The Wilbur C. Pearce House | Frank Lloyd Wright

8/13/2019 The Wilbur C. Pearce House | Frank Lloyd Wright

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ARCHITECT | DESIGN | BUILD 12.13.2013 91

Restoring a Frank Lloyd Wright homeowned for three generations

WRITTEN BY PAMELA CORANTE-HANSEN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL JONASON

[ T H E W I L B U R C . P E A R C E H O U S E | F R A N K L L O Y D W R I G H T ]


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AS A CHILD, KONRAD PEARCE WOULD VISIT HIS GRANDPARENTS FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOME

FOR SUNDAY DINNERS. IT WASNT UNUSUAL FOR HIM TO LOOK UP FROM THE DINING TABLE AND

SEE A DEER GAZING BACK AT HIM THROUGH THE FLOOR-TO-CEILING WINDOWS. TODAY, PEARCE

IS THE THIRD GENERATION OF HIS FAMILY TO OWN THE HOME, WHICH IS LOCATED IN BRADBURY,

A LOS ANGELES COUNTY CITY AT THE FOOTHILLS OF THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS.


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When hes not at his job as an aerospace engineer in

the South Bay, Pearce is putting painstaking work into

restoring the home to the way he remembers it. I have

vivid memories of the house when it was less than

10 years old, Pearce recalls. Everything was shiny and

beautiful and new. My goal is to get the house back to

where it matches my memories, and reverse the decades

of life its been through.

Known as the Wilbur Pearce house, the home is named

after Konrad Pearces grandfather, an Akron, Ohio

businessman who was transferred to Los Angeles in

the mid-1940s while working for the Firestone Tire and

Rubber Company. The Frank Lloyd Wright connection

happened before the elder Pearce and his wife left Ohio.

My grandmother taught at an art school in Akron, andshe contacted Frank Lloyd Wright to come lecture at the

school, Pearce begins. They corresponded, he came to

give the lecture, and while he was there they discussed

my grandparents home in Akron, a modern-style house

they put up for sale when my grandfather was transferred

to LA.

Wright told Pearces grandmother that he was designing

homes in California, and he asked her to write to him

when she and her husband got settled. His reason for

requesting a letter would be music to the ears of modern-

day Frank Lloyd Wright fans: He said he would love to

design a house for them, Pearce says.

Designs for the house were drafted in 1950, but the home

wasnt built until 1955. The curved shape of the residences

south-facing side has a functional as well as aesthetic

purpose. Wright used a term called solar hemicycle,

explains Pearce. The curved south face of house allows

the sun to come in at the west end in the morning, and

again at the east end in the evening. This double dose of

sunlight heats the homes concrete slab. A radiant-floor

heating system circulates the heat throughout the rest of

the homes slab floor.

Pearce notes that Wrights early use of passive solar

heating is used in homes today. He adds, Having a warm

concrete floor is a really nice way to heat the bottom of

your feet. It feels like a warm rock in the sun.

Wright presented a number of drawings to Pearces

grandparents, each with a different configuration. The

property sits on a ridge with spectacular vistas of the

mountains to the north, yet one of the renditions showed

a solid wall on the north side of the house. At the elder

Pearces request, Wright redrew the plan, raising the roof

and adding clerestory windows to capture the mountainview. He also opened up some of the north-facing walls

with floor-to-ceiling windows.

On some days, you can stand in the living room and see

the mountains to the north, and then turn around and see

Catalina to the south, Pearce describes. The magnificent

views are what he enjoys most about the house. You feel

lots of openness, lots of light, and on days when there are

clouds in the sky its phenomenal. Even with a roof over

your head you never feel enclosed or locked inyou feel

as if youre part of the environment.


[continued on page 97]


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WWW.CANDCPARTNERS.COMPATRICK & M ICHAEL CUNNINGHAM [email protected]

310 .322 .0803 1601 PACIF IC COAST H IGHWAY #160 , HERMOSA BEACH, CA 90254

THEARTANDCRAFT

OFCUSTOMHOMEBUILDING

C U S T O M L U X U R Y D E S I G N A N D B U I L D I N G


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Signature Frank Lloyd Wright touches abound in the

home, including a small entryway that keeps visitors

from lingering there and instead draws them inside. The

blurring of indoor-outdoor boundaries is accomplished

through Wrights characteristic floor-to-ceiling glass doors

and windows. And instead of a garage, a cantilevered,

overhanging roof provides a carport, a word coined by

Wright himself, if you believe everything you read on

Wikipedia. But the best part, quips Pearce, is that unlike

a typical garage, there are no posts or walls to back into

with your car.

Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of the home is

that it is one of only 60 Usonian houses Wright built in

the U.S. The term Usonian describes Wrights vision of

architecture for the average American. Usonian houses

are made with local materials and are characterized by flat

roofs, a modest footprint, radiant-floor heating, clerestory

windows and a visual link between indoor and outdoor

spaces.

Most architects build small homes and get bigger, but

Wright turned it around and started huge and went small,

explains Pearce. Usonian homes were built from common

materials designed in a way that had artistic value. Hed

use grade raw unpainted concrete blocks and make an

exceptional design with that.

Because of the homes rare status among Frank Lloyd

Wright designs, Pearce has allowed certain groups to tour

his house. Many of the people who visit the house have

much more experience and knowledge of Frank Lloyd

Wright homes than I do, he says. As they look at the

house, Ill ask them, how would you fix this, or what would

you do here? Im always trying to get new ideas and its a

great help that theyre willing to share their knowledge.

Owning a historic home, admits Pearce, does not come

without its drawbacks. Its a challenge to wash 53

windows, and with glass in almost every wall, its not a

home for someone who cherishes privacy, he says. Normal

wear and tear can also present some headaches. Three

years ago, he had to rebuild the septic tank because it had

been infiltrated by the roots of oak trees growing on the

property. Still, Pearce feels privileged to own a home of

such historic significance.

Restoring this home is the project of a lifetime, but when

my father transferred the property to me, I didnt ask

whether I wanted to do it, relates Pearce. I grabbed it and

said this is something I have to do. No discussion. Keeping

it in the family is a big part of my joy; its history and its my

family history. Its always been our house.



[continued from page 94]

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The Wilbur C. Pearce House | Frank Lloyd Wright