Hardy House Rehabilitation

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Mark Hertzberg

Photos and text (c) Mark Hertzberg

Eugene Szymczak became the seventh steward of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House in Racine, Wisconsin on September 16, 2012. He undertook a rehabilitation which has literally saved the house. I have posted many photos of the process on this website. Here is your first complete look at the house after the work finished. The photos were shot February 14. Landscaping is not been done yet; that will likely hide the gas meter which is in front of the house. Many people have been startled by Gene’s choice of color: terra cotta. Their anxiety diminishes when they learn that the exterior and interior were restored in what are thought to be the original colors. If you still doubt the choice of exterior color, look at Wright’s Gardener’s Cottage at the Darwin D. Martin House, from the same period.

Surprisingly, the biggest challenge to the stability of the structure was the Main Street side rather than the lake side of the house. Daylight was visible in the “heater room” or sub-basement hallway which is below grade, between the two doorways. A concrete slab next to the south (right) door had partially caved in and there was extensive rotting of the wood foundation beams. The house was jacked up, 1/8″ of an inch at a time and four permanent floor-to-ceiling posts were installed. Two of the posts are shown at right, below.

The center of this wonderful house is, of course, the living room. However, as Jonathan Lipman remarked to me, unlike many of Wright’s Prairie-style homes, the fireplace (which is not ornate) is secondary in importance in this living room. One has his or her back to the fireplace when looking out the two-story living room windows at Lake Michigan, below the house. The living room balcony was deflected when Gene moved in. Workers found electric wiring and gas lines for two light fixtures on the face of the balcony when the plaster was removed so it could be repaired. Anne Sporer Ruetz, who grew up in the house after Hardy lost it at sheriff’s auction in 1938, does not remember any lights there. It is possible none were ever installed. Gene had two fixtures made, following the design of lights at the (now-demolished) Little House in Minnesota. Similar wall sconces were made for the dining room.

The dominant vertical space in the middle of the photo below is the back wall of the bedroom closets

This is the view from the living room balcony:

This is a look at the ceiling as one climbs the stairs from the living room to the balcony:

There is a bedroom at each end of the house on the living room and living room balcony levels. The two at the south end of the house have built-ins including these pull-out chairs:

The dining room is one level below the living room. There are built-ins on either side of the fireplace and on either side of the dining room terrace windows and door:

The second owners of the house, the Sporers (1938-1947) had the dining room terrace rebuilt with a recreation room underneath. The room is not finished. The terrace originally ended in a stucco wall. Five floor-to-ceiling windows, with a door in the middle one, became the new terrace wall on the lake bluff, after the remodeling:

The house was constructed with pocket doors. The Archers, the third owners of the house (1947-1957) replaced them with conventional hinged doors because the pocket doors were difficult to use in icy and snowy conditions. Szymczak put in new pocket doors. He chose doors with glass so one can see into the courtyards from the entry hall, and also to let more light into the hallway:

Various design details:

We end your tour with one of the new light sconces Gene had made to guide guests to the doorway, as they come in from Main Street:

Hardy House – New tour, and a look back after a year of restoration

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

A year is generally not a significant time in the history of a 110-year old house. However, this past year has been perhaps the most important, if not dramatic, year in the history of the Frank Lloyd Wright house at 1319 Main Street. Thomas P. Hardy, a Racine attorney, moved into the house that Wright designed for him, in 1906. Hardy was 73 when he lost his beloved home, first at sheriff’s auction in 1937, and then by order of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1938. The house has had six owners since then. The newest steward of the house, Eugene Szymczak, bought it a year ago from Jim and Margaret Yoghourtjian, who owned it since 1968. Szymczak undertook a full restoration of the house. Some of the work, including replacing aging wood and refinishing the house in its original colors inside and out, is relatively routine. Other work required solutions unique to the house. An example was the placement of four floor-to-ceiling columns in the sub-basement to stabilize the Main Street side of the house.

Interest in the house has increased greatly recently, according to the craftsmen working on it, as passersby see the finish color of terra cotta applied. Szymczak reflects on the past year, and says, “I am happy to see that many people enjoy seeing the house come back to its original intent of being part of nature and an inspiration.” The Hardy House will be open for a rare tour during Preservation Racine’s annual fall house tour Sunday September 29. For more information: http://www.preservationracine.org/tour2013.html

Copy and paste to your browser for a link to a photo gallery of the year of restoration:

http://journaltimes.com/photos-hardy-house-restoration/collection_09906d5c-1944-11e3-8732-001a4bcf887a.html#0A

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:

Hardy House update

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

Text and photos (c) Mark Hertzberg

Work continues on the rehabilitation and restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House in Racine (1904/05) at a less frenetic pace than several months ago. The house was sold in September to Eugene Szymczak. Work through the fall, winter, and early spring ensured the stability of the house and saw the repair of most of the interior.

Painters Dennis and Daniel Bishop used the bottom layer of paint chips uncovered throughout the house to paint the interior in what are thought to be the original colors. The exterior will likely be similar to Graycliff’s color.

The second owners of the house – The Sporers, 1938-1947 – commissioned a recreation room to be built under the dining room terrace, adjacent to the basement, in 1941. The work was done after World War II. It included replacing the solid east stucco wall under the terrace with five full-length windows, one of which was a door opening to the hill above Lake Michigan. David Sinkler installed new energy-efficient windows in May.

The bathroom has both been restored and updated. It was restored in that Szymczak opened up the south wall so that there are once again doors on the north and south ends, giving a view of the leaded glass windows at either end of the house. The third owner of the house (1947-1957) had walled in the south end of the bathroom. A portion of the ceiling has been raised, enabling the installation of a shower stall in place of the former 1949 bathtub. Chad Nichols has meticulously tiled the bathroom:

The dining room was replastered, as needed, by Paul Lemke and painted by Daniel Bishop:

With the interior work almost complete, Lemke will soon turn his skills to fixing the exterior stucco. The courtyards are among the areas that need attention. The original courtyard walls had a pine basket-weave lathe:

Gordie Bishop built a new framework for Lemke’s nephew, Sean Doyle, to cover with board, rather than lathe, before Lemke plasters the courtyard walls:

The house originally had pocket, or sliding doors, as the two entry doors. They were removed by the third owner because the doors often stuck during winter. Szymczak commissioned new pocket doors. The new doors slide on a track, like patio doors, rather than being hinged by a cumbersome, out-dated heavy mechanism like the ones found in the entry way walls. The new doors have full length windows, which will enable Szymczak to look into the courtyards from the entry hallway:

The wood gates, which hung over the entry ways, were also removed by the third owner. The Sporer’s daughter, Anne Ruetz, took pictures of the gates as a child, and they will be reproduced by Nichols after the stucco work is completed.

A wood construction shelter has covered the front of the house since winter because the seven windows in the hallway had to be removed during construction. The original leaded glass windows were deemed too damaged to reinstall by Oakbrook Esser glass studios. They will be preserved, but reproduction windows will be installed in their place. Bishop installed a sample new window in the center position a week ago. Six plate glass windows were installed in the other window frames until the other reproductions are ready. Bishop expects to remove the wood shelter in a week. He says many passersby have asked when the shelter will come down…and he says it will be like unwrapping a Christmas present.

The rest of summer and fall will likely see stucco and wood repair work outside and then, finally, a new coat of paint for Wright’s wonderful house on the bluff above Lake Michigan.

Hardy House: What a difference a week makes!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

The Hardy House interior looked quite raw and unfinished 10 days ago as final preparations are made for Saturday’s tours of the house – the first in decades. What a difference a week makes! I was astounded when I stopped at the house last Thursday and saw painters Dennis and Daniel Bishop at work. They are bringing the living room back to life, with its original color, and staining the Georgia pine trim. There are less than 20 tickets left for the tours: call Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin at 608-287-0339 to make reservations. The interior is not completely finished yet. Exterior work will follow after the interior is finished. This is a wonderful opportunity to see a Wright house rehabilitation in progress.

I had just come back from looking at the home’s seven hallway windows with Joan Szymczak (owner Eugene Szymczak’s sister-in-law) at Paul Phelps’ Oakbrook Esser glass art studios in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Phelps explained that the windows are too badly damaged from previous repair to restore. The original windows will be saved, but he will build replicas (Szymczak and Phelps are framed in one of his reproduction Robie House windows in the first photo).

I couldn’t resist taking Phelps’ picture through one of his Coonley Playhouse windows:

April 5 update: Hardy House Restoration

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

Photos and text (c) Mark Hertzberg

Restoration of the Thomas P. Hardy House continues at a fast pace with 90 visitors expected to tour the house April 27 (see previous post and http://www.wrightinwisconsin.org – reservations still available). Concrete was poured today at the north and south entry ways. The cantilevered concrete slab at the south door had caved in (photos in previous updates show daylight in the view looking up from the basement) so both the south and north entry slabs were replaced today.

Construction of cedar gates, replicating the ones Mr. Wright put across the north and south entry ways when the house was built in 1906, is expected to begin soon. The original gates were removed by the third owners of the house (1947-1957). This is a model that Chad and Homer Nichols made of the gates they will build:

Paul Lemke, the plasterer, had a challenge building the scaffolding to work in the living room. It also took him several days to cover the cedar trim with blue masking tape…after he swept the cobwebs off the ceiling.

Paul thought he had finished the upstairs bedrooms several months ago…but then the insulation crew arrived a week ago and put holes in the ceilings. Paul will need to redo the ceilings.

The most dramatic change in the exterior appearance of the house is the plywood shelter built around the entry hallway a few weeks ago. Gordon Hudson and Kevin Grant built the shelter before removing the upper portion of the exterior hallway wall. They will use photos taken of the hallway before restoration began in September to guide them as they rebuild the wall to make sure it will last another 100 years.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the April 27 tour, which benefits Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin. Tours are limited to 90 people, by reservation for specific time slots between 9:30 and 2:30 p.m. Reservations are accepted by telephone only, at 608-287-0339. (I am on the board of the organization, and I will be leading the tours.)

Open House at the Hardy House on April 27!!!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Mark Hertzberg

The first tours of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House in decades will be held Saturday April 27. The house, which is perched on a bluff above Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin, has been undergoing significant restoration since Eugene Szymczak bought it in September (photos of the restoration are in two previous posts, below).

The tours benefit Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin (www.wrightinwisconsin.org), thanks to Szymczak’s generous offer to open his house to the organization for this fund-raiser (Note: I am a board member of the group). The cost is $100 for members, $140 for non-member guests. I will lead the tours, which last a half hour. I am the author and photographer of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hardy House (Pomegranate, 2006). The Racine Art Museum will be selling copies of the book and my Wright in Racine at the event.

Tours are for specific time slots between 9:30 and 2:30 p.m. Reservations are accepted by telephone only, at 608-287-0339. If you want to add to your Frank Lloyd Wright Racine experience, consider also making a reservation to see Wright’s SC Johnson Administration Building five blocks away, and visit the permanent Wright exhibition in Fortaleza Hall on the SC Johnson campus: http://www.scjohnson.com/en/company/visiting.aspx

Hardy House progress report

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Mark Hertzberg

Photos and text (c) Mark Hertzberg

The Hardy House is reflected in a mirror left curbside with other items being thrown away during restoration of the house:

Gene Szymczak, below, center, became the new steward of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House in Racine in September. The responsibility of owning the house, and enjoying the restoration process, sometimes includes discovery of unexpected repair challenges.

Szymczak inspected the house a few days after the purchase with Chris Sunderland, who would do much of the repair and restoration work.

Restoration began almost immediately when the chimney flashing was replaced

to stem leaking from the roof.

The roofers found charred beams, which were evidence of a previously undocumented fire.

A search of old records by the fire department produced a report of a chimney fire in May, 1932. It had been put out with one three-gallon fire extinguisher.

Hardwood floors were revealed for the first time in many years when carpeting was removed that first week, as well.

The previous owners of the house let the trees and bushes on the hill between the house and Lake Michigan grow wild to protect their privacy. Chain saws cleared the hill a month after Szymczak became the home’s steward.

The view from the living room balcony is now likely similar to what Hardy saw a century ago.

Below, Sunderland works in a basement crawl space to shore up the sagging floor of the servant’s bedroom above him. That room is on the south side of the dining room, opposite from the kitchen.

It had been suggested that the door from the kitchen leading to the basement be replaced because it seemed to be a newer laminated door…but the laminate came off, revealing what is evidently one of the original doors of the house.

The most visible exterior change, for people passing by on Main Street, is the removal of the bushes in front of the house. Work will continue through the winter, inside the house, out of sight of passers-by.

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