[Info-vax] Completely OT: Frank Lloyd Wright

[Michael Moroney]

Paul Sture <nospam at sture.ch> writes:

>> That is absolutely true. Throughout the ages many architects 
>> experimented with new materials and new building techniques. In the 
>> middle ages many cathedrals collapsed during construction. It is always 
>> left to later generations to deal with the technical problems. The 
>> cathedral in Cologne for instance was built between 1248 and 1880(!!). 
>> It has a permanent workshop with stone masons so they can replace 
>> crumbling stonework because they used soft limestone for the 
>> construction. Modern European architects like Corbusier also built 
>> houses with technical flaws. It doesn't stop us from preserving those 
>> buildings.

>I recall an English cathedral (Ely?) which was built on marshy ground, 
>and they started out with a base of wood.  Needless to say that didn't 
>last forever, but later generations did manage to put new foundations in 
>to save the building.

At least one of Wright's buildings failed because it was built in a very
poor spot.  The Banff National Park Pavilion was subject to flooding and
frost heaving.  It was completed in 1914, was damaged by flooding in 1920
and 1933, and demolished in 1939. By 1965 all traces had "sunk into the
bog".

Another, the headquarters for a company in Buffalo, was apparently so 
specific to its use that the company, when it started to fail couldn't
sell it, and the City of Buffalo, which acquired the property for back
taxes couldn't sell it either until a buyer wanted to demolish it for a
truck stop.  It was demolished in 1950.