Heath House - Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Buildings on Waymarking.com

William Heath was a lawyer who served as office manager and eventually as a vice-president of the Larkin Company. Mrs. Heath was the sister of Elbert Hubbard, a former Larkin Company executive who retired in 1893 to establish, a few years later, the Roycroft Arts and Crafts community in East Aurora.

Heath was introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright by Darwin Martin.

The Heath commission presented Wright with the problem of situating a substantial prairie house, with its characteristically open structure, on a deep, narrow lot alongside Bird Avenue. In order to ensure a measure of privacy, Wright placed the house right up against the sidewalk thus opening the rear of the house to a private lawn, elevated the principal living spaces well above the eye level of the passerby, and treated the broad chimney, tiny entry, and stained-glass windows as screening devices. Privacy does prevail, although the splendid window patterns draw attention rather than avert it. It is suspected that the brick used in this house were the same as the ones used at the Larkin Building.

The Heath house is a precursor to Wright's renowned Robie house in Chicago where, on a similarly narrow streetside lot, Wright stuck an even more daring balance between cantilevered roofs and subtly adjusted screening mechanisms.

Year Completed: 1905 Commissioned By: William Heath Nearest City or Town: Buffalo, NY Public/Private: Private Tours Available?: no Website: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
There are no specific visit requirements, however telling about your visit is strongly encouraged. Additional photos of the building or house to add to the gallery are also nice, but not required. Pictures with a GPS or you in them is highly discouraged.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/09/2009 Darmok and Jalad visited it 05/18/2009 sherpes visited it 10/28/2007 MrsMcFly visited it

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