18 DIGS.NET | 10.21.22
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P R O F I L E | W R I G H T I N W I S C O N S I N
described it, "with special privacies, ultra
conveniences and style all the while."
The house fans out in a T formation, with
the main living area, kitchen, and dining
area on the ground floor forming the stem
and the three bedrooms and two baths
on the second marking the crossbar.
The free-flowing scheme bears Wright's
distinct hand, explicitly so in elements such
as the dual fireplace, which functionally
separates the living room from the den; in
customary Wright fashion, however, one
does not detect any division between these
spaces. Nor does one miss the architect's
fastidious attention to detail. The stairwell
might be just another point of transition,
for example, were it not for the wood that
wraps around the wall to blend seamlessly
into the red brick. Large and small alike,
Wright's deliberations add up, creating a
cohesive undercurrent throughout.
That Still Bend presents as a kind of Still
Life is not surprising—a work of great
architecture is also a work of art. To that
end, however, is restraint. Keeping with
Wright's vision of a new-world domestic
life for middle-income America, the
with views to a broad lawn just beyond,
Still Bend is a pure expression of Wright's
design principles. He called it a natural
house, by which he meant a form of organic
architecture of which he was both promoter
and practitioner. Wright's philosophy of
creating buildings in harmony with nature
was, he said, "the modern ideal." Carefully
integrated with its setting, the intentional,
open-plan Still Bend is a splendid case
in point, a "little private club," as Wright
