Frank Lloyd Wright's
SAMARA
John E. Christian, Owner


SAMARAQuest


Benton Fifth Grade Team

The Falling Icicles

Jennifer Bennett / Kaylin Duncan / Richie Stambaugh

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SAMARAQuest
    1   How many things do you have a remote for?
    2   How long did it take to build Samara?
    3   Any good building stories?

As you know, remote control devices are quite comon today. But they had not yet been developed when my house was designed and built in the middle 1950s.

However, I have since added several remotes. I have three television sets in the house and they all have remote controls. There is a remote to produce the "open sesame" for the television in the living room.

Remote controls are used for the video cassette recorder (VCR), the compact disc/cassette tape player, and the stereo amplifier. Remote switches control the on and off units for all five of the "pole" lights as well as the controls for the intensity of these lights.

I also have water systems for the ornament at the main entrance and on the terrace off the living room to produce icicles. The water flow for these two highly visible areas of the house are controlled remotely.





We had an agreement with our builder to build SAMARA slowly while he was building other houses. This enabled us to have supervision through Mr. Wright's architects and gave us time to consult with Mr. Wright about unusual items that came up during construction.

We started building SAMARA in early April of 1955 and although the house was not yet complete in details, we moved in during September 1956, some 18 months later. After 41 years, I am still adding some of Mr. Wright's detailed designs to the house.

When you saw the house, you may recall projecting structures that appear to be supported only on one end. They seem to be floating in space.

This is called "cantilever" construction and is made possible by the use of hidden steel beams anchored at one end in the masonry and supported part way out by additional masonry.


Mr. Wright developed this type of construction. The roof of SAMARA at the main entrance is supported by a hidden beam and is a good example of cantilever construction.

The original plans for the fireplace hood made of brick did not give sufficient details on how to support all the weight of the hood which was cantilevered out over the fireplace pit.

My builder said he would need to put a permanent post under the front corner of the brick hood to support all of that weight.

I didn't think so and called Mr. Wright to get clarification of what should be done.

He said in very strong terms, "No post, build it as shown on the diagrams- I will send you the details of how to cantilever the hood structure."

The details were received a week or so later. The solution consisted of a 5/8" thick plate 4" wide on which the brick were supported. This plate in turn was welded to another steel plate that extended up to the top of the chimney outside. It was a modified cantilever construction.

A wooden post was put under the corner of the fireplace hood to support the weight as the brick were laid until the mortar set up. About two weeks later when the mortar was dry, the post fell out on its own.

Everyone said the brick would crack. Mr. Wright said, "It will not crack." After 41 years in place there are still no cracks. Mr. Wright's genius had worked again.

I've enjoyed responding to your questions. To learn more about SAMARA, I encourage you to visit the other Benton Fifth Grade Team pages. You may also be interested in taking a look at the Benton SAMARAQuest Challenge.

The Benton SAMARAQuest Challenge is designed to expand your learnings beyond what you already know about Frank Lloyd Wright and SAMARA. The Challenge suggests activities for exploring things you're interested in learning more about in your studies of the world's greatest architect.

Be sure to visit other
Benton Fifth Grade Teams
to learn more about
SAMARA.
The Benton SAMARAQuest Fifth Grade Teams The Wrights / The Pink Light Bulbs / Falling Water
The Wright Team / The Falling Icicles / The Icicles
Visit these other Benton SAMARAQuest Teams
Grade 3 / Grade 4 / Grade 5 / Grade 6

Return to the Benton SAMARAQuest Main Directory

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Copyright © 1998   All rights reserved.
The John Christian Family Memorial Trust, Inc. and LEARNING ASSOCIATES
Latest revision September 30, 1998