Herbert And Katherine Jacobs Second House
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The Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House (also known as Jacobs II or the Solar Hemicycle) is a historic house in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
, United States. Designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
and built in 1946–1948, the house was designed for the journalist Herbert Jacobs and his wife Katherine, whose first house he had designed a decade earlier. The Solar Hemicycle name is derived from the house's semicircular-arc floor plan, its use of natural materials, and its energy-saving orientation. The Jacobs Second House has been praised for its architecture over the years, and Wright went on to design other houses with circular design motifs. The house was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1974 and declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 2003. The Jacobs family moved to western Madison, near Middleton, in 1942 and commissioned Wright to design them a new residence. After rejecting the first design, Wright proposed the Solar Hemicycle, which was partially embedded into an earthen
berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...
. Although the Jacobses paid the first part of Wright's fee in early 1944, construction did not start for over two years. The Jacobses ended up constructing much of the house themselves because of contractor delays and a misunderstanding that prompted Wright to resign. The family moved into the house's
root cellar A root cellar (American and Canadian English), fruit cellar (Mid-Western American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground. or partially underground, used for food storage, storage of vegetables, fruits, nu ...
in July 1948 and occupied the rest of the house that September. The professor William R. Taylor bought the house in 1962, living there with his family until 1968 before renting it to college students. His son Bill Taylor bought the house in 1982 and renovated it. In 1988, the house was sold once again to John and Betty Moore, who rebuilt the roof and added a garage in the 2000s. The northern
elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
of the house's facade is partially built into a berm, with a circular, stone-faced staircase tower protruding from it. On the southern elevation is a curved glass wall, which faces a sunken garden surrounded by a stone terrace. The house is topped by a flat roof with overhanging
eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...
, and it is accessed by a tunnel that travels through the berm. The first floor contains a root cellar, an
open plan Open plan is the generic term used in architectural and interior design for any floor plan that makes use of large, open spaces and minimizes the use of small, enclosed rooms such as private offices. The term can also refer to landscaping of ...
living–dining room, and a kitchen, in addition to a pool that is partly indoor and partly outdoor. Suspended from the ceiling is the second floor, which contains three bedrooms and a bathroom.


History


Background

Until the 1930s, Frank Lloyd Wright mostly designed houses for wealthy clients, but he was also beginning to design lower-cost
Usonian Usonia () is a term that was used by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general (in preference over ''America''), and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country, including the planni ...
houses for middle-class families. In 1936, the journalist Herbert Jacobs asked Wright to design his family a house that cost no more than $5,000; at the time, Jacobs was a young reporter with a very limited budget. This became the Jacobs First House (or Jacobs I) on Toepfer Avenue, into which the Jacobses moved in 1937. Jacobs I, sometimes cited as Wright's first
Usonia Usonia () is a term that was used by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general (in preference over ''America''), and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country, including the planni ...
n house, elicited high amounts of interest from the general public when it was completed. The first house, an L-shaped structure with a central lawn and approximately , had three bedrooms. In contrast to the family's second house, which was designed in a rural area in an
organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
style, Jacobs I was more urban in nature, and its lawn was more similar in nature to a courtyard. Not much was done with
passive solar heating In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...
in modern buildings in the U.S. until 1933, when Fred Keck noticed on a cold winter day that his demonstration glass House of Tomorrow, in Chicago, was warming inside before the furnace had been installed. The
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and
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investigated solar-heated buildings in the late 1930s. During the same period, Keck built several houses that could store water on their flat roofs; as the water evaporated, it heated up the houses. Keck also designed a "solar house" in
Glenview, Illinois Glenview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop. Per the 2020 census, the population was 48,705. The Village of Glenview is governed by New Trier and Northfield townships. According ...
, with extended eaves and a south-facing glass wall, which were designed to admit sun through the glass in winter and shade it in summer.


Development


Land acquisition

In 1942, the Jacobses and their two children moved to a farmhouse in western Madison, near Middleton, about away from the first house. The family also acquired a farm surrounding the farmhouse. In spite of Wright's efforts to convince them to keep the first house, the family felt that the area surrounding their first house was becoming too densely built-up. In addition, they felt that their daughters Susan and Elizabeth (who were respectively seven and three years old) would be better-behaved if they lived on a farm. According to Herb, he and his wife had decided to move after contemplating the matter for only a short period; Herb had written about his intention to sell the first house on September 6, and they moved to the farm on November 13. The family left the first house's built-in furniture in place, buying an old truck to carry their remaining possessions to the farm. While the farmhouse was habitable, it was rundown. Herb recalled that he had to clean up the farmhouse before they could even move out of their first house in Madison. Afterward, they bought farm equipment and obtained livestock, farming the land even while Herb retained his day job at ''The Capital Times''. Herb and Katherine, with their children's help, were able to produce all of their food at the farm.


Design

From the outset, the Jacobses wanted Wright to design another house on their farmland, having liked the original house so much. In early 1943, Herb asked Wright to consider designing a new home for the family, to which the architect agreed. The family traveled to Wright's
Taliesin Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Britons (Celtic people), Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to ...
studio several times to discuss the plans. During this time, Wright began developing experimental design features, and the Jacobses allowed him to use their new house as a testing ground for these features. For example, Wright hired a fiberboard company to design a specialized fiberboard wall for the Jacobses' second house, but the company declined to do so because Wright wanted the company to pay an exorbitant fee to use the design. That July, Wright visited the Jacobs farm, whereupon he decided to build the house on a hill with oak woods behind it. Though an even taller hill existed on the site, Wright recommended against using that site, correctly predicting that the higher hill would likely be destroyed due to highway widening. In December 1943, Wright invited the Jacobses to Taliesin to view a preliminary design for the house. The original design called for a square, double-height living room with a mezzanine, in addition to a single-story wing containing a master bedroom, two smaller bedrooms, and a bathroom; this plan would have cost $12,000. The
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cites the design as a modification of a plan that was originally created for the Hein family in
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, while Herb said that Wright had offered to give the design to the Hein family if the Jacobses did not accept it. In any case, the Jacobses rejected the plan, saying that the design was expensive and overly difficult to heat. Shortly afterward, Wright wrote to the Jacobses, acknowledging the family's financial constraints and agreeing to create an alternative design. The following February, Wright presented to the Jacobses a revised plan, telling them that "you are getting another 'first'" and describing the design as suitable for any hilltop exposed to wind. The design consisted of a crescent-shaped structure measuring long along its outer arc facing north, long along its inner arc facing south, and wide. The inner arc of the crescent, facing south, would be made of glass; the remaining walls would be made of stone, and the northern facade would built into the side of a hill. The concept of the house was so novel that Wright had difficulties deciding on a name; he initially referred to the plans as the "Solar Hemicyclo" (after the Greek term for a
semicircle In mathematics (and more specifically geometry), a semicircle is a one-dimensional locus of points that forms half of a circle. It is a circular arc that measures 180° (equivalently, radians, or a half-turn). It only has one line of symmetr ...
) before changing the name to "Solar Hemicycle". In addition, Wright's second plan initially called for a roof that was creased in the middle, while the second story was to be supported by columns on the first floor. Wright later revised the plans to remove the columns and flatten the roof.


Construction

After considering Wright's new plan momentarily, the Jacobses paid Wright the first installment of his fee, amounting to $250, in March 1944 Wright's son-in-law
William Wesley Peters William Wesley Peters (June 12, 1912 – July 17, 1991) was an American architect and engineer, apprentice to and protégé of his father-in-law Frank Lloyd Wright. Early life Wes, as he was known to friends and associates, was born in Terre Hau ...
wrote to the Jacobses the next month, notifying them that Wright had nearly completed the plans for the house itself and that Peters was designing them a barn. Despite this, the Jacobses did not receive detailed plans for two years; the family repeatedly asked Wright to send them detailed plans for the house, to which the architect demurred. In the meantime, the Jacobses built an easy chair for the house in early 1945, and they sometimes visited Taliesin to inquire about the house's design. Herb wrote that he had grown impatient by early 1946, when he asked a bank in Madison to give them a loan for the house; the loan was denied because the house was not in Madison. Ultimately, they obtained a loan from the Haley brothers, who had helped fund the Jacobs First House. The family initially hoped that the house would not cost more than $5,000. Herb wrote that he had received a response from Wright only after writing a poem to the architect on August 15, 1946. Eight days later, Wright traveled to the farm to survey the site and draw out plans for an access road. Even after this had been done, the Jacobses did not receive the blueprints; Herb recalled recalling two sets of blueprints after some time, though he did not specify when he received the drawings. In October 1946, Wright's apprentices arrived with a bulldozer to excavate the sunken garden and the house's site. Soil from the excavation of the house's sunken garden was then used to construct the berm north of the house. Afterward, Herb personally dug the holes for the house's
foundation Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...
during his free time, completing it in January 1947; his children helped fill in the holes with $20 worth of crushed rock. He later recalled that local farmhands had refused to dig the foundations without a bulldozer, while a contractor with a bulldozer could not dig the foundations because the berm was in the way. The Jacobses ended up doing much of the construction by themselves. Wright's apprentices surveyed the house in June 1947, and the couple built a section of wall to test out their masonry-laying skills. Herb hired the stonemason Johnny Luginbuhl that August, but Luginbuhl worked for only a couple days before departing to work on other projects. Luginbuhl returned for one day that October before leaving again. Wright also severed his involvement with the project due to a misunderstanding over ''We Chose the Country'', a book that Herb was writing; the architect had taken particular offense to a sentence implying that Wright had asked Herb for help. Just after Wright left, Luginbuhl and his apprentices returned again in March and began working on the house in earnest, while Katherine assisted in laying the masonry. Wright's departure also allowed the Jacobses to make changes to the design and add a
root cellar A root cellar (American and Canadian English), fruit cellar (Mid-Western American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground. or partially underground, used for food storage, storage of vegetables, fruits, nu ...
without having to fear Wright's mercurial response. The Jacobses hired several contractors to help complete the house.


Completion and Jacobs ownership

The Jacobses had sold their farmhouse in February 1948, expecting that they would be able to move into the new house by July 1; the new house was still incomplete on that day, so the farmhouse's new owners allowed the family to stay there for another week. This gave the family enough time to fit out the root cellar, into which they moved on July 8. The family also visited Wright, who expressed his continued displeasure not only with Herb's manuscript, but also the modifications that had been made to his design. After moving into the root cellar, the Jacobses finished off the rest of the house, which included pouring concrete for the floor slab, excavating the indoor portion of the pool, constructing the wooden mullions, and completing the roof. Once the roof was installed, the Jacobses built the support beams for the second floor, and a contractor built some tables for them. The family also constructed the terrace outside the house on their own. The Jacobses moved into the main house at the end of August 1948. The final cost of construction has been cited as $20,000. Shortly after the Jacobses moved in, Wright reappeared by the sunken garden to look at the house; after being invited inside for a tour, he found that the house had been built mostly to his original specifications. Satisfied, Wright helped them finish the house, sending a bulldozer to shape the berm. Parts of the house remained exposed to the elements until September, and the Jacobses held their first party at the house shortly thereafter. Over the following months. Herb finished the bedroom partitions, and Luginbuhl built the stone flower boxes outdoors. Because the Jacobses had not followed Wright's design precisely, they had to repair parts of the house, including the hot-water systems and the carport roof, within a year of its completion. The Jacobses were still working on the interior as late as 1958, when Herb finished assembling a dining table that Wright had designed for the house. Other minor aspects of Wright's design, such as cupboards, were not carried out. After the house was completed, passersby frequently tried to catch a glimpse of it, and one newspaper wrote that Katherine Jacobs had become well-known in the local area for her masonry skills. The family reported that, even during the depths of winter, the heating system could be turned off at 9 a.m. and did not have to be reactivated until late afternoon. The Jacobses sometimes hosted events at their house, such as afternoon teas and tours of the house. The family's second residence also garnered attention from members of the general public, prompting the Jacobses to charge a 50-cent admission fee. Herb wrote that his visitors had included a Swiss architect who hiked several miles in the snow, in addition to an Illinois farmer named Robert Muirhead (who later commissioned Wright to design the Muirhead House for him). Wright and the Jacobses remained friends for life after the house was completed. The architect sometimes brought prospective clients by to look at the house, turning away those who disliked it; Wright sometimes came at odd hours without advance warning, since he felt a sense of proprietorship over the house.


Subsequent ownership

All three of the Jacobses' children had begun to move away in the late 1950s: their two daughters moved to California and Arizona after marrying, while their son began attending
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in
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, in 1961. The Jacobses moved to California in 1962 to be near their daughter Elizabeth. William R. Taylor, a history professor at the
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, moved in with his wife and five children that year. The Taylors lived there until 1968, then moved out and rented the house to students for thirteen years. A local real-estate agent said that the students chopped firewood and hosted parties in the house. According to William's son Bill, the house fell into disrepair not because of any particular person, but because the cost of maintenance and the expertise required to repair it were both beyond Bill's means. Still, the house was well-known, and random visitors showed up at the house on fair-weather days; the building also hosted private tours.


Bill Taylor renovation

In mid-1982, Bill Taylor acquired the house from his mother Donna. By then, the frames for the door and window openings were rotting, while the radiant heating system was no longer functioning; the family spent $3,500 annually on heating. Bill recalled that the house was persistently cold, even though the family used of
heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; it is a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often ...
each winter. The heating system's pipes had not been insulated at all, so a large portion of the heat was dispersed into the gravel below the slab, rather than rising through the living spaces. The roof was also not insulated, and it had been weakened over the years because the entirety of the second floor was suspended from the roof. The thin glass wall, the roof, the berm, the floor, and air infiltration were all equally responsible for the
heat loss Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, ...
. Bill hired the contracting firm of John Freiburger and Associates to replace the windows on the south facade, repairing the window frames and
fascia A fascia (; : fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; ) is a generic term for macroscopic membranous bodily structures. Fasciae are classified as superficial, visceral or deep, and further designated according to their anatomical location. ...
, insulating the roof, adding structural supports, and replacing the heating system. During the renovation, the Taylors lived in a trailer. Freiburger had finished the exterior work by December 1982. Afterward, most of the floor was demolished and re-poured, with insulation installed beneath the slab and the pipes embedded into the concrete; a small portion of the original floor slab, beneath the south facade's glass wall, was retained. Bill also added a hot air furnace and air conditioning, repartitioned the bedrooms into three, strengthened the joists and rafters, and added skylights. Ultimately, Bill spent $50,000 on the project, even after doing some of the work himself. The heating system alone cost $11,000, but it halved the Taylors' annual heating bill from $3,500 to $1,700. For his restoration of the house, Bill received an award from the Capital Community Citizens in 1983 and a Dane County Historic Preservation Award in 1984. The next year, the house opened to the public fundraising benefit for the
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. Three years after the original renovation, Bill rebuilt the south facade again due to water leakage, retaining some of the glass from the first renovation while adding a third layer of panes.


Sale to the Moore family

Bill Taylor sought to sell it by the late 1980s, saying that "the house is impossible to childproof" and that some design elements posed an active danger to his 17-month-old daughter. Taylor placed one-third of the 6-acre property for sale. He rejected offers of $280,000 for the house, which they felt to be too low, but after failing to sell the house for three years, he had to lower the asking price. John and Elizabeth Moore ultimately acquired the house in 1989. The roof continued to leak through the 2000s, prompting the Moore family to rebuild the roof in 2007. The Moores also constructed a garage–studio, incorporating an existing wall into the new structure. After the garage was completed, the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation gave an award to the house's owners for "compatible new construction" in 2008. In addition, in the 2010s, Bill Taylor set up a website chronicling the house's history. The Jacobs Second House continues to be used as a private residence in the 21st century, and John and Elizabeth Moore are cited as owning the house . It has sometimes been included on
guided tours A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, and information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, rel ...
.


Description

The house is variously cited as being located at 3995 Shawn Trail or 7033 Old Sauk Road in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
, United States, near Middleton. Originally, the house's official address was on Old Sauk Road, where the Jacobses owned . Due to increasing suburban development over the years, the property had been downsized to by the 2000s, and the address was moved to Shawn Trail. The Jacobs Second House shares design elements with the
earth shelter An earth shelter, also called an earth house, earth-bermed house, earth-sheltered house, earth-covered house, or underground house, is a structure (usually a house) with earth (soil) against the walls and/or on the roof, or that is entirely burie ...
homes that became popular in the late 20th century. The house is one of several buildings designed by Wright in Madison, along with others such as the Jacobs First House, the Gilmore "Airplane" House, and the
First Unitarian Society of Madison The First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS) is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin. Its meeting house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built by Marshall Erdman in 1949–1951, and has been designated a ...
. By the 1980s, it was one of eight Wright–designed buildings remaining in
Dane County Dane County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin after Milwaukee County, Wiscon ...
. The house is two stories tall and is shaped like a semicircular arc. Wright had borrowed the design from his unbuilt 1942 design for Lloyd Burlingham at
El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
. The house's
massing Massing is the architecture, architectural term for general Shape and form (visual arts), shape, form and size of a structure. Characteristics Massing is three-dimensional, a matter of form, not just an outline from a single perspective, a s ...
, and its positioning on the side of a hill, allowed strong wind gusts and cold air to go around the house, instead of pressing against it. The floor plan is arranged around a grid of
radial line A cylindrical coordinate system is a three-dimensional coordinate system that specifies point positions around a main axis (a chosen directed line) and an auxiliary axis (a reference ray). The three cylindrical coordinates are: the point perpend ...
s that converge in the garden, dividing the house into sections with a
central angle A central angle is an angle whose apex (vertex) is the center O of a circle and whose legs (sides) are radii intersecting the circle in two distinct points A and B. Central angles are subtended by an arc between those two points, and the arc l ...
of 6 degrees. Wright referred to the Jacobs Second House as the "Solar Hemicycle", a name derived from the house's semicircular layout, use of natural materials, and
solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...
-saving orientation. Some of the house's design features—such as the building's arrangement around a garden, concrete floor slab, and flat roof—were adapted from the Jacobs First House.


Exterior


Form and facade

The northern elevation of the facade, which follows the outer edge of the arc-shaped layout, is partly built into an earthen
berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...
. The outermost 30 degrees of the arc, on either side, are decorated with flower boxes and two-double-story boxes that are built into the berm. The eastern box leads to an access tunnel that passes through the berm, while the western box is unoccupied. There is a narrow band of
clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...
windows just above the berm, allowing light and air to enter the rear of the house and providing ventilation during the summer. The mostly-flat roof slopes slightly downward to the north, directing water onto the berm. The original roof was made of tar and gravel and was supported by
rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as Beam (structure), steel beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof Roof shingle, shingles, ...
s. The rooftop
eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...
on either side of the house protrude , while the eave along the house's southern facade is deep. The eaves rested on
flitch beam A flitch beam (or flitched beam) is a compound beam used in the construction of houses, decks, and other primarily wood-frame structures. Typically, the flitch beam is made up of a vertical steel plate sandwiched between two wood Wood is ...
s, which in turn were bolted to the masonry. The portion of the northern facade beneath the berm, and the walls at the western and eastern ends of the arc, are all made of stone. The exterior stonework consists of limestone slabs, which are laid horizontally, with alternating protruding and recessed stones to give the impression of natural outcrops. The stone is sourced from a nearby quarry; this was consistent with other Wright buildings such as Taliesin, the First Unitarian Society of Madison, and
Fallingwater Fallingwater is a Historic house museum, house museum in Stewart Township, Pennsylvania, Stewart Township in the Laurel Highlands of Greater Pittsburgh, southwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, i ...
, which also used locally-quarried stone. Protruding from the berm is a circular,
castle keep ''Castle Keep'' is a 1969 American war comedy-drama film combining surrealism with tragic realism. It was directed by Sydney Pollack, and starred Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Bruce Dern and Peter Falk. The film appeare ...
–style tower made of limestone, with a diameter of . The tower, one of the only parts of the house that is visible from the north, may have been based on the architecture of Lambay Castle in Dublin, designed by
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
. The southern elevation, which follows the inner edge of the arc, is made of glass, consisting of panes salvaged from old stores. The glass wall measures wide and tall. The design allowed sunlight to warm the house's concrete floor slab during the winter, when the sun was low in the sky; during January, the south facade was exposed to sunlight for 44% of the day. In summer, the wide
eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...
above shields the glass wall from the heat of the higher-angled sun. The glass windows and doors were originally separated by eight
mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...
s, which are placed every ; the outermost windows are spaced away from the walls at each end of the facade. Each of the doors and windows were surrounded by frames measuring wide, with two vertical supports built behind each frame. Originally, the doorknobs were positioned low enough that the Jacobses' young children were able to open them. Also on the southern facade is a circular
fish pool Fish Pool is an international commodity exchange located in Bergen, Norway that trades salmon futures contracts. The exchange is 97% owned by the stock exchange in Norway Oslo Børs, which in 2019 became part of Euronext. Established in 2006, it ...
, which is partially indoors and partially outdoors to visually connect the house's interior with the sunken garden outside. The pool, measuring in diameter, is bisected by a concrete divider under the facade, which splits it into a shallow basin indoors and a deeper
plunge pool A plunge pool (or plunge basin or waterfall lake) is a deep depression in a stream bed at the base of a waterfall or Shut-in (river), shut-in. It is created by the erosion, erosional forces of cascading water on the rocks at the formation's bas ...
outdoors. When the house was renovated in the 1980s, the original south-facing windows were replaced with triple-pane glass, and the red wood of the glass facade was painted black. In addition, several of the original glass doors on the south facade were removed, and the frames were replaced with rectangular beams, which were more simple in design.


Garden and ancillary structures

South of the house is a stone terrace measuring wide, which rests on an layer of crushed gravel. The terrace continues to the house's western end, where it is surrounded by stone walls on two sides, and to the house's eastern end, where it links with the house's access tunnel. The stone terrace, in turn, surrounds the house's sunken garden, which is below the floor level of the house. Wright claimed that the presence of the sunken garden would create a pocket of air, which would be deflected above the house's roof in a similar manner to an
airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...
. By the 2000s, the Moores had added sculptures, a sundial, and stone benches to the sunken garden. The house also has a garage, which was completed in the 2000s and was not designed by Wright. The original plan had called for the house's access tunnel to be extended north of the berm, with the construction of a covered walkway connecting to a barn north of the house, but this idea was canceled.


Interior

The Madison city government cites the house as having a floor area of , though other sources give different figures. Wright designed furniture such as cubical plywood lamps and hexagonal tables for the house.


First floor

The first floor contains approximately or of space. The front entrance is accessed via the tunnel through the berm. The tunnel emerges onto the terrace adjacent to the house's southern facade, where a glass door leads into the house itself; there is a closet near the southern end of the tunnel. At the rear is a round stone tower, which contains a staircase to the second story on its southern wall. The base of the tower also includes a windowless
root cellar A root cellar (American and Canadian English), fruit cellar (Mid-Western American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground. or partially underground, used for food storage, storage of vegetables, fruits, nu ...
or
mudroom A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, entryway, reception area or entrance hall, it is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a theatre, opera house, concert hall, showroom, cinem ...
, which Jacobs had added to the design without Wright's knowledge. The root cellar connects with the house's access tunnel. The rest of the first floor is one large space measuring long. It is generally wide, except where the house's stone staircase tower protrudes into the space. There is a combined living–dining room measuring long to the west of the stone tower. Because the second floor does not occupy the entire house, part of the living–dining room has a double-height ceiling. The room's rear wall has a circular stone fireplace, which has a opening connecting with a slanting
flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they a ...
. The stair tower is surrounded by a passageway measuring wide. A kitchen, measuring long, is located to the east of the tower, with a small air shaft extending to the second floor. The design of the first floor prompted Wright to write, "Here in one room is the whole affair of good living – the warmth and invitation of a true home." The concrete floor slab measures thick and is underlaid by a layer of gravel measuring thick. The house's stone walls were not built on the concrete floor, as was common in other Wright houses, because the walls were too heavy. Rather, the walls are supported by footers measuring deep and filled with
crushed stone Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers. It is distinct from naturally occurring gravel, whi ...
. From the outset, there was an
underfloor heating Underfloor heating and cooling is a form of Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, central heating and cooling that achieves indoor climate control for thermal comfort using hydronics, hydronic or electrical heating elements embedded in a fl ...
system embedded under the first-floor slab, though it did not function properly until the floor was rebuilt in the 1980s. The original floor was coated was red wax, whereas the replacement floor has red dye embedded into the concrete.


Second floor

The second floor is approximately or . It was originally designed as a balcony, suspended from the main room's ceiling via metal beams hung from the rafters. Each rafter was composed of boards and were reinforced by boards at either end. The rafters were tied together with
crossbeam A beam is a structural element that primarily resists loads applied laterally across the beam's axis (an element designed to carry a load pushing parallel to its axis would be a strut or column). Its mode of deflection is primarily by bending, ...
s, and in the original design, the central three bedrooms were supported by only seven beams. On the balcony itself, there is a glass parapet along the south perimeter, which is tall and recessed from the glass facade. The northern wall is illuminated by a row of windows measuring tall, which flank the stair tower. Unlike the first floor, the second story was not built with an underfloor heating system. The second floor was originally partitioned into four or five bedrooms. The partitions between the rooms were made of overlapping 1-by-12-inch boards that were screwed together. The partitions are slanted, creating empty triangular openings between the bedrooms, and the rooms themselves had curtains instead of doors. The westernmost bedroom also has a double-height window that is shared with the living room under it. The center bedrooms were between wide, while the bedrooms at either end spanned the house's entire 17-foot width; all the bedrooms opened onto a central hallway. When Bill Taylor renovated the house, the four bedrooms were reconfigured into three. These modifications included removing a wall to connect one bedroom directly with the adjacent hallway (thereby illuminating that room on two sides), as well as enlarging the remaining bedrooms. There is a bathroom within the stair tower at the second story. The original plans called for an ornate
skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...
above the bathroom, which was replaced with a simpler design before the house was finished. The stair tower's second floor also includes a closet for the master bedroom, which is reached by a wooden door. The closet was originally part of the bathroom, but Herb Jacobs had subdivided the bathroom because he thought that room was too large.


Impact

When the building was renovated in 1983, a ''Wisconsin State Journal'' reporter wrote that the house "is almost the opposite of a landmark" because it was nearly completely integrated with the adjacent hillside. Robert McCarter wrote in 1996 that "this is both one of Wright's simplest and yet most moving designs", while one of Wright's biographers, Meryle Secrest, said that the design was "proof of the way his imagination soared when stimulated by the requirements of a demanding but beautiful site". A writer for ''National Forum'' magazine wrote that the house was one of several Wright works that exemplified the "intensely practical and psychological benefits" of
organic architecture Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world. This is achieved through design approaches that aim to be sympathetic and well-integrated with a site, so buildings, furn ...
. Wright went on to design other houses with circular design motifs, including in Florida, Maryland, Michigan, and Virginia. The design of the unbuilt E. L. Marting House near
Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...
, was nearly identical to that of the Jacobs Second House, albeit with a mirrored floor plan and another room instead of a root cellar. Wright also offered the plans to Donald Grover in 1950, but Grover also did not carry them out. He ultimately built several hemicycle houses—including the 1948 Meyer House in Michigan, the 1949 Laurent House in Illinois, and the 1950 Pearce House in California—but none of these was oriented to catch sunlight. The house's design inspired similar houses by other architects in Nemahbin, Wisconsin, and
Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...
, as well as Ken Shuttleworth's personal residence in
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
, England. In addition, Rosalie Tonkens, who had developed the Tonkens House in
Amberley, Ohio Amberley, locally known as Amberley Village, is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,840 at the 2020 census. History Amberley was incorporated as a village on April 5, 1940. The town was named after Amberley ...
, claimed that she and her husband had been inspired to hire Wright after seeing an image of the Jacobs Second House. In 1953, the Jacobs Second House was featured in an exhibit at New York's
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, which identified the building as one of "the most significant examples of modern architecture built in this country since 1945". Herbert Jacobs published a book about his relocation to the countryside in 1948, and he and his wife wrote a book about their two houses, ''Frank Lloyd Wright: An Illustrated Memoir'', which was published in 1978. In addition, the house is depicted on the cover of Diane Maddex's 2001 book ''Frank Lloyd Wright's House Beautiful''. The Jacobs Second House was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
(NRHP) on December 31, 1974, though this listing was not recorded until the next year. The house was re-added to the NRHP as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 2003, and a plaque commemorating this designation was installed in 2005.


See also

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List of Frank Lloyd Wright works Frank Lloyd Wright designed 1,141 houses, commercial buildings and other works throughout his lifetime, including 532 that were eventually built. , there were 409 extant structures designed by Wright. Over one-third of the extant structures are on ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Madison, Wisconsin This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Madison, Wisconsin. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. ...
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Wisconsin This is a list of National Historic Landmarks in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. National Historic Landmarks are designated by the U.S. National Park Service, which recognizes buildings, structures, districts, objects, and sites which satisfy cert ...


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


"Making Wright Right" – restoration of Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Herbert and Katherine, Second House 1940s architecture in the United States 1948 establishments in Wisconsin Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Houses completed in 1948 Houses in Madison, Wisconsin Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Historic Landmarks in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Madison, Wisconsin