Tue
12
Jun '07
Greetings.Â
 As you can tell by the dates that I’ve posted lately, I haven’t had much spare time to work on the web site or blog. My solution is to live vicariously through others’ road trips.Â
 This post is kind of an odd one. I don’t really have a point to make or something to say. I just enjoyed an e-mail from a friend and thought I’d share it.Â
I’ve been corresponding with a friend about Wright stuff this week and he was telling me about a trip he did. Here’s the e-mail:
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Hey Pete,      Good to hear back from you.  For this particular trip, I started from St. Louis then drove east towards Ohio. After visiting Dayton, Springfieild and Oberline OH, I then drove northwest to Ann Arbor, Okemos, Galesburg (even the GPS system could not find the place, an old lady from their library came to our rescue), and Kalamazoo MI, and finally made it to South Bend IN before heading back to Iowa (almost like a big ten campus tour.Â
      I skip places you mentioned that would be hard to see from the street (such as the one at Indian Hill and Amberly Village OH). The only houses that I planed to but could not see were the Kraus House at St. Louis (tour and front gate closed due to memorial day. I thought it has became a city park and should open to the pubic, at least for the ground) and the Winn House at Kalamazoo (I only made it to the driveway before the turn, as you did in your road trip photos).CheersBryan
That is a great example of a Wright road trip. It is cool to see that people are making them.Â
Thanks for being respectful to private property on the trip. I’ve had e-mails from owners saying that they really appreciate people taking photos only from the street and not tresspassing. I’ve also had e-mails from people saying “STAY AWAY”… even though I’ve stayed on the street. Just keep that in mind as you travel.Â
I’ve had a bunch of experiences like yours with the Kraus house. Since many of my trips are not planned around time schedules, I’ve arrived at Wright homes that are normally open to the public only to find that they’re closed that day. That is the price that I pay for spur of the moment trips that were unplanned.
Kraus is worth the visit. Head back when you can take the tour.Â
I drastically need to do a summer tour through Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. I’m hoping to do so later this summer when work lets up a little. August might be nice.Â
I know this post was somewhat aimless, but I liked Brian’s e-mail, so I asked him if I could make a blog entry out of it.Â
Pete
One Response to “A friend’s FLW Road Trip — and my aimless post. :D”
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June 13th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Pete:
I toured the Kraus House, in Ebsworth Park, MO in 2005, while attending a Fraternity Conclave in St. Louis. The tour was pre-arranged, as I had e-mailed about a month earlier, and had received a reply. The docents had even made special arrangements so that I was able to join a previously-scheduled tour. There were about 10 people on our tour. The docent was on time and very knowledgeable. As you are probably aware, because the Krauss’ had no children, this house contains almost all of the original furnishings, in almost pristine condition. The tour lasted nearly 2 hours and was very informative. It included the grounds, Mr. Kraus’ studio, and the workshop (which had been converted into a small giftshop and meeting room. It was brutally hot in August, 2005. The docent made certain that the air-conditioning was working.
I, also, toured Falling Waters. Everything about the tour of the Main House and the Guest House was excellent! It was really a thrill. Several family members, who were not FLLW fans before the tour, also loved the tour and learned alot. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy does an excellent job! It was late Spring. The Mountain Laurel was in bloom…..
I have visited the Pope-Leighey House near Mt. Vernon, VA (on the grounds of the Woodlawn Plantation) several times, because it’s close to where I live in Baltimore. The National Historic Trust has a small army of volunteers who provide the tours. They are very knowledgeable. After the organized tour, we were allowed to wander the house and grounds, at our leisure, and “soak up the atmosphere”. I really enjoyed it.
I am planning to be in Minneapolis, MN in July, 2007 (for another Fraternity event) and had hoped to be able to visit the Malcolm Willey House. While I am aware that the house has been undergoing restoration for the past few years, I was hoping that the restoration was far enough along that actual (rather than virtual) tours might now be allowed. I have e-mailed the website, but have never received the favor of a reply. Can anyone reading this provide me with any info on the possibilities?