar Adler, the prominent Chicago architect whose firm served as his employer for seven years.2 During the first two decades of his independent practice based in Oak Park, Illinois, Wright won commissions from a slew of liberal entrepreneurs, including two Jewish families, those of Meyer May and David Amberg from Grand Rapids, Mi~higan.~

In the mid-1930s, Wright's idle career experienced an amazing resurgence, thanks in part to the creation of a vacation home in southwestern Pennsylvania for Edgar and Lilliane Kaufmann. "Fallingwater" became perhaps the most famous residence of the twentieth ~entury.~ The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, begun in 1943 and completed shortly after Wright's death, achieved similar r e n ~ w n . ~ And Beth Sholom, consecrated in suburban Philadelphia in 1959, can be viewed as perhaps the most audacious synagogue of the modern era.6

Despite ideas for all kinds of structures that resulted in a concept of regional planning and a comprehensive philosophy of building, Wright established his American and international reputation principally as a designer of dwellings. Like any revolutionary artist, he sought exceptional opportunities: unspoiled panoramas, lavish budgets, indulgent clients, ways to experiment and innovate, and legions of disciples. Wright's radicalism was based not on political or social movements but on the conviction that his artistry alone could transform and enhance everything under the sun.

During the depths of the Great Depression, when Wright was unable to turn away even the humblest projects, he began to design moderately priced "Usonian" houses. Though never intended as marketing ploys, these residences brought forth a new, more democratic source of patronage.

With the Usonians, moreover, Wright received his broadest Jewish support. Among more than 100 Usonians constructed, at least 20

American Jewish Archives Journal

were built for Jewish clients. Like Wright, many of these clients were deeply spiritual, but few were religiously observant. Indeed, many clients were unaffiliated with Jewish institutions or were merely the offspring of Jewish families. Some clients may have dreaded Judaism.

Thus, was it merely happenstance that Wright's Usonian clients included so many Jews? Was there something logical and compelling that brought together the master and his faithful followers? Or were Wright's admirers simply as outlandish as he?

Numbers alone are misleading. Of course the vast number of Jewish clients had no interest in Wright. Like most gentile clients, they were unaware of his architectural significance. They viewed him as a scoundrel, a libertine, or a crackpot. Those clients who could afford expensive homes and wanted to fashion an architectural statement were usually drawn to traditionalists. Perhaps a few prospective clients were repelled by Wright's youthful antagonism toward Jews that was recounted (with no apologies) in his autobiography, published in 1932.

Despite this strange scenario, Wright's Usonian clients did include an exceptional number of Jews. Some of these clients might have been characterized both as nonconformists and as assimilationists who were eager to cast aside mainstream mores and attachments to Jewish life. In this sense, Wright was their pied piper who had long before abandoned his wife, children, staff, colleagues, urban life, and architectural dogma in favor of something shockingly fresh and delightful.

Fortunately, Wright's Jewish clients for Usonian houses can be viewed in another, more favorable light. Individualists of the highest order, they courageously and uncompromisingly pursued their visions. Indeed, their idealism was strengthened by a sense of Jewish self-sufficiency that paralleled Wright's own sense of destiny and self- righteousness.

Many Jewish clients were also inspired and motivated by numerous Jewish values: life is a source of joy and goodness; holiness is perceptible through beauty; humankind is obligated to improve the world; times change but truth endures; rest is an integral part of work; citizenship thrives through the cultivation of land; humans exist within a splendid natural order; individuals and families are linked through a communal and material fabric. Furthermore, the foundation of Jewish life is a house-be it for prayer, study, or assembly.


Of course none of these factors mean that Jewish clients were attracted to any particular nuance within Wright's multifaceted vocabulary. Rather, Jewish clients were transfixed by the power of his ideas and his unwavering ability to portray and assert them.

Beyond Wright, Jews were susceptible to the entire modern movement. It was provocative, dramatic, and exhilarating. It also welcomed their participation. In a word, they felt seduced.

Wright's Jewish clients could have cared less about blending in, turning a profit, or achieving social cachet. Rather, they saw themselves as the vanguard of a new culture, a brave new world to come. These Usonian clients were not perplexed dissidents or despondent outcasts but zestful pioneers.

A NEW CHALLENGE

While several residences, including Hollywood's Freeman House, were considered prototypes, Wright's first Usonian was built on the outskirts of Madison, Wisconsin, in 1937 for the family of Herbert J a ~ o b s . ~ The architect, who named many of his residences (including "Fallingwater") derived "Usonia" from "United States of North America," found in Samuel Barber's 1872 novel, Evezuhon. Jacobs, the son of a Congregational minister, was a Harvard-educated journalist. Without any interest in history or theory, he simply asked Wright if he could design a home costing $5,000.' Though never constrained by budgets, Wright perhaps accepted the proposal based on his recollection (or belief) that in 1901 a small house in suburban Chicago could be built for $5,000. Because Jacobs provided some of his own labor, the first Usonian was financially viable.

Soon Taliesin, Wright's Wisconsin enclave, received similar requests from professors, bibliophiles, musicians, and other dreamers. The architect seemed to thrive on such expressions of chutzpahdick. After accepting a request for a Usonian, he could turn the table by designing something more expansive and expensive. Indeed, the differences between his largest Usonians and his smallest manor houses are sometimes indistinguishable.

A simplification and further stylization of Wright's early work, the Usonian house epitomized his evocative but sometimes vague concept of "organicM9 architecture. Intended for new neighborhoods on the fringes of suburbia, the Usonian was nestled onto or burrowed


into its leafy environs. Without a basement or an attic, it usually had one level. With a flat, overhanging roof, it often resembled a long shed.

Typically, the Usonian had two axes, which formed either a T or an L shape. With its back facing the street (and with a carport rather than a garage), the structure had very few rooms: principally a living- music-dining room, a kitchen known as aUwork space," two or three bedrooms, and a bathroom. Occasionally there was a study or hobby room, but few closets or alcoves. Spaces flowed together. A brick or stone fireplace was the Usonian's core and symbolic heart.

The living room and bedrooms had long banks of windows, providing views of nearby gardens or distant hills and valleys. Bands of clerestory windows collected additional sunlight and cast intriguing shadows. The Usonian used gravity heating, which emanated from beneath concrete slab floors.

Usonians included much built-in furniture, such as sofas, tables, beds, cabinets, and shelving. To help bring down costs, many clients constructed their units from Wright's designs.

Though these wooden, brick, and sometimes concrete-block houses bore a familial resemblance, each was custom designed. Moreover, the dwellings varied significantly in their geometry. Rectangles predominated, but parallelograms, triangles, hexagons, octagons, crescents, ovals, and circles were not uncommon.

Despite their small size, averaging 1,200 to 1,800 square feet, Usonians were neither stark nor bloated. Indeed, they contained the essential elements of harmonious living. Most provided privacy, warmth, comfort, and convenience. Offering surprising pleasures and insights, Usonians enriched patterns of daily and seasonal living. Most owners found them a blessing.

NEW YORK

Since receiving several major commissions in Buffalo and Rochester during the first decade of the century, Wright had built little in the East and, until the Guggenheim Museum, nothing of consequence in NewYork City. Thus, Ben and Anne Rebhuhn, who built their Usonian on Long Island, were among Wright's most visionary clients. They looked far beyond America's most cosmopolitan city and its largest Jewish population.


Ben Rebhuhn (1898-1965) was the son of aviennese 6migr6, an Orthodox rabbi who operated a grocely store on the Lower East Side." The youngest of fourteen children, he was the only one to obtain a higher education. A brilliant student at City College, Ben pursued graduate studies in English and American literature at Columbia University. He lectured at City College and later, with his wife Anne Levine, taught English for four years in Mexico City.

Like Wright, Rebhuhn was devoted to Shakespeare, Emerson, and Whitman. But he was also drawn to Frank Harris (1856-1931), a British expatriate writer considered"one of the most colorful figures in twentieth-century literature."" Once a publisher of London's Saturday Review and a biographer of George Bernard Shaw, Harris became even better known for his autobiography, My Li$e and Loves. In 1924 a German house published an English edition.

Though considered pornographic by some, Rebhuhn was determined to publish it too. In 1925 the NewYork police raided his Up-To-Date Printing Company.'' The following year additional copies of the book were seized. Having been convicted of publishing obscenity, Rebhuhn and his associate, Esau Levine, were imprisoned.

Nevertheless, Rebhuhn and his wife, along with their nephew, Ben, started another publishing venture, Falstaff Press. By the 1930s, Rebhuhn embraced another father figure, Theodore Schroeder (1864-1953), a lawyer and psychologist who was a founder of New York's Free Speech League. A Wisconsin native, Schroeder was also a prolific writer who published a definitive study of the First Amendment.13

Once again, in June 1939, the Rebhuhns and their nephew were convicted in New York's federal court of distributing obscene books and pamphlets through the mails.14 The disputed materials dealt with birth control, and the prosecution resulted from hundreds of complaints by Margaret Sanger's opponents. By this time religious leaders fascinated Rebhuhn, but he also served as a vice-president of the Atheists'Association of America.

Following an unsuccessful appeal to a federal circuit court, Ben and his nephew were fined $10,000 each, and both were sentenced to two years'imprisonment in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Anne, spared a prison sentence, was fined $5,000.15

By the winter of 1937, Rebhuhn had already met his third symbolic father, another maverick and seeker of truths, Frank Lloyd Wright.


Hoping to obtain a design for a vacation home in Florida, the Rebhuhns journeyed to Taliesin.16 Wright's proposal was too expensive, however, so they eventually built a house based on Anne's design.

While living in the Bronx, the Rebhuhns wanted to build a suburban home that was an easy commute to Ben's office in Manhattan. Great Neck, only seventeen miles away, seemed an amenable distance. After purchasing a property in walking distance of the train station, the Rebhuhns invited Wright to inspect the neighborhood dotted with neo-Tudor and neocolonial homes.

Though designed in 1937, the Rebhuhn House was already unusual for a Usonian. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms on its upper level, a servant's bedroom on the ground floor, and a spacious living room with eighteen-foot-high windows. The dwelling, which cost $35,000, was completed while Ben served his prison sentence.

The Rebhuhns'only child, Ronald (born 1942), has vivid memories of the stmcture.l7 A psychologist, Ronald thinks the dwelling was a perfect showplace for two radicals. (Though supporters of Norman Thomas and Eugene Debs, the Rebhuhns were never communists.) The design accommodated Ben and Anne's library of more than 10,000 books, a large collection of Anne's sculptures, and it allowed Ben, a vegetarian and a gardener, to view the out-of-doors. Ronald, however, was less enamored with the house. His friends made fun of the quirky building. He thought that the Usonian better illustrated a philosophy than it functioned on a practical basis. He also found little privacy-either within the large rooms or away from tourists' glares.

Ben and Anne's nephew, Ben Raeburn (1911-97), never built a Usonian but he too came under Wright's spell. Like the uncle who reared him, Raeburn pursued a career in publishing. Subsidized by Anne's brother-in-law, Rudy Bruner, the highly successful manufacturer of Modern Venetian Blinds, Raeburn established New York's Horizon Press in 1950.18 Horizon published such avant- garde writers as Henry Miller as well as such leading Jewish thinkers as Martin Buber, Abba Eban, and Paul Goodman (brother of architect Percival Goodman).

One of Raeburn's greatest achievements, beginning in 1953, was publishing six books by Wright. (There were four others by Olgivanna, the third Mrs. Wright.) Raeburn spent several months


with the architect at Taliesin West in Arizona, conducting interviews and editing essays and notes. He also recorded an interview with the architect for the Caedmon label.

Sadly, Ben Rebhuhn and his nephew grew apart, probably as a long-term result of the ordeal caused by their imprisonment. Feeling defeated by his noble causes, Rebhuhn died disillusioned and embittered. Anne remained in their beloved Usonian until 1969, when it was badly damaged by fire. The house was restored under the supervision of Ronald's wife who was so moved by the experience that she earned a degree in architecture and began her own practice. The RebhuhnsrUsonian was later sold but remains a private dwelling.

ALABAMA

A visit to the Rebhuhn House by a student from Alabama yielded surprising and far-reaching results. Aaron Green became not only the catalyst for the first Usonian in the South but, late in Wright's career, one of his closest associates.

Like Ben Rebhuhn, Green rebelled against his 4migr4 father's Orthodo~y.'~ His mother, Rose Blunker, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, had little in the way of religious education. Consequently, when Aaron was born in Corinth, Mississippi, in 1917, there was meager opportunity for Jewish continuity. Little changed after Abraham Green, a house painter, moved his family to Florence, Alabama.

When, as a teenager, Aaron showed artistic talent, Florence's leading Jewish businessman, Louis Rosenbaum, employed him as a sign maker and a graphic designer. Rosenbaum emigrated from Poland in 1897 and settled initially in Wyoming but moved to Florence in 1918.'O A movie exhibitor, he built a small chain of theaters in the "Quad Cities." Beginning with "the Princess" in Florence, he added "the Ritz" and "the Palace" in Sheffield and "the Strand" in Tuscumbia. Rosenbaum and his wife, Anna, pillars of Florence's Reform congregation, B'nai Israel, supported numerous civic and philanthropic causes. The movie man was perhaps most admired for having paid off the mortgage of the local Methodist

After two years at Florence State Teachers College, Aaron Green won a scholarship to New York City's Cooper Union. Without assistance or encouragement from his professors, however, he learned


about Wright. He devoured the architect's autobiography and spreads in architectural journals. Within a matter of months, he and a friend decided to visit Great Neck. As soon as Green laid eyes on the Rebhuhn House, he decided to become an architect.

Meanwhile, a young couple was ready to build their first house in Florence. Louis and Anna Rosenbaum's only child, Stanley (1909-83), was the town's most prominent intellectual, a devotee of the arts, and an outspoken advocate of integration." Following graduation from Harvard College he dreamed of becoming a literature professor, but he knew that opportunities for Jews were restricted. He earned a master's degree in Denver, then enjoyed a Bohemian life in NewYork City. Stanley was then persuaded to return to the Quad Cities and join his father's business. When not writing publicity for and reviews of the movies, he found time for study and book collecting.

In 1935, while a rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Arthur Lelyveld (1913-96) served the tiny Reform congregation in Florence. Needless to say, he and his wife, Toby Bookholtz, became well acquainted with the Rosenba~ms.'~ Stanley was encouraged to visit NewYork, where he was introduced to Toby's younger sister. A professional model, Mildred (born 1917) was also an accomplished musician with a degree in education from Hunter College. M e r their marriage in 1938 at Hebrew Union College, Stanley and"Mimi"moved in with Stanley's parents.

Louis and Anna gave the newlyweds a marvelous incentive to remain in Florence: a lot across Riverview Drive and $7,500 to build a home. Mimi, who had lived in apartments all her life, was particularly excited. Yet, neither was impressed by the numerous homes they inspected. After months of searching, they hit on another idea: commissioning a design from their friend, Aaron Green.

Though still a student at Cooper Union, Green was, of course, delighted. He spent a year developing the Rosenbaum House as a class project. When his design was presented to contractors, however, the bids were far higher than anticipated. Louis Rosenbaum suggested that Green try again.

Feeling that he had bitten off more than he could chew, Aaron came up with another idea. "Why not try Mr. Wright?" he asked. "You've got to be crazy-he's the most famous architect in the world!" said Lo~is . '~ Stanley and Mimi, who had begun to read Wright's autobiography and architectural journals, were not opposed to the

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses for lavish Clients

idea. They were too timid, however, to send an inquiry to Wisconsin. Consequently, Green seized the initiative. On April 20, 1939, he

wrote to his hero, explaining that he had visited the Rebhuhn House and was acquainted with Madison's Jacobs House.'' His friends dreamed of a three-bedroom house with a study. With a budget of $7,500 and a lot 124 by 140 feet, the Rosenbaums also had a view of the Tennessee River. Wright was in London for three months, so Green's letter was not

answered until July 26, 1939. Yes, the master would be happy to oblige. His fee would be 10 percent of construction costs.

Jean nnd Aaron Grct,t~ wlth Wright 17t Taiesin West Ar~zona Circa 1958

Additionally, to supervise construction, the Rosenbaums would be responsible for housing and feeding a Taliesin apprentice and paying him $50 per week.

Stanley and Mimi never spoke directly to Wright, and he never visited the site. All communication was set forth on paper. Construction began in January 1940, and Wright's only building in Alabama was completed that August. The Rosenbaum's first son was conceived the night Stanley and Mimi moved in.

To accommodate four sons, the Usonian eventually required an addition. In 1947 Stanley and Mimi

(Courtesy of the author) made the first of several visits to Taliesin. Wright's solution seemed

simple: extending the L shape to form a T doubled the size of their home. Supervision was provided by Benjamin Dombar, a former Taliesin Fellow who journeyed to Florence on weekends from his home in C in~ inna t i .~~ In 1970 Wright's successor firm, the Taliesin Associated Architects, carried out a restoration.

Despite some imperfections, such as a tiny kitchen, short chimneys, and an antiquated heating system, the Usonian has been a source of endless joy for the Rosenbaums. Stanley's vast library soon engulfed his study and spread to other rooms. He became the center of his own salon, leading courses on the "Great Books" and speaking


to church and women's groups on a variety of subjects, especially comparative religion.

With Stanley's parents already living nearby, Mimi's parents from New York purchased a home in the neighborhood. The third Bookholtz daughter also moved to Florence and married a merchant. They built a "ranchburger" nearby.

In 1960, as a result of an antimonopoly suit, Stanley sold his chain of movie theaters. (By coincidence, one of the government's lawyers was Robert Llewelyn Wright, the architect's youngest son, also the owner of a Usonian, who was invited to stay with the Rosenbaums for a weekend.) Having loved teaching most of his life, Stanley was finally able to join the faculty at Florence State. Classes were often held in his Usonian, perhaps to quash rumors about "the peculiar house that must have been the idea of the young lady from New Y~rk."'~

After Stanley succumbed to cancer and their sons settled far from Alabama, Mimi considered selling the Usonian. She could not bear the idea, however, and decided to preserve it. In 1989, after 800 people attended her lecture at the local high school, Mimi decided to proceed with a full restoration. Alabama's historical commission recognized the Rosenbaum House as the state's most notable modern residence. In 1991 a foundation was established to maintain it in perpetuity as a museum. Mimi still resides there, holding the record for longevity by any Wright client.

The Rosenbaums enjoyed showing their Usonian to prospective clients. In the South there were few takers, however. The Hughes family, suitably impressed, built their- ~ s o n i a n in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1948. As a result of a delightful weekend spent with the Rosenbaums in Florence, Seamour and Gerte Shavin of Chattanooga commissioned a' sandstone and cypress Usonian, completed in 1952.28 Seamour, a Jew born in New York but reared in Tennessee, was a contractor. Like Mimi Rosenbaum, Gerte

7he Rosenbiiurns (Courtesy o f Alvin Rosazbaum)

Shavin was a native New Yorker


who had graduated from Hunter College. From their cozy Wright home atop Seminary Ridge, the music-loving Shavins also enjoy a view of the Tennessee River.

The saga of the Rosenbaum House continued. Aaron Green joined the Taliesin Fellowship in 1939-even before completing his studies at Cooper Union. He became one of Wright's most enthusiastic and accomplished prot6g6sf instrumental in obtaining several more commissions for his hero. Wright took notice of these efforts, particularly after Green married a niece of Grace Pauson, a Jewish heiress from San Francisco who had built "Shiprock," an imposing winter home near Phoenix.

In 1951 Green was recruited by Wright to become his chief assistant in northern California, where he assisted in the supervision of more than three dozen projects. Green, who maintains a practice in the Bay Area, was instrumental in obtaining for Wright the commission completed in 1970 for the Marin County Civic Center. Wright designated him "associate architectn-an unprecedented ge~ture.'~

MICHIGAN

Melvyn Maxwell Smith, and his wife, Sara, were among Wright's most zealous clients. With very modest resources, they overcame considerable obstacles to build a Usonian that Wright calledUhis little gem.ff30

Smith (1914-84) was the son of a Lithuanian saddle maker who scoffed at the possible success of the automobile industry. Melvyn, who was born in Detroit, dreamed of becoming an architect. Because an older brother was already enrolled in dental school at the University of Michigan, he was encouraged to study close by at Wayne State University. There he was inspired by an English professor who insisted on changing studentsf lives. With a lifelong interest in transcendental philosophy, Smith taught at the secondary level in Detroit public schools. He specialized in English and humanities.

In 1940 he mamed Sara Stein, whom he met while both were teaching religious school. Sara, was also the child of Lithuanian immigrants. A graduate of Eastern Michigan State College in Ypsilanti, Sara began teaching kindergarten, then switched to performing arts. An actress, she taught theater at Jewish camps and

American Jmish Archives Journal

community centers and was later active in semiprofessional companies.

While pursuing a doctorate at Wayne State,"Smithy"learned about Wright in an art history course. Seeing only one example of Wright's work, "Fallingwater," he proclaimed that he would one day have a home designed by the master. Other students laughed. Beginning in 1938, Smith read all he could about Wright.

In summer 1941, when beginning a drive to western Canada, the Smiths stopped at a Wisconsin resort, where they noticed a sign to Taliesin. They took the detour. They ventured into the drafting room and were welcomed by an apprentice. If "Mr. Wright" had not yet gone to dinner, the assistant explained, he would make an introduction.

"How many babies?" was the architect's greeting. His long white hair, white shirt, white trousers, and white shoes were also startling. Wright invited the couple to sit down besides his drafting table and discuss their ideas for a house. When Smithy asked if he could get a home for $5,000, as had Herbert Jacobs, Wright countered that $8,000 was a more likely figure. "Let's not talk about money,"he remarked. "I would rather hear about you." After agreeing to design the Smiths' home, he suggested that they buy a piece of land that "nobody else wanted."

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Smithy declared, "There goes our Wright house." Upon his discharge from the army in 1946, the couple, now with a young son, resumed their difficult search for a property.

Wright had encouraged the Smiths to look beyond Detroit to escape the confusion of urban life. Perhaps he was also eager to extend his influence to the doorstep of Cranbrook Academy, the educational venture built and led by the famous Finnish-born modernist, Eliel Saarinen. Yet, Bloomfield Hills seemed unattractive to the Smiths for several reasons: too great a distance from school, expensive property, and restrictions against minorities. Nevertheless, when the couple finally found a lot they loved, they put down $500. After the seller discovered that the Smiths were Jews, even though Sara had become involved with Christian Science, he returned their check.

Though devastated, the Smiths continued their search. Sara picked the name of a realtor out of a phone directory, called him, and announced, "We're Jewish." A liberal who wanted to integrate

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Housesfor Jmish Clients

Bloomfield Hills, this realtor directed the couple to an appropriate site on PonValley Road that they quickly purchased.

Telegraphing Taliesin with their exciting news, the Smiths requested Wright to design a home that was "meant for the site."31

Within two weeks, they personally de- livered a topographical survey to Wright's drafting room, then they waited a weekend for the architect's response. The wait grew to

I months, but the U S O I I I L ~ ~ Z Homr teachers were reluctant (Courtesy ofAlvln Rosmbaurn) to pester their hero.

One weekend they went to see the newest Wright home in suburban Detroit, a Usonian for Gregor and Elizabeth Affleck in Bloomfield Hills. Hearing Smith's name, Affleck announced that he had been trying to locate an"M. Smith." Wright had lost the Smiths' address, but their plans were ready.

The teachers decided, however, that the plans were too costly. Smithy was earning only $7 per day. Consequently, Wright instructed them to serve as their own contractors. Neither Melvyn nor Sara had ever built anything, and neither was even involved in gardening. But Smithy told Wright that he would consider the idea.

Three years later, he returned to Taliesin with some modifications to Wright's design. "Your husband would have made a fine architect," Wright told Sara. Smithy felt at that moment that he had earned a degree in architecture. Construction soon began.

Through friends the Smiths obtained cypress at heavily discounted prices. Relatives helped pay for custom-made furniture. Two bricklayers were hired to work seven evenings a week. They, in turn, recruited other tradesmen (at $2 per hour). When the Smiths' funds were finally exhausted, the carpenters were given the choice of quitting or working for $100 a month. After thirteen months, construction neared completion.

With only $500 remaining in the bank, the Smiths still needed windows. On a Sunday afternoon, while Melvyn was pondering his


plight, a stranger drove up to the house and asked how he could help. The visitor, a Wright buff, promised that the glass would be installed within a week. Pittsburgh Plate Glass sent a bill, and Alfred Taubman, the shopping center magnate, paid the balance.

Wright visited the Smiths a number of times. Their greatest pleasure, however, was sharing the house with strangers; Sara continues to do so. A number of visitors became Wright clients. The Henry Turkels, a Jewish couple, built a large concrete-block residence on Detroit's Seven Mile Road in 1955.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

New England's neglect of Wright can be attributed to several factors: pride in its own traditions, a wariness of the new, and the prominence of its architectural schools. After 1937, when they established a beachhead for the international style at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer attracted some adventurous clients, including a number of Jews.32 Despite the fact that Wright had spent a few years of his youth in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, he was never considered a long-lost relative-rather, an ill-mannered, proselytizing, and annoying pest.

Isadore Jacob Zimmerman (1908-84) was in many ways an outsider. The son of Russian-Jewish kmigrks, he was born in NewYork City and grew up on the Lower East Side.33 A precocious student, Isadore attended Boston Latin School, then Harvard College. After graduation from Tufts Medical School, he pursued advanced training at Los Angeles General Hospital and at New Hampshire State Hospital, where he specialized in urology.

In Concord he met Lucille Cummings (1908-88), a Baptist from Falls of Rough, Kentucky. The second of eight children, she had studied nursing at Owensboro City Hospital and went to New Hampshire State Hospital to develop expertise in psychiatry. In 1934 the Zimmermans were married in Philadelphia, where Isadore continued training in urology at the University of Pennsylvania.

After a residency at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, Dr. Zimmerman hoped to establish a private practice. In 1935, though few Jewish physicians had been on the staff of Sacred Heart Hospital, he received an appointment and moved with his wife to Manchester. Zimmerman


' * . ? . y F ' T & -A - -t #&? . .. "'T opened an office in a row of brick * -

(? apartments on Elm Street, where he remained, a solo practitioner, his entire career. Lucille served as his surgical nurse and assistant, running the office punctiliously.

Though they loved children, the Zimmermans never had their own. Cut off from his family and not active in Jewish communal affairs, they turned to a number of leisure-time activities. Both were keen photographers, and their thirteen-room, colonial-revival home included a darkroom. They also enjoyed travel, but their favorite avocation was music.

lsadore I . izi7d L u c i l l ~ ~ Zirnl7lernm11, 1940's Since boyhood, Isadore ("Zimmy" to his (Courtesy ofthe Currier Gallenj of chums) had played violin. In the 1940s he Art, Munchester, N.H.) performed with the New Hampshire Symphony and later acquired a precious instrument, a Niccolo Gagliano of 1737.WIsadore loved chamber music and played in trios and quartets. Lucille studied cello and piano but also enjoyed sewing and embroidery. The Zimmermans attended concerts and music festivals throughout New England.

After more than a dozen years in their own home, the couple sensed that, despite an abundance of rooms, it did not suit their needs.35 They considered moving to the country but bought an acre in Manchester's North End. When a local architect suggested they peruse magazines for design ideas, they fired him.

The Zimmermans turned to the public library, where they found Wright's Modem Architecture, his book based on the Kahn Lectures at Princeton University." Lucille concluded immediately that she had found the only suitable architect. Next she read Wright's autobiography. Both she and Isadore were captivated by an article in the August 1948 issue of House Beautiful, written by Loren Pope, the owner of a U ~ o n i a n . ~ ~

The Zimmermans were not aware, however, that Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art, founded in 1936 as an affiliate of New York's Museum of Modern Art, had begun to explore aspects of contemporary design in addition to painting and sculpture. In January


1940, following a trip to Taliesin, James Plaut, the institute's enterprising young director, organized a Wright exhibition. Consisting primarily of photos, the small presentation featured residential designs, including early Usonians. Wright also lectured to a packed audience. "What this city needs,"he remarkedInis 400 first- class funerals."38

"I hope I am not taking undue liberties,"began Dr. Zimmermanls letter to the architect, dated June 27, 1949.39 He explained that he and his wife desiredMa small, spacious, simple home." Wright invited the couple to visit Taliesin, and they did so within a month. The Zimmermans sat besides his drafting table as he began to sketch.

Then the couple traveled through Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, inspecting Wright buildings. In a thank-you note, Lucille wrote that the architectUpractices what he preaches."40 She sent a jar of maple syrup, which became an annual gift.

The Zimmermans completed a questionnaire in which they described their habits and needs. (Backyard birdhouses, for example, were essential.) Two meetings followed at Wright's suite at the Plaza Hotel in NewYork City. The proposed cost of the 1,400 square-foot Usonian was $38,000.41 A contract was signed in October. "We are happy beyond words with the design of our new home,"Lucille wrote upon seeing preliminary sketches. "It is the most beautiful thing we have ever seen."42

But the Zimmermans encountered serious problems when construction began. Local suppliers were unwilling to cooperate. Manchester building officials thought the couple was odd. A contractor was sent to Wisconsin for an immersion in Wright's building methods, but the Zimmermans fired him after six months. Consequently, a Taliesin apprentice, John Geiger, provided supervision.

When construction costs had risen to $40,000, such details as a darkroom were scrapped. The couple, however, was enthralled with the results. In June 1952, after only a few weeks of occupancy, they wrote to Wright, describingJ'an experience we would not miss for all of the monetary riches in the world." "The beauty of the house defies verbal description," they proclaimed." In his typically pithy fashion, Wright responded,"Your letter is a true reward for our effort and we too are pleased."44

Set diagonally to Heather Street, across from Cape Cod houses and Georgian revivals, the one-level, two-bedroom Zimmerman


House is nearly invisible to neighbors. (This fact did not prevent some from complaining about destroyed property values.) Wright designed the lush landscaping, which created a sense of seclusion and a place for Checkers, a Dalmatian coach hound, to romp. The architect also put his imprint on the curbside mailbox, which resembles a miniature Usonian.

The Zimmermans discarded their old furniture in favor of new furnishings by Wright. The most unusual item in the commodious living space was an upholstered bench, forty-two feet long, facing a wall of windows and five sets of double-glass doors. Four stools with a four-sided music stand were placed near the grand piano. When Lucille wrote to Taliesin requesting custom-designed tablecloths and napkins, Wright replied testily, "You ask me for more things."45 He complied nevertheless.

The terra-cotta roof, red brick walls, and cypress-paneled interiors exude graciousness and richness. Such was the residence's extraordinary sustenance to Isadore that, during the last five years of his life, while suffering from Parkinson's disease, he stationed his motorized bed in the soaring living room.

The Zimmermans collected contemporary American ceramics, acquiring more than seventy-five pieces by Edwin and Mary Scheier, who taught at the University of New Hampshire in nearby Durham.46 When the Zimmermans' interests expanded to African carvings, pre- Columbian terra-cottas, and modern sculptures, their residence assumed a heightened sense of refinement. Lucille explained, however, that the couple bought only pieces that would suit the house. There are no paintings, she commented, because it would be likeMhanging a picture over the Mona Lisa."47

By 1960 the Zimmermans were encouraged by the director of Manchesterfs Currier Gallery of Art to make acquisitions for the museum. They made twenty such gifts over the years. The couple's most significant gift to the Currier, formalized before Isadore's death and carried out after Lucille's, was the bequest of their greatest treasure. The Currier director recalled that the house was indeed their family.48 It became the only publicly owned Wright building in New England. The couple also left funds for its restoration, which cost $500,000.49

Late in life the Zimmermans had joined Adath Jeshurun, a Conservative synagogue whose new sanctuary, adjacent to the


Currier, had been designed by Percival G o ~ d m a n . ~ ~ Discreet inquiries were made, and it was determined that Lucille would be allowed burial in the congregational ~emetery.~' But the couple chose the place dearest to their hearts. A quotation by Wright is inscribed in granite over their backyard graves: "Beautify your own life and you beautify the life of everyone around you."

Accordingly, the Zimmermans helped beautify the lives of Dr. Toufic"Ted"Kali1 (1907-90) and his wife, Mildred, who in 1957 built a concrete-block Usonian only four houses away on Heather Street." Kalil, a radiologist assisted by his wife, had encouraged Zimmerman to join the staff of Sacred Heart Hospital. A Manchester native of Christian Lebanese descent, Kalil also maintained an office on Elm Street. Like the Zimmermans, the Kalils had no children. A nephew occupies their Usonian today.

HOUSING COOPERATIVES

Wright's designs for moderately priced homes were not limited to isolated commissions. Since his early years in Oak Park, he had begun to measure his impact through clusters of buildings. Indeed, some designs for estates-in Illinois and elsewhere-included detached servants' quarters, carriage houses and garages, recreational facilities, terraces, pergolas, reflecting pools, and extensive gardens.53 Before construction of Florida Southern College, in Lakeland, the Wright designs most resembling campuses were his own homes and studios, the two Taliesins. These breathtaking compounds can also be viewed as communes over and above which Mr. and Mrs. Wright ruled.

In 1934, through the patronage of Edgar Kaufrnann Sr., Taliesin apprentices completed a wooden model of "Broadacre City," which demonstrated Wright's concept of regional planning and his dream of reconfiguring any part (or most) of the country. During the same decade, the master was commissioned to bui1d"Usonia I1,"a cluster of moderately priced houses for faculty members of Michigan State University near East Lansing. Sadly, because of their unconventional designs, most families could not obtain mortgages. By 1940, only the Goetsch-Winckler House, for two women art professors, was actually built.54

In the postwar era, Wright became involved in two more experiments in cooperative living. Not surprisingly, several Jewish families played prominent roles. And once again, the setting for a


Usonian cooperative was Michigan. During World War 11, the Upjohn Company, headquartered in

Kalamazoo, had recruited large numbers of chemists. Among these were several Jews, such as Robert Levin, Alan Nathan, and David Weisblat, who were hired after completing graduate studies.55 These scientists had no political or ideological agenda. Having begun families, however, they were eager to move beyond the small apartments they had occupied throughout the war.

A local company, Ingersoll Steel, which commissioned several leading architects to design model homes, propelled the Upjohn colleagues toward modernism. Levin, a native of Madison and the secretary of a fledgling cooperative, recommended Wright, whom Ingersoll, perhaps because of his age, had overlooked. In 1947 Wright agreed to become involved, though he quickly contradicted his own initial estimate that individual houses would cost $7,500. A more likely figure, he said, was $12,000.

Meanwhile, the prospective clients became divided over the selection of a site. While some of the chemists preferred a rural setting, such Jewish professionals as Eric Brown and Frederick Margolis wanted to be closer to their downtown offices. Consequently, two cooperatives evolved: "Galesburg Country Home Acres,"about twelve miles east of town, and"ParkwynVillage,"on the south side of Kalamazoo. Wright visited both sites and prepared plans, which included individual lots to be awarded through a lottery as well as commonly held property.

Despite extensive publicity, neither cooperative venture produced the scores of clients who were sought. ParkwynVillage built only four Usonians. Financing was equally perplexing for "the Acres," where four more Usonians appeared. The Weisblats, who reluctantly agreed to spend $12,000 on their three-bedroom, concrete-block abode, ended up paying twice as much.56 Nevertheless, the family was delighted with the results. David Weisblat's widow, Christine, has remained ever since.

A cooperative venture in NewYork's Westchester County became known asUUsonia Homes." It was the brainchild of David Henken, a goateed mechanical engineer from New York City whose first contact with a Wright dwelling was the Rebhuhn House in Great Neck.57 A conscientious objector during World War II, David was a member of the Taliesin Fellowship from 1942 to 1944. His wife Priscilla, a high school teacher, was also briefly a member.

'


Wnght Usonlan Home (Courtesy of the Currler Gal lev of Art, Manchestq N . H )

Both Henken and his younger sister, Judith Podell, who visited Taliesin in 1943, were reared as Jews and were active in New York's anti-Stalinist Young People's Socialist League. Inspired by Wrightian ideals, particularly Broadacre City, the Henkens and Podells aspired to build a Utopian cooperative in suburbia that would be racially, religiously, and politically integrated (except for communists). Needless to say, their first challenge after establishing a corporation in 1944 was finding a site. In 1947 they purchased ninety-seven acres of foreclosed property in the woods of Pleasantville, north of White Plains. The total cost was $20,000.

Soon Wright agreed to oversee the project. He prepared a master plan for fifty-five homes and visited more than a dozen times through 1954. Though willing to design only a few Usonians and a community center, he also agreed to approve all plans submitted by other architects.

Henken built his own home, his sister's, and a third for their parents, all of which were occupied in 1949. Many Jewish families from NewYork City were recruited through magazine advertisements and meetings held in cafeterias and union halls. Wright, however, designed only three homes, including two for Jewish families. The first, based on a circular module, was architecturally the most daring. Commissioned by the Solomon Friedmans of Brooklyn, it was budgeted at $30,000 but cost considerably more. Roland Reisley, a physicist and an entrepreneur, was only twenty-six and recently married when he purchased his ninety-nine-year, renewable lease in "Usonia H ~ m e s . " ~ V u t of modesty he would not even consider approaching Wright for a design. Fortunately, Henken persuaded him


otherwise. The Reisleys were thrilled with their 1,800 square-foot Usonian, even when costs rose above $35,000. Six years later, Wright designed an addition, with three children's bedrooms, but he severed himself from the remainder of the Pleasantville experiment.

By 1954 Wright also abruptly terminated his relationship with his torchbearer, David Henken, who may have claimed too much credit for Pleasantville's success. Priscilla's heartfelt overtures to Taliesin for reconciliation went unheeded.

Had the architect finally grown weary of coddling the budget- minded? Though less and less affordable, the idea of the Usonian seemed more valid and necessary than ever. Its features were imitated throughout the country but consistently without the master's touch. Was the Usonian concept inherently illusory? Only a brilliant architect could truly many quality and cost, and quality usually won out. Perhaps Wright finally understood this. Inundated with requests, he accepted only the most alluring. In his ninetieth year, for example, he received a fantastic offer from King Faysal I1 to remake Baghdad.

Today would Wright or the Henkens be gratified or alarmed by what has become of the Pleasantville experiment? The cooperative has survived and grown, but its values have skyrocketed. In 1994 a modest, Usonian-style house built in the 1950s was sold for $500,000.59 The young couple who purchased it spent an additional $400,000 to improve their weekend hideaway.

HERO AND PROPHET

Wright surely appreciated his most faithful and generous patrons. Among Jews, the most notable were the Edgar Kaufmanns (Sr. and Jr.), Solomon Guggenheim, and Beth Sholom. Wright was probably not aware, however, of the array of Jews who resonated to his genius. He was not a social psychologist or diplomat. Did he ever partake in a Passover seder or raise a kiddush cup? Even with the astonishing design of Beth Sholom, he lost an opportunity to ingratiate himself and become or be considered a mensch.

At best, Jews were Wright's vital messengers. Utopians and mavericks alike, they could glory in his overflowing creativity, his abounding self-confidence, and his palpable fantasies.

Jewish clients saw Wright as a patriarchal and patriotic hero who inflamed their yearnings for individualism, independence, fulfillment,


and transcendence. For many of these clients, working with Wright or in his aura was the most uplifting and profound experience of their lives .

Wright personified past and future, authority and freedom, wisdom and intuition, reason and romance. Among American architects-Jewish and gentile-he was and probably remains beyond compare. Looking and acting like a prophet-not merely searching for a promised land-he was eager and able to deliver his impressionable and adoring flock.

George M. Goodwin has conducted numerous oral histo y interviews o n behalf of the Wr igh t Archives a t Taliesin W e s t in Arizona. In addition to architecture, he has written o n art museums, cartoons, folk music, and the Vietnam War jFom a Jewish perspective. The Goodwin family resides in a 1920 bungalow i n Providence, Rhode Island.

NOTES: 1.Jewish clients were identified from several sources, such as obituaries,

biographical dictionaries, and synagogue records. In several instances, Jewish clients helped identify their peers. The architect also tended to assign Jewish apprentices to work with Jewish clients. Wright had more than forty Jewish clients, but these did not include Herman Mossberg, Katherine Winckler, or Jessie Ziegler. The literature on Wright is vast. Recent biographies include: Robert C. Twombly, Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture (NewYork: Wiley, 1979); Brendan Gill, Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright (New York: Putnarn, 1987); and Meryle Secrest, Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography (NewYork: Knopf, 1992). There have been scholarly studies of several major buildings, but three broader studies are particularly useful: Bruce B. Pfeiffer, Frank Lloyd Wright Drawings: Mastwworksfvom the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives (New York: Abrams, 1990); William A. Storrer, The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993); and Neil Levine, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996). Two books with magnificent color reproductions are: Carla Lind, The Wright Style (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), and David Larkin and Bruce B. Pfeiffer, Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks (NewYork: Rizzoli, 1993). Wright's own writings, including collections of essays, speeches, interviews, and letters, are widely available. The most basic is A n Autobiography (NewYork: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1943).

2.Dankmar Adler (1844-1900), the son and grandson of rabbis, was not only America's most prominent Jewish architect of the nineteenth century but one of the most accomplished builders in the country. Wright, however, showed little appreciation for Adler and Sullivan's Jewish clientele and literally fought with Jews among its staff. He adopted the brilliant stylist Louis Sullivan as his mentor ("Lieber Meister"). In addition to theaters, hotels, department stores, and office towers, the Adler firm built four synagogues, all in Chicago. See Charles E. Gregersen and Joan W. Saltzstein, Dankmar Adler: His Theatres and Auditoriums (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1990), and Robert C. Twombly, Louis Sullivan: His Life and Work (NewYork: Viking, 1986).

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses forJewish Clients

3.May the city's leading haberdasher, was probably familiar with Wright's work through his local contacts in the furniture industry, frequent trips to Chicago, and acquaintanceships with Wright clients who summered in Charlevoix. In 1987 the May House was magnificently restored by Steelcase, Inc., and opened to the public as a museum. The nearby Amberg House was built for May's in-laws, who were also leaders of Temple Emanuel, the Reform congregation. Mrs. Amberg's father, Julius Houseman, had been a mayor of Grand Rapids and Michigan's first Jewish congressman.

4.See Donald Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater: The House and Its History (NewYork: Dover, 1978), and Edgar Kaufmann Jr., Fallingwater: A Frank Lloyd Wrigkt Country House (New York: Abbeville, 1986). While serving as a Wright apprentice, Edgar Kaufmann Jr. introduced the architect to his parents. He became a curator of industrial design at the Museum of Modern Art, an adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia, and a prolific writer and critic. Edgar Kauhann Jr. donated the Fallingwater estate to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which operates it as a heavily visited museum. In honor of Wright's British ancestry, Kaufmann also donated the interior of his father's office to thevictoria and Albert Museum. It is the only Wright interior belonging to a European museum. See Christopher Wilk, Frank Lloyd Wright: The Kaufinann Offzce (London:Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993).

5.Indispensable to an understanding of the museum's history is Bruce B. Pfeiffer, ed., Frank Lloyd Wrigkt: The Guggenheim Correspondence (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986). For the impact of Wright's involvement in the design, see also Joan M. Lukach, Hilla Rebay: In Search of the Spirit in Art (NewYork: Braziller, 1983).

6.See George M. Goodwin,"Wright's Beth Sholom Synagogue,"American Jewish History 86 (September 1998): 325-48. For excellent color reproductions, see Larkin and Pfeiffer, Masterworks, and H. A. Meek, The Synagogue (London: Phaidon, 1995).

7.The Samuel Freemans, who eventually fired Wright and hired his Jewish protbgb, Rudolph Schindler, were Jews. See George M. Goodwin, "Frank Lloyd Wright, Jews, and the West," Western States Jewish History 30 (January 1998): 99-125; idem (April 1998): 262-78. For the Jacobs House, see Herbert Jacobs and Katherine Jacobs, Building with Frank Lloyd Wright: An Illustrated Memoir (San Francisco: Chronicle, 1978). Seeking more privacy and a stronger bond with nature, the Jacobses built a second Usonian, farther from Madison, in 1948.

8.In February and July 1901, Wright published his ideas in Ladies' Home Journal. The suggested cost of an ample, two-story, two-bedroom house was $7,000. See Gwendolyn Wright, Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America (New York: Pantheon, 1981), 164.

9.A fascinating use of the word organic appears in the writings of Rabbi Max Kadushin, the Hillel director at the University of Wisconsin in the 1930s and an occasional guest at Taliesin. Kadushin, later a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, dropped Wright when he detected some Nazi sympathy. Letter by Kadushin's son, Charles, to the author, January 23,1996. See also Peter Ochs, ed., Understanding the Rabbinic Mind: Essays on the Hmeneutic of Max Kadushin, South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism, vol. 14 (Tampa: University of South Florida, 1990).

10.Telephone interview with Ronald Rebhuhn, recorded by the author on July 10, 1994, in Westbury, N.Y.

11.Dennis Pouparad, ed., Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, (Detroit: Gale


1987), 251. 12.Edward de Grazia, Girls Lean Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the

Assault on Genius (NewYork: Random House, 1992), 55. 13."Theodore Schroeder, Lawyer & Author,"New York Times, Februa~y 12, 1953,

27. See also Theodore Schroeder, Free Speech Bibliography (NewYork: Wilson, 1922). 14."2 Publishers Get Prison Sentences,"New York Times, June 14,1939, 8. 15.Ibid. 16.Randolph C. Henning, ed., "At Taliesin": Newspaper Columns by Frank Lloyd

Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship, 1934-1937 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 229.

17.Rebhuhn interview. 18.Peter Dzwonkoski, ed., American Literary Publishing Houses, 1900-1980: Trade

and Paperback, vol. 46 of Dictiona ry of Literary Biography (Detroit: Gale, 1986), 192. 19.Telephone interview with Aaron Green, recorded by the author on May 11,

1994, in San Francisco. 20.Alvin Rosenbaum, Usonia: Frank Lloyd Wright's Design for America

(Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, 1993), 152. 21.Telephone interview with Alvin Rosenbaum, Louis's grandson, conducted by

the author on May 30,1994, in Chevy Chase, Md. 22.Telephone interview with Mildred Rosenbaum, recorded by the author on

March 6, 1994, in Florence, Ala. Regarding Rosenbaum's efforts on behalf of integration, I am grateful to Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, a figure of national stature in the civil rights movement, for his letter of October 12,1994.

23.Joseph, the son of Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld and Dr. Toby Lelyveld, is currently the executive editor of the New York Times.

24.Green interview. 25.Rosenbaum, Usonia, 157-58. 26."Benny"Dombar, the son of a Russian Jewish harness maker, was a member

of the Taliesin Fellowship from 1934 until 1941. Recruited as a kitchen helper directly out of high school, he was the first Taliesin"graduate" to receive an architect's license without any university training. His older brother, Abrom, who dropped out of the University of Cincinnati in 1932 after hearing Wright speak, preceded Benny at Taliesin. "Abe," who remained at Taliesin only two years, worked briefly as an apprentice at Fallingwater. Interview with Benjamin Dombar, recorded by the author on January 29,1994, in Cincinnati.

27.Mildred Rosenbaum interview. 28.Telephone interview with Gerte Shavin, recorded by the author on July 2,

1994, in Chattanooga. 29.A~ a measure of its importance, the civic center was reproduced on the cover

of the Museum of Modem Art's exhibition catalog, Frank Lloyd Wright Architect, edited by Terence Riley, (NewYork: Museum of Modern Art, 1994); for a discussion of the civic center see 318-23. Also see Aaron G. Green and Donald P. De Nevi, A n Architecture for Democracy: The Marin County Civic Center (San Francisco: Grendon, 1990). In a similarly unprecedented gesture, Wright designated Rabbi Mortimer J. Cohen hisnco-designernof Beth Sholom. See Gill, Many Masks, 463.

3O.Telephone interview with Sara Smith, recorded by the author on August 14, 1994, in Santa Barbara, Calif.

31.Melvyn Smith to FLW, August 17, 1946. Wright Archives, Taliesin West, Arizona.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses forJewish Clients

32.0ne of the first commissions of Gropius's firm, The Architects Collaborative, was the house for George and Ethel Kaplan, built in Newton, Mass., in 1948. Telephone interview with the Kaplans'daughter, Ellen Sulkin, recorded by the author on March 25,1996, in Weston, Mass. See also John Harkness, ed., The Walter Gropius Archives, vol. 6,1945-1969: The Work of the Architects Collaborative (NewYork: Garland, 1991), xv.

33.See Larkin and Pfeiffer, Mastenoorks, and Leslie Morgan, "Dear Mr. Wright," N m England Monthly (September 1990): 63-67.

34.Lucille Zimmerman mentioned the violin in a letter to Wright in August 1950. Wright Archives.

35.Interview with Lucille Zimmerman recorded by Amy Eshoo, a high school student, on January 18, 1977. Zimmerman House Archives, Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N.H.

36.0tto H. Kahn (1867-1934), the German-born, Jewish banker and philanthropist, sponsored a series of six lectures and an exhibition by Wright at Princeton in 1930. Helping Wright to perceive himself as an educator, the experience had a favorable impact on the establishment of the Taliesin Fellowship two years later. Kahn, whose grandest residence was "Oheka," a 137-room chateau staffed by 126 servants on Long Island's Cold Spring Harbor, had little personal interest in modern architecture. Coincidentally, however, the Guggenheim Museum was later built only two blocks south of the mogul's five-story townhouse on Fifth Avenue. See Mary J. Matz, The Many Lives of Otto Kahn (New York: Macmillan, 1963), and John Kobler, Otto, the Magnificent: The Lye of Otto Kahn (NewYork: Scribner's, 1989).

37.Pope, a journalist born in Eau Claire, Wis., built his Usonian in Falls Church, Va., in 1941. It was 1,200 square feet and cost $7,500. Earning $3,000 per year, Pope obtained a loan from his employer because banks would not provide a mortgage for Wright's unconventional design. Pope was able to sell the house for $17,000 in 1946, and its second owner, Marjorie Leighey, donated the structure to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1967. When visiting the Zirnmerman House for the first time in 1992, Pope remarked that it wasVa rich cousin"to his Usonian. Interview with Loren Pope recorded by the author on September 18,1992, in Manchester.

38.Telephone interview with James Plaut, recorded by the author on March 5, 1995, in Brookline, Mass. For a brief history of the institute, see Dissent: The Issue of Modem Art in Boston (Institute of Contemporary Art, 1985).

39.Dr. Zimmerman to FLW, June 27,1949. Wright Archives. 4O.Lucille Zimmerman letter, August 1950. 41.Contract for Zimmerman House, October 23,1950. Wright Archives. 42.Lucille Zimmerman to FLW, November 18,1950. Wright Archives. 43.Dr. and Mrs. Zimmerman to FLW, June 16, 1952. It is reproduced in Larkin

and Pfeiffer, Mastenoorks, 245. 44.FLW to Zimmermans, June 9,1952. Wright Archives. 45.Lucille Zimmerman interview. 46.See Michael K. Komanecky, American Potters: M a y and Edwin Scheier

(Manchester: Currier Gallery, 1993), 10. The Scheiers were also an intermarried couple: he a nonobservant Jew, she a Gentile. Further paralleling the Zimmermans, he was born in NewYork, she in Virginia.

47.Lucille Zimmerman interview. 48.Letter from David S. Brooke to the author, August 8,1994.


49.Morgan,"Dear Mr. Wright,"63. 50.For Goodman's work in New England, see George M. Goodwin,"The Design

of a Modem Synagogue: Percival Goodman's Beth-El in Providence, Rhode Island," American Jewish Archives 45 (SpringISummer 1993): 31-71. Goodman, who was acquainted with Wright, encouraged the young NewYork architectural student, Edgar Tafel, to join theTaliesin Fellowship in 1932. See Edgar Tafel, Apprentice to Genius:Years with Frank Lloyd Wright (NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1979), 16.

51.Telephone interview with a Zimmerman friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, on June 28,1994, in Manchester.

52.See Michael Komaneclq"Morton Delson andThe Kalil House: The Making of alUsonian Automatic,'"Bulletin of the Currier Gallery ofArt (Spring 1994): 8-29.

53.For example, "Olive Hill," Aline Barnsdall's compound in Hollywood, was intended to encompass Hollyhock House as well as a theater, artists' residences and studios, a nursery school, and kennels. See Kathryn Smith, Hollyhock House and Olive Hill: Buildings and Projectsfor Aline Bamsdall (NewYork: Rizzoli, 1992).

54.See Susan J. Bandes, ed., Affordable Dreams: The Goetsch-Winckler House and Frank Lloyd Wright (East Lansing: Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, 1991).

55.Telephone interview with Christine Weisblat, recorded on June 12, 1994, in Galesburg, Mich.

56.Ibid. 57.Telephone interview with Judith Podell, recorded on September 3, 1994, in

Pleasantville. See also "David Theodore Hertel Henken, Founder of Usonia Cooperative Community Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Dies at 68,"NewYork Times, April 24,1985, sec. II,12; and Rick Beard, ed., Realizations ofusonin: Frank Lloyd Wright in Westchester (Yonkers: Hudson River Museum, 1985).

58.Telephone interview with Roland Reisley, recorded on August 6, 1994, in Pleasantville.

59.Elaine Louie,"Updating Wright's Idea1,"Nm York Times, May 5, 1994,l.

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