Exhibition Catalog - Lawrence Technological University

$4,000. It also represented a noteworthy departure
from the planning stages, when the Afflecks
informed Wright they “would like to have the cost
held to approximately 8,000 dollars.” 54 Such a significant
overrun was fairly typical of Wright, however,
and in part exposes the uncertainties of dealing
with the Usonians’ special construction requirements.
While the first Usonian house, built in 1936 for
Herbert and Katherine Jacobs in Madison, Wisconsin,
had cost $5,500, most were more expensive
than this. The cost also indicates the Afflecks’ status;
the house should be regarded as a “high end”
Usonian, specially crafted for a wealthy family, and
not a standard model intended for the masses.
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Photograph by Jessica Aguilar
Photograph by Megan Connor
Subsequent Life and Influence
Wright apparently thought very highly of the Affleck
House. He included a model and two drawings
of the house, which was then under construction,
in a major retrospective of his work entitled,
“Frank Lloyd Wright: American Architect,” at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York. 55 This was significant
because Wright chose the projects himself
and designed the exhibit, including the Affleck
House alongside such famous works as the Robie
house, the Johnson Wax Company, Fallingwater,
and Taliesin. Only sixteen other models were presented.
In a proposed catalog, Wright described
the Affleck house as having a “living room and
terrace thrust boldly over a pool.” 56 The exhibition
ran from November 1940 to January 1941, and
introduced the house within the larger context of
Wright’s oeuvre.
A few years later, the Affleck House played a prominent
role in General Motors’ advertising campaign
for the 1948 Oldsmobile Futurama, one of the car
manufacturer’s first new post war models. The
house appeared in both print and television advertisements
as the architectural counterpart to the
car, embodying the slogan “Futuristic design combines
beauty and utility.” 57 The print ads, depicting
a drawing of the house above a photograph
of the new car, offered the following comparison:
“This home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright represents
the finest of contemporary architecture. Just
as the Futuramic Oldsmobile represents the farthest
advancement in automotive design.” 58
In the first two years after construction on the house
was completed Gregor asked Wright for three additional
components. The first was an area beneath
the elevated terrace for “the storage of tools and
lawn mower, toboggan and such.” 59 This request
arose because of Wright’s antipathy toward garages.
His Usonian homes featured carports only,
which sufficed to protect automobiles from inclement
weather but eliminated crucial storage
space for those items which were inappropriate