James B. Christie House
Encyclopedia
The James B. Christie House is a large, flat-roofed
Usonian on a beautiful wooded site in Bernardsville
, New Jersey
. The Christie House, built in 1940, is Frank Lloyd Wright
's oldest and, at 2000 square feet (185.8 m²), Wright's largest house in New Jersey
. The residence has one story and is made of brick, cypress, and redwood.
It is designed in an L-shaped plan with a rectangular living room and a dining area that is perpendicular to a wing with three bedrooms and three baths. The kitchen is in the corner of the L, like a hinge connecting the two sections, separating public from private areas. The flat roof with its overhanging soffit
reinforces the sprawling horizontal design.
Wright advised James B. Christie, his first Jersey client, to select a setting that has "as much individuality as to topography and features—stream, trees, etc. and as much freedom from adjacent buildings as is possible."
Flat roof
A flat roof is a type of covering of a building. In contrast to the sloped form of a roof, a flat roof is horizontal or nearly horizontal. Materials that cover flat roofs typically allow the water to run off freely from a very slight inclination....
Usonian on a beautiful wooded site in Bernardsville
Bernardsville, New Jersey
Bernardsville is a borough and affluent suburb in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Bernardsville has the 10th-highest per capita income in the state. Nationwide, Bernardsville ranks 75th among the 100 highest-income places in the United States...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The Christie House, built in 1940, is Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's oldest and, at 2000 square feet (185.8 m²), Wright's largest house in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The residence has one story and is made of brick, cypress, and redwood.
It is designed in an L-shaped plan with a rectangular living room and a dining area that is perpendicular to a wing with three bedrooms and three baths. The kitchen is in the corner of the L, like a hinge connecting the two sections, separating public from private areas. The flat roof with its overhanging soffit
Soffit
Soffit , in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element...
reinforces the sprawling horizontal design.
Wright advised James B. Christie, his first Jersey client, to select a setting that has "as much individuality as to topography and features—stream, trees, etc. and as much freedom from adjacent buildings as is possible."
External links
- Exploring Art - Frank Lloyd Wright - James B Christie Residence
- http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A6459&page_number=35&template_id=1&sort_order=1Mr. and Mrs. James Bryan Christie House, Bernardsville, New Jersey, Exterior perspective from southwest. 1940. Graphite and color pencil on tracing paper, 18 × 35½" (45.7 × 90.2 cm). Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. © 2008 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]
- Mr. and Mrs. James Bryan Christie House, Bernardsville, New Jersey, Exterior perspective from east. 1940. Graphite and color pencil on tracing paper, 18 × 35½" (45.7 × 90.2 cm). Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.
- Photos on Arcaid