Observations, photographs, and video of the construction of a Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian house which serves as the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center on the campus of Florida Southern College, located in the South Lake Morton Historic District of Lakeland, Florida. Follow this link for visitor information.

The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.  |   G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
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Drillin' and Fillin'
By Michael Maguire | September 13, 2011 at 09:35 AM EDT | 1 comment

September Gallery

Work now revolves around precise placement of 47 different blocks for both exterior and interior walls. The blocks are aligned and held in place with vertical rods (looks like re-bar), custom spacers (see the test slab in the May Gallery), and horizontal rods (the green re-bar that was delivered a couple of weeks ago. The blocks are attached to the floor and each other with a mastic applied with a caulking gun.

As shown in the video, holes must be drilled to receive and seat the vertical rods which are slowly becoming a "forest". There are no sounds of diesel engines or "back-up" beepers, but the work proceeds intensely as the blocks are sorted out and carried to their assigned location.

See more detiled views in the September Gallery

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1. Jeff Baker | September 14, 2011 at 09:38 AM EDT

Mike, the house is not scheduled to be completed until spring. Also, the blocks are not permenantly attached to the floor with mastic. They will be affixed to the concrete with stainless steel rods and grout. To answer some earlier questions, the steel frames that folks were wondering about are actually stainless steel tees that form the core within the wood mullions of the doors. The tees support stainless steel plates that will hold up the roof joists above those openings. Wright used steel in these location on his other buildings on campus. We elected to use stainless steel for obvious reasons.

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Wizard
in Wood
Craftsman earns national reputation 
for work on Florida Southern project
 
The whole world is watching! 

More than 50,000 people from 155 countries have visited the site nearly 68,000 times and racked up more than 153,000
page views. 
We are re-telling the story of the project on our facebook page. If you "Like" it, you'll always know what's what as soon as we do!
Traffic Operations sign technician Gary Griffith installs one of the new Frank Lloyd Wright Way street signs at Success Avenue and the former McDonald Street. The address of the house itself is now:
Our Video makeover is complete! Choose the main Video page, or any of the "year" pages to watch all of the project action in full HD. Also see The Blocks, The Glass, The Wood, The Fountain, and 3D Animation in crisp, clear high defintion.
 
With so much happening at once during the final month, we thought you might find it helpful to have these links to our most recent blog posts. Just click the headline to go directly to the post. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It's in all the papers! 
 
And online, TV, and radio. Check out
the News page for more.

And see ...
 
the last 30 Days
in just 30 seconds

Click here for that
and all the October videos
 
The Premiere of the historic Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian House took place October 31st. Dignitaries from the city, the county, and the college joined the donors, craftsmen, and professionals who made it all possible.

Watch our interview with Ken Berman who installed the glass inserts, and see how all of the 10,000 board feet of southern cypress was turned into ceilings, walls, shelves, and doors. 
Click here for the video.

Take a look at the last frenetic month in the October Gallery.
On May 20, 2010, Dr. Anne Kerr announced Florida Southern College's plans to construct a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed "Usonian House" which will serve as a new education and tourism center.

Click here for a slideshow of the announcement posted on flickr in the  fsc.mocs photostream.
The site of Florida Southern College's latest addition to its Frank Lloyd Wright collection - the largest in the world in a single location - is on McDonald Street between Johnson and College Avenues in one of Lakeland, Florida's oldest historic neighborhoods.
2011 Headlines
 
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