Hardy House finish color revealed

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

The package is being gift wrapped, if you will, and we now know what color the restored Thomas P. Hardy House will be. The house, which Gene Szymczak bought last September, is being restored. While some aspects of the house have been updated, Gene wanted to find the original color of the house. The stucco was painted gray when Gene bought it, as seen in this photo taken in the mid 1990s:

The stucco and wood had weathered and deteriorated since that photo was taken. The next photo shows the house last fall, after the bushes had been removed. The crack in the pillar of the entryway, right, was caused by a worker:

The next picture was taken just 10 days ago:

Next, we see the layers of paint uncovered by painter Dennis Bishop, on the back of the house:

And, the final color…drum roll…terra cotta, like Wright’s Gardener’s Cottage at the Darwin D. Martin House. The color is the final coat of the meticulous stucco repair by Paul Lemke of Top Notch Plastering of Racine, and his nephew, Sean Doyle:

A.D. German Warehouse has a new steward!

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

From the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s release:

“The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy learned recently that a new buyer for the A. D. German Warehouse (1916-1921) had stepped forward from among the residents of Richland Center, Wisconsin. The property was purchased from the estate of Harvey Glanzer and closed on August 15. The new owner will be working with a group of Richland Center citizens and institutions who are organizing to develop plans for strategic and financial planning, fundraising, restoration, partnering on adaptive use and future operations. The Conservancy began an initiative in May 2012 to chart a path for a new owner and a new future for the Warehouse, bringing together a group of interested parties and local citizens. The current steering committee includes several individuals from this group.”

Congratulations, and thanks, to all those from the BC who made this happen!

Photo (c) Mark Hertzberg

Restoring the SC Johnson Research Tower

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

Text and photos by Mark Hertzberg / Photos used with permission of SC Johnson

The SC Johnson Research Tower is still enveloped in scaffolding, from top to bottom, as workers carefully clean and, in many cases replace, the 17.5 miles of glass tube windows that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the building. The Tower opened in November, 1950, and closed in 1981 when research and development was consolidated in the nearby former St. Mary’s Hospital building. The work is in preparation for next year’s reopening of two floors (3 Main and 3 Mezz or Mezzanine) for tours.

Countless publicly-traded companies might have demolished a building like the Research Tower rather than let it stand vacant for more years than it was open. But not SC Johnson. The Johnson family and the company recognize that the Tower stands as a symbol of SC Johnson’s commitment to creative thinking. Indeed, the Tower is still lit at night.