The Wilbur C. Pearce House | Frank Lloyd Wright
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Transcript of The Wilbur C. Pearce House | Frank Lloyd Wright
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ARCHITECT | DESIGN | BUILD 12.13.2013 91
Restoring a Frank Lloyd Wright homeowned for three generations
WRITTEN BY PAMELA CORANTE-HANSEN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL JONASON
[ T H E W I L B U R C . P E A R C E H O U S E | F R A N K L L O Y D W R I G H T ]
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ARCHITECT | DESIGN | BUILD 12.13.2013 93
[ T H E W I L B U R C . P E A R C E H O U S E | F R A N K L L O Y D W R I G H T ]
AS A CHILD, KONRAD PEARCE WOULD VISIT HIS GRANDPARENTS FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOME
FOR SUNDAY DINNERS. IT WASNT UNUSUAL FOR HIM TO LOOK UP FROM THE DINING TABLE AND
SEE A DEER GAZING BACK AT HIM THROUGH THE FLOOR-TO-CEILING WINDOWS. TODAY, PEARCE
IS THE THIRD GENERATION OF HIS FAMILY TO OWN THE HOME, WHICH IS LOCATED IN BRADBURY,
A LOS ANGELES COUNTY CITY AT THE FOOTHILLS OF THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS.
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When hes not at his job as an aerospace engineer in
the South Bay, Pearce is putting painstaking work into
restoring the home to the way he remembers it. I have
vivid memories of the house when it was less than
10 years old, Pearce recalls. Everything was shiny and
beautiful and new. My goal is to get the house back to
where it matches my memories, and reverse the decades
of life its been through.
Known as the Wilbur Pearce house, the home is named
after Konrad Pearces grandfather, an Akron, Ohio
businessman who was transferred to Los Angeles in
the mid-1940s while working for the Firestone Tire and
Rubber Company. The Frank Lloyd Wright connection
happened before the elder Pearce and his wife left Ohio.
My grandmother taught at an art school in Akron, andshe contacted Frank Lloyd Wright to come lecture at the
school, Pearce begins. They corresponded, he came to
give the lecture, and while he was there they discussed
my grandparents home in Akron, a modern-style house
they put up for sale when my grandfather was transferred
to LA.
Wright told Pearces grandmother that he was designing
homes in California, and he asked her to write to him
when she and her husband got settled. His reason for
requesting a letter would be music to the ears of modern-
day Frank Lloyd Wright fans: He said he would love to
design a house for them, Pearce says.
Designs for the house were drafted in 1950, but the home
wasnt built until 1955. The curved shape of the residences
south-facing side has a functional as well as aesthetic
purpose. Wright used a term called solar hemicycle,
explains Pearce. The curved south face of house allows
the sun to come in at the west end in the morning, and
again at the east end in the evening. This double dose of
sunlight heats the homes concrete slab. A radiant-floor
heating system circulates the heat throughout the rest of
the homes slab floor.
Pearce notes that Wrights early use of passive solar
heating is used in homes today. He adds, Having a warm
concrete floor is a really nice way to heat the bottom of
your feet. It feels like a warm rock in the sun.
Wright presented a number of drawings to Pearces
grandparents, each with a different configuration. The
property sits on a ridge with spectacular vistas of the
mountains to the north, yet one of the renditions showed
a solid wall on the north side of the house. At the elder
Pearces request, Wright redrew the plan, raising the roof
and adding clerestory windows to capture the mountainview. He also opened up some of the north-facing walls
with floor-to-ceiling windows.
On some days, you can stand in the living room and see
the mountains to the north, and then turn around and see
Catalina to the south, Pearce describes. The magnificent
views are what he enjoys most about the house. You feel
lots of openness, lots of light, and on days when there are
clouds in the sky its phenomenal. Even with a roof over
your head you never feel enclosed or locked inyou feel
as if youre part of the environment.
[ T H E W I L B U R C . P E A R C E H O U S E | F R A N K L L O Y D W R I G H T ]
[continued on page 97]
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WWW.CANDCPARTNERS.COMPATRICK & M ICHAEL CUNNINGHAM [email protected]
310 .322 .0803 1601 PACIF IC COAST H IGHWAY #160 , HERMOSA BEACH, CA 90254
THEARTANDCRAFT
OFCUSTOMHOMEBUILDING
C U S T O M L U X U R Y D E S I G N A N D B U I L D I N G
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Signature Frank Lloyd Wright touches abound in the
home, including a small entryway that keeps visitors
from lingering there and instead draws them inside. The
blurring of indoor-outdoor boundaries is accomplished
through Wrights characteristic floor-to-ceiling glass doors
and windows. And instead of a garage, a cantilevered,
overhanging roof provides a carport, a word coined by
Wright himself, if you believe everything you read on
Wikipedia. But the best part, quips Pearce, is that unlike
a typical garage, there are no posts or walls to back into
with your car.
Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of the home is
that it is one of only 60 Usonian houses Wright built in
the U.S. The term Usonian describes Wrights vision of
architecture for the average American. Usonian houses
are made with local materials and are characterized by flat
roofs, a modest footprint, radiant-floor heating, clerestory
windows and a visual link between indoor and outdoor
spaces.
Most architects build small homes and get bigger, but
Wright turned it around and started huge and went small,
explains Pearce. Usonian homes were built from common
materials designed in a way that had artistic value. Hed
use grade raw unpainted concrete blocks and make an
exceptional design with that.
Because of the homes rare status among Frank Lloyd
Wright designs, Pearce has allowed certain groups to tour
his house. Many of the people who visit the house have
much more experience and knowledge of Frank Lloyd
Wright homes than I do, he says. As they look at the
house, Ill ask them, how would you fix this, or what would
you do here? Im always trying to get new ideas and its a
great help that theyre willing to share their knowledge.
Owning a historic home, admits Pearce, does not come
without its drawbacks. Its a challenge to wash 53
windows, and with glass in almost every wall, its not a
home for someone who cherishes privacy, he says. Normal
wear and tear can also present some headaches. Three
years ago, he had to rebuild the septic tank because it had
been infiltrated by the roots of oak trees growing on the
property. Still, Pearce feels privileged to own a home of
such historic significance.
Restoring this home is the project of a lifetime, but when
my father transferred the property to me, I didnt ask
whether I wanted to do it, relates Pearce. I grabbed it and
said this is something I have to do. No discussion. Keeping
it in the family is a big part of my joy; its history and its my
family history. Its always been our house.
[ T H E W I L B U R C . P E A R C E H O U S E | F R A N K L L O Y D W R I G H T ]
ARCHITECT | DESIGN | BUILD 12.13.2013 97
[continued from page 94]