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Original working scale drawing, an aerial view titled 'Residence for Dr. Donald S. Grover, Syracuse New York,' pencil and colored pencil on onionskin, 36 x 27, signed in pencil in his trademark red square at lower right 'F. LL. W, Mch. 15/50.' The drawing is accompanied by a complete set of nine printed working blueprints, comprising plans for the plot (including layout, gravel, elevation, and grading); ground floor (including plumbing and heating details); main floor (including wiring and electrical symbols); mezzanine (including masonry); elevation; sections-work (including space, glazing, linoleum, carpentry, millwork, and hardware); mezzanine framing; roof framing; and millwork details. Rolled and in good to very good condition, with small marginal stains, wrinkling, handling creases, and expected wear to drawing (tear to left edge with light stain from early tape repair to reverse, well away from signature; light tape stain showing through from reverse at center of large circular area, evidently from reinforcement of compass hole), and typical wrinkling, creases, and handling wear (small tears and chips) to blueprints.
The Grover House was based on Wright’s ‘solar hemicycle’ concept, in which curved walls optimize a structure’s exposure to the sun. The famed architect employed the principle in a number of dwellings including the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House in Middleton, Wisconsin (aka Jacobs II; 1948)—a design of which he was so proud that he merely reversed that plan, with minor changes, for the Grover commission. Grover, perhaps losing his nerve upon seeing Wright’s typically bold, innovative design, or worrying—with good reason—about the cost overruns that mushroomed from so many of Wright’s projects, rejected the plan, and the house was never built. A remarkable design from one of the world’s greatest architects. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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