| The Gordon House
Gordon House Relocation and Reassembly
Descendants of the Gordons sold the Wilsonville property in 2000 and the new owners did not plan to preserve the house. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, a charitable organization whose mission is to preserve Wright's legacy, stepped forward and struck an agreement with the new owners to save the house on the condition that it be moved from the site.
In January 2001, The Conservancy signed an agreement with The Oregon Garden Foundation to move the Gordon House 24 miles south to The Oregon Garden in Silverton.
Within nine weeks, The Relocation Team documented, dismantled, packaged and carefully labeled all of the building components including the wood paneling, built-in furniture, doors, cabinets, windows and stairways for transport. The building was cut into four large sections and trucked to Silverton. The largest section, the entire second floor including the concrete block walls, remained intact and proved to be the biggest challenge to move. The concrete block columns, fireplace, red pigmented radiant concrete floor and terraces could no be saved so were reconstructed on site.
The house was sited in an oak grove on The Garden grounds to match the Wilsonville site as closely as possible. The house retains the true north compass orientation to meet Frank Lloyd Wright's design specifications for natural light and ventilation. The painstaking reassembly of the Gordon House took nine months. The view of the Willamette River has been replaced with a serene rural vista, evocative of the original farm setting.
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How The Gordon House was reconstructed
- 1. All building components were dismantled, packaged, carefully labeled and moved to the new site.
- 2. The small basement that houses the heating, plumbing and electrical systems was constructed first.
- The footings were built.
- 3. The building sections were rolled in and placed above the new foundation supported with cribbing.
- 4. The concrete block walls were built up from the foundation to align with the building sections above.
- The roof sections and second floor were lowered onto the concrete block walls.
- The hot water radiant heating system was installed.
- The concerete floors were poured using crystalline pigment in Wright's favorite color, known as Cherokee
or Taliesin red, to create Wright's signature color.
- Finally, the original woodwork and cabinetry were carefully fitted into place.
- Upon completion, all original and reconstructed parts of the house were within 1/16 inch tolerance.
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