A friend of mine sent me a photo they took quite recently of SunTop in Ardmore. It looks like it’s under construction again? Correcting past mistakes? Or maintenance?
SunTop places have had fires over the years, but I have not heard of any for years have you? It’s very weird the way Frank Lloyd Wright houses all over the country have had fires over the years. And this location is no exception. The first one at SunTop was 1941.
I’ve checked with someone I know in the area and they thought there was no fire of a recent vintage, but these houses have required repairs etc. especially since some of the restoration might not have been historically accurate or in some cases, interior rooms were rearranged like I read in an old article.
So it looks like restoration is what is happening with this house and then I found similar on Google of all places with a note to respect someone’s property.
SunTop is a Frank Lloyd Wright creation that has had a complicated history at best with Lower Merion Township.
It as called “the Ardmore experiment” was built in 1939 as a potential solution for multi family housing. One of the units had a fire in 1941, but wartime shortages during World War II meant repairs didn’t happen.
https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/restoring-frank-lloyd-wright-suntop/
Of course, Lower Merion being Lower Merion rewrote their codes, and SunTop suddenly became non conforming as a use in a single family zone in 1951. Ironic considering all the multi family cram plans they approve in the present, right? Sorry had to say that as it has given me a chuckle looking at this.
An owner in the 1950s of SunTop was denied a zoning variance in 1957 to restore the fire damaged property. Finally in 1965 a zoning was amended or something so restoration could occur. It seems like in 1989 another renovation occurred to correct mistakes from the 1960s. In 2003 there was another renovation judged from media reports.
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/radnor/ardmores-frank-lloyd-wright-house-is-for-sale-2
They are actually super cool houses and were ahead of their time. They just don’t seem particularly durable. The only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Malibu, CA burned down in 2018 wildfires.
And then there was one hotel Wright built in Tokyo. It survived an earthquake, fire, and tsunami in the 1920s but was torn down in the 1960s.
Now my friend who did the SunTop drive by recently, loves the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. He has tried to see as many of Wright’s structures as possible over time. SunTop appears in a catalog he has devoted to the homes.
So I was never a huge Frank Lloyd Wright aficionado but I have always been intrigued by what he had the foresight to see in Ardmore, PA. Their design works for multi family housing. Imagine if something like this could ever be designed instead of the awful rape of the land we see now.
The thing about Wright’s designs is much like Wharton Esherick, his designs involved and seemingly enveloped nature. Both Esherick and Wright also have things in common with George Nakashima and his legacy – furniture and buildings on his property. I think Nakashima’s furniture is beautiful and I have always wished I would find an Esherick print at a garage sale.
