THE WRIGHT DESIGN

Over the Back Fence Magazine | Fall 2005

Lauren Burge, principle architect for the Westcott House to its rightful place in the Westcott House   Foundation   says,   "This restoration tells a story of an innovative people who selected a progressive architect. It returns  Westcott House to its rightful place in the body of Wright's work."

A modern man for his time, Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 800 structures in his lengthy career. Of these structures 380 were built and to date only 280 sur-Springfield has become the guardian of a very unique Wright arti­fact, the Westcott House. It is the only Prairie-style structure designed by Wright in the state of Ohio. Designed, re-designed and built during the turn of the century between 1904 and 1908, the Westcott House was a prominent state­ment of wealth during a time of new innovation and thinking. It was a fore­runner to futuristic simplicity, yet sym­bolized the modernization of the 20th Century.

At this time Springfield had nearly 54 passenger trains arriving daily while the horse and buggy was the general mode of transportation. The early 1900s wel­comed ten different automobile compa­nies to Springfield including the Westcott.

Burton John Westcott and his wife, Orpha Westcott, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build their home at the turn of the century. Burton Westcott was originally from Richmond, Indiana and came to Springfield to work for theAmerican Seeding Company. His father was the founder of the Westcott Carriage Company and had a true dislike for automobiles, which were in direct competition to his horse carriages. Burton Westcott brought the Westcott Motor Car Company to Springfield in 1916.

"In terms of a historic house, many people think of the Westcott House as a house museum. When you go to a house museum, you not only want to know about the building but the people who lived there, what they did and owned. The Westcott is not a house museum," defines John Zukowsky, Director of the Westcott House, "all the historic information within the family (Westcott) dissipated before the great depression." What they do know is that Westcott was an automotive manufac­turer with several interests. His compa­ny got into financial trouble in the mid 20s and his wife died at an early age. The bank repossessed everything, but bank records have disappeared, as well as the bank itself, as many did during the great depression.

This century old house has been a quest for several Springfield citizens who have struggled to attain and restore the home. In the 1940s the 8,000-square-foot home was converted into four apartments by creating interior walls. Even with years of disrepair and remod­eling, the home still maintained its over­all structure and originality. The home's last owner, Sherri Snyder, had struggled for 16 years to save the unique landmark until she sold it to the Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. The home was then sold to the local, recently established Westcott House Foundation, now the current guardian of the Wright design. This makes the restoration more diffi­cult since original furnishings, dishes, etc. are not known.

"The Westcott is a true challenge," confirms Burge. Several sources of research are utilized; the first level of hierarchy is the original drawings. The home may not have been built exactly as design; we temper that with historic photographs and physical evidence."