[Chattanooga] Shavin Residence - Frank Lloyd Wright

[wizum]

the Shavin House is the only building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Tennessee. In 1949, newlyweds Gerte & Seamour Shavin contacted Wright to design a home for them on Missionary Ridge. At first Wrigt declined, saying that Chattanooga was too far, but in the end, after some persuasion by the Shavin's, Wright designed them a home.

The home design changed and shrunk in size as the pricing from the local contractors came in. There was really no one in the area who was familiar with the methods of construction that was demanded in Wright's designs and so the price per square foot pushed the cost of the house higher. Ultimately the house design became more linear in form (started out as a "U" or "V" shape) and was built roughly around 2000 ft square (all this ironic in that this design was based in Wrights design of a "Usonian" house, which was supposed to cut excessive labor, materials, and space).

The house is mainly constructed of red cypress and Tennessee Crab Orchard stone. The focal point of the house is a large stone fireplace that is located in the living room.

Also, I wanted to thank Cheffey for keeping me informed about the chance to tour the house. I finally got to meet a PPB member in real life and I lived to tell about it :D... Actually cheffey is a super nice guy and was helping out over the weekend giving tours of the house. So mucho thanks to him for these pictures...

See attached plan for the overall layout. The spaces were very tight, the exception being the living room which had a higher ceiling and lots of glass.

[wizum]

The only was to get to the house is by car (or if your in-shape you could walk up the ridge to get to it :)). The house is located on Missionary Ridge, which overlooks Chattanooga and the Tennessee River. The house is just minutes off of the main interstate Highway going through town (I-24).

Also, the house is within a 10 minute drive of the Hunter Museum along the water front in the downtown area of Chattanooga. You can see about that building here: HUNTER MUSEUM (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums//showthread.php?t=1258)

Here is an image showing the relationship between the two...

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Here is a snapshot from Google Earth of the house...

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Here is the KMZ file... a few little links about the house included within the KMZ

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this first shot is from the driveway approaching the house.

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The next shot is of the same view as above, just a little closer look...

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Here is a shot of the front portion of the house... notice the roof cantilever that sticks out furthest... it is sagging a bit :)

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here is a close-up the front corner window which is of the master bedroom.

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here is a shot of the north side of the house. The space/mass in the back is the living roof, the windows closer are from the bedrooms and study.

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Here is a view of the south side of the house and the side you would enter on. The part of the house closest to you is the living quarters. The cantilever hanging out is the carport and where the front door is hidden from the street.

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This shot is of the main part of the house that contains the living areas.

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This shot is of the rearportion, to the south, of the main house mass and also gives you a glimpse of the view from the ridge.

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This is standing just inside looking back out the front dootway.

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here is the living room looking towards the eastern side of that space. Almost all of the furniture in this house were designed by Wright and are in their original state.

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this is standing on the entry side looking towards the western view of the living room. The windows along the far wall are on piano hinges and open out to a terrace which helped to really open of the living space and also connect it with the outside.

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dinning room that is adjacent to and open to the living room.

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here is a shot of the small table in the kitchen area. in the plan I posted in the post #1 you will lotice that in the kitchen area there is a utility space labelled next to it. But that was moved to the storage space next to the washroom by the front door and the kitchen space was able to expand a little. Even with this it is still a very tight fit. the refrigerator had to have its doors removed before they could fit it within the space.

[wizum]

This shot is of the main hallway, or as the plan calls it - the gallery. This is the main path that ties together all the private spaces. also these spaces are lower than the main living spaces by about 6 feet or so (about 7 step risers). Notice the interesting shaped windows, these are operable and were designed to allow for air to flow through the space and then in the kitchen area (plan calls it "utility") an attic fan would suck the air through the house and naturally cool the spaces.

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This is a panoramic I put together of the master bedroom. The space were so tight, and I don't have a camera that can take advantage of a wide-angle lense, that this was the only way I could have a shot to show more of the space.

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Here is a shot showing the backside of the house and how the massing works for the main living forms.

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And finally here is a shot with Cheffey, his wife, and my girlfriend walking away from me and tired of me taking pictures... I think they mean to leave me :) But thankfully they didn't but then forced me to eat sushi :puke:

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The house is still lived in by Mrs. Shavin. Mr. Shavin passed away a couple of years ago. Though this house is a wonderful example of Wright's work it is still a residence. So, if you ever do get a chance to see this house you need to keep this in mind and not be disrespectful.

One intersting fact I learned was that the Wright conservency, while trying to maintain these houses of Wright's, prefers that people live in them, rather than them being turned into museums.

in case you don't catch it in the KMZ file I uploaded here is a link to my Flickr photo set on the house: LINK (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wizum/sets/72157594318800125/)

Hope you all enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed visiting this little gem in Tennessee...

[cheffey]

Excellent photos and thank you for coming up. We had a great time and look forward to another Archi-trip soon. Chattanooga may have to adopt this guy. I think if you ask your girlfriend, they were going to leave you. I was just going to give them directions. :D

The wind coming over the top of the ridge was pretty cold and I think the ladies had enough. All in all, this strengthens my feeling toward the kind of people who tend and contribute to this forum. Wizum and A, were great and we had a great time.

[jparchitectus]

Great photos and story. Clearly FLW is a wiz, and forever will be a historical landmark in architecture history. I enjoy this project, more frontal and entry elevation views. The shot that captures the back massing doesn't really do it for me. I am more of a fan of the long horizontals and big cantilevered roofs.

[jparchitectus]

I was referring to image #20...not sure if it is the result of your shot...maybe without the long low bar to the right it doesn't mass as well.

[wizum]

I was referring to image #20...not sure if it is the result of your shot...maybe without the long low bar to the right it doesn't mass as well.

Well JP... just to perk your curiosity about this part of the house... here is a panoramic I put together of the western facade... I had a hard time getting some shots of this side of the house as it was mostly all in Shadow and I didn't have a tripod with me so I had a balancing act with my settings to get things to shoot the way I wanted them... anyhow, hope it gives you a better feel for it... I thought that it worked well and the proportions and massing were OK...

[gorgon]

Wizum you don't like sushi? Who doesn't like sushi? :wondering
And thanks for posting about this great little house, very interesting read / picture show.