Usonia (/juːˈsoʊniə/) is a word that was used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general (in preference to America), and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country, including the planning of cities and the architecture of buildings. Wright proposed the use of the adjective Usonian to describe the particular New World character of the American landscape as distinct and free of previous architectural conventions.
"Usonian" usually refers to a group of approximately 60 middle-income family homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright beginning in 1934 with the Willey House,[1] with most considering the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House, 1937, to be the first true "Usonian."[2] The "Usonian Homes" are typically small, single-story dwellings without a garage or much storage. They are often L-shaped to fit around a garden terrace on unusual and inexpensive sites. They are characterized by native materials; flat roofs and large cantilevered overhangs for passive solar heating and natural cooling; natural lighting with clerestory windows; and radiant-floor heating. Another distinctive feature is that they typically have little exposure to the front/'public' side, while the rear/'private' sides are completely open to the outside. A strong visual connection between the interior and exterior spaces is an important characteristic of all Usonian homes. The word carport was coined by Wright to describe an overhang for sheltering a parked vehicle.
Variants of the Jacobs House design are still in existence today.[citation needed] The Usonian design is considered among the aesthetic origins of the ranch-style house popular in the American west of the 1950s.[citation needed]
According to plans that Wright created in 1939, Florida Southern College constructed in 2013 the 13th Wright building on their campus. The 1,700 sq ft (160 m2) building includes textile-block construction, colored glass in perforated concrete blocks, Wright photographs, a documentary film about the architect's work at the school, and furniture designed by Wright. Named the "Usonian House", it was originally designed as one of twenty faculty housing units. The building is home to the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center, a visitor center for guests visiting campus to see the collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings known as Child of the Sun.[3]
The word Usonian appears to have been coined by James Duff Law, a Scottish[4] writer born in 1865. In a miscellaneous collection, Here and There in Two Hemispheres (1903), Law quoted a letter of his own (dated June 18, 1903) that begins "We of the United States, in justice to Canadians and Mexicans, have no right to use the title 'Americans' when referring to matters pertaining exclusively to ourselves." He went on to acknowledge that some author had proposed "Usona", but that he preferred the form "Usonia".[5] Perhaps the earliest published use by Wright was in 1927:
But why this term "America" has become representative as the name of these United States at home and abroad is past recall. Samuel Butler fitted us with a good name. He called us Usonians, and our Nation of combined States, Usonia.
However, this may be a misattribution, as there is as yet no other published evidence that Butler ever used the word.
José F. Buscaglia-Salgado reclaims the term Usonian to refer to the peoples, national ideology and neo-imperial tradition of the United States of America.[7]
Miguel Torres-Castro uses the term Usonian to refer to the origin of the Atlantic puffin used in the children's book Jupu the Puffin: A Usonian Story. The bird is a puffin from Maine, US.[8]
View of the rear/private side of the Laurent House. This house is a "hemicycle" Usonian, rather than the more typical L-shaped variants. It is also the only house Wright designed for a physically disabled client.
Street-side view of the Rosenbaum House. The two, long, cantilevered, roofs pictured are a signature feature of Usonian houses, and serve to emphasize the horizontal.
Usonian Automatic Houses
The Usonian Automatic houses were made with concrete blocks. An attempt on the part of Wright to further lower the cost of housing, the clients could actually be involved in the creation of the blocks and thus the construction of the building (such as in the Tracy House).
^The Peters-Margedant house was not designed by Wright, but rather, one of his apprentices, William Wesley "Wes" Peters. Many of its features were later incorporated into the Usonians.[9]
References
^"The Malcolm Willey House". thewilleyhouse. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
^"Herbert Jacobs House". Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
^"James D. Law". electricscotland.com. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
^Law, James D. (1903). Here and There in Two Hemispheres. Lancaster: Home Publishing Co. pp. 111–12n.
^Wright, Frank Lloyd. Architecture: Selected Writings 1894–1940. p. 100.
^Buscaglia-Salgado, José F. (2003). Undoing Empire, Race, and Nation in the Mulatto Caribbean. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN0-8166-3574-9.
^Torres-Castro, Miguel (2014). Jupu the Puffin: A Usonian Story. New York City: Jupu Press. ISBN0-6159-4073-0.
^"Peters-Margedant House - Archaeology and Art History". evansville.edu. University of Evansville. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
External links
Look up Usonian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Usonian House at PBS.org
Usonia: Frank Lloyd Wright's Vision for America at Columbia University
Inspiring Communities—Usonia
The Post Usonian Project
List of Usonian houses at archinform.net
Specific houses
John D. Haynes House
Jones House
Jacobs House
The John and Catherine Christian House
Pope-Leighey House, Usonian house in Alexandria, Virginia, open to the public
Weltzheimer/Johnson House, Usonian house in Oberlin, Ohio, open to the public
Rosenbaum House, Florence Alabama
Building the Usonian House at Florida Southern College
January 20, 2023
usonia, redirects, here, alternative, name, united, states, citizen, demonyms, united, states, word, that, used, american, architect, frank, lloyd, wright, refer, united, states, general, preference, america, more, specifically, vision, landscape, country, inc. Usonian redirects here For the alternative name for a United States citizen see Demonyms for the United States Usonia j uː ˈ s oʊ n i e is a word that was used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general in preference to America and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country including the planning of cities and the architecture of buildings Wright proposed the use of the adjective Usonian to describe the particular New World character of the American landscape as distinct and free of previous architectural conventions The interior of the Rosenbaum House Contents 1 Usonian houses 2 Origin of the word 3 Noted Usonian houses 3 1 Precursor to Usonians 3 2 Usonian Houses 3 2 1 Usonian Automatic Houses 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksUsonian houses Edit Usonian usually refers to a group of approximately 60 middle income family homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright beginning in 1934 with the Willey House 1 with most considering the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House 1937 to be the first true Usonian 2 The Usonian Homes are typically small single story dwellings without a garage or much storage They are often L shaped to fit around a garden terrace on unusual and inexpensive sites They are characterized by native materials flat roofs and large cantilevered overhangs for passive solar heating and natural cooling natural lighting with clerestory windows and radiant floor heating Another distinctive feature is that they typically have little exposure to the front public side while the rear private sides are completely open to the outside A strong visual connection between the interior and exterior spaces is an important characteristic of all Usonian homes The word carport was coined by Wright to describe an overhang for sheltering a parked vehicle The Usonia Historic District is a planned community in Pleasantville New York built in the 1950s following this concept Wright designed 3 of the 47 homes himself Variants of the Jacobs House design are still in existence today citation needed The Usonian design is considered among the aesthetic origins of the ranch style house popular in the American west of the 1950s citation needed According to plans that Wright created in 1939 Florida Southern College constructed in 2013 the 13th Wright building on their campus The 1 700 sq ft 160 m2 building includes textile block construction colored glass in perforated concrete blocks Wright photographs a documentary film about the architect s work at the school and furniture designed by Wright Named the Usonian House it was originally designed as one of twenty faculty housing units The building is home to the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center a visitor center for guests visiting campus to see the collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings known as Child of the Sun 3 Origin of the word Edit Gordon House The word Usonian appears to have been coined by James Duff Law a Scottish 4 writer born in 1865 In a miscellaneous collection Here and There in Two Hemispheres 1903 Law quoted a letter of his own dated June 18 1903 that begins We of the United States in justice to Canadians and Mexicans have no right to use the title Americans when referring to matters pertaining exclusively to ourselves He went on to acknowledge that some author had proposed Usona but that he preferred the form Usonia 5 Perhaps the earliest published use by Wright was in 1927 But why this term America has become representative as the name of these United States at home and abroad is past recall Samuel Butler fitted us with a good name He called us Usonians and our Nation of combined States Usonia Frank Lloyd Wright 6 However this may be a misattribution as there is as yet no other published evidence that Butler ever used the word Jose F Buscaglia Salgado reclaims the term Usonian to refer to the peoples national ideology and neo imperial tradition of the United States of America 7 Miguel Torres Castro uses the term Usonian to refer to the origin of the Atlantic puffin used in the children s book Jupu the Puffin A Usonian Story The bird is a puffin from Maine US 8 Noted Usonian houses EditPrecursor to Usonians Edit Malcolm Willey House 1934 Minneapolis Minnesota Peters Margedant House 1934 University of Evansville Evansville Indiana a Benjamin Rebhuhn House 1937 Great Neck Estates New York The Malcolm Willey House a precursor to the Usonians view of garage and iconic entry steps Jacobs I exterior front Widely considered to be the first true Usonian house Hanna Honeycomb House view of front exterior Goetsch Winckler House exterior view of carport and entry Bernard Schwartz House one of only a few 2 story Usonians designed and built View of the rear private side of the Laurent House This house is a hemicycle Usonian rather than the more typical L shaped variants It is also the only house Wright designed for a physically disabled client Usonian Houses Edit Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House Jacobs I 1937 Madison Wisconsin Paul and Jean Hanna House Honeycomb House 1937 Palo Alto California Andrew F H Armstrong House 1939 Ogden Dunes Indiana Joseph Euchtman House 1939 Baltimore Maryland Bernard Schwartz House 1939 Two Rivers Wisconsin George Sturges House 1939 Los Angeles California John and Ruth Pew House 1939 Shorewood Hills Wisconsin Hause House 1939 Lansing Michigan Sidney Bazett House also known as the Bazett Frank House 1940 Hillsborough California Goetsch Winckler House 1940 Okemos Michigan Gregor S and Elizabeth B Affleck House 1940 Bloomfield Hills Michigan Rosenbaum House 1940 Florence Alabama Theodore Baird Residence 1940 Amherst Massachusetts Clarence Sondern House 1940 Kansas City Missouri Pope Leighey House 1941 Alexandria Virginia Stuart Richardson House 1941 built 1951 Glen Ridge New Jersey Alvin Miller House also known as the Alvin and Inez Miller residence 1946 Charles City Iowa Erling P Brauner House 1948 Okemos Michigan Usonia Homes Pleasantville New YorkSol Friedman House 1949 Edward Serlin House 1951 Roland Reisley House 1951 dd Melvyn Maxwell and Sara Stein Smith House 1949 Bloomfield Hills Michigan Robert and Rae Levin House 1949 Kalamazoo Michigan Weltzheimer Johnson House 1949 Oberlin Ohio Donald Schaberg House 1950 Okemos Michigan Karl A Staley House 1950 North Madison Ohio J A Sweeton Residence 1950 Cherry Hill New Jersey Lowell and Agnes Walter House 1950 Quasqueton Iowa Kraus House 1950 Kirkwood Missouri Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent House 1951 Rockford Illinois Nathan Rubin House 1951 Canton Ohio Muirhead Farmhouse 1951 Hampshire Illinois Zimmerman House 1951 Manchester New Hampshire John D Haynes House 1952 Fort Wayne Indiana Frank S Sander House 1952 Stamford Connecticut Kentuck Knob 1953 Stewart Township Fayette County Pennsylvania John and Syd Dobkins House 1953 Canton Ohio Bachman Wilson House 1954 Millstone New Jersey Ellis Feiman House 1954 Canton Ohio John E Christian House Samara 1954 West Lafayette Indiana J Willis Hughes house Fountainhead 1954 Jackson Mississippi William L Thaxton Jr House 1955 Houston Texas Louis Penfield House 1955 Willoughby Hills Ohio Cedric G and Patricia Neils Boulter House 1956 Cincinnati Ohio Dudley Spencer House 1956 Wilmington Delaware Donald C Duncan House 1957 Donegal Pennsylvania dismantled and relocated from its original location in Lisle Illinois Evelyn and Conrad Gordon House 1957 Wilsonville Oregon later moved to Silverton Oregon Lovness House and Cottage 1957 Stillwater Minnesota Robert H Sunday House 1957 Marshalltown Iowa John Gillin Residence 1958 Dallas Texas Paul J and Ida Trier House 1958 Johnston Iowa Street side view of the Rosenbaum House The two long cantilevered roofs pictured are a signature feature of Usonian houses and serve to emphasize the horizontal Usonian Automatic Houses Edit The Usonian Automatic houses were made with concrete blocks An attempt on the part of Wright to further lower the cost of housing the clients could actually be involved in the creation of the blocks and thus the construction of the building such as in the Tracy House Benjamin Adelman Residence 1951 Phoenix Arizona Arthur Pieper Residence 1952 Paradise Valley Arizona Gerald B and Beverley Tonkens House 1954 Amberley Village Hamilton County Ohio Toufic H Kalil House 1955 Manchester New Hampshire Theodore A Pappas House 1955 Town and Country Missouri Tracy House 1956 Normandy Park Washington Dorothy H Turkel House 1956 Detroit Michigan View of the Great Room in the Tonkens House Exterior of the Dorothy H Turkel HouseSee also EditUsonia Historic District Polychrome Historic District a similar effort to provide inexpensive housing by John Joseph EarleyNotes Edit The Peters Margedant house was not designed by Wright but rather one of his apprentices William Wesley Wes Peters Many of its features were later incorporated into the Usonians 9 References Edit The Malcolm Willey House thewilleyhouse Retrieved May 12 2019 Herbert Jacobs House Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Retrieved May 12 2019 Wright Stuff Florida Trend March 2014 p 36 James D Law electricscotland com Retrieved May 24 2022 Law James D 1903 Here and There in Two Hemispheres Lancaster Home Publishing Co pp 111 12n Wright Frank Lloyd Architecture Selected Writings 1894 1940 p 100 Buscaglia Salgado Jose F 2003 Undoing Empire Race and Nation in the Mulatto Caribbean Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press ISBN 0 8166 3574 9 Torres Castro Miguel 2014 Jupu the Puffin A Usonian Story New York City Jupu Press ISBN 0 6159 4073 0 Peters Margedant House Archaeology and Art History evansville edu University of Evansville Retrieved May 12 2019 External links Edit Look up Usonian in Wiktionary the free dictionary Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian House at PBS org Usonia Frank Lloyd Wright s Vision for America at Columbia University Inspiring Communities Usonia The Post Usonian Project List of Usonian houses at archinform net Specific houses John D Haynes House Jones House Jacobs House The John and Catherine Christian House Pope Leighey House Usonian house in Alexandria Virginia open to the public Weltzheimer Johnson House Usonian house in Oberlin Ohio open to the public Rosenbaum House Florence Alabama Building the Usonian House at Florida Southern College Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Usonia amp oldid 1118602631, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
