A Cherokee Red MR Chair?: Design Mysteries Series

Mies Van Der Rohe’s, MR Chair 1927 | Frank Lloyd Wright’s Cherokee Red

Discovered At Falling Water?

Driving to Falling Water seemed like a good idea, rent a car pick up Tanya and drive towards Pittsburg on Route 78. All went according to plan till the tire rapped-rapped against the wheel well. The Motel 6 rest stop provided shelter and calories not much else. The next morning we approached Falling Water through the suburban sprawl that threatens everything in America. (Falling Water is located on Bear Run River, in Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.) Parked in the reception area we approached The Icon of America’s homes and weren’t disappointed. Falling Water remains one of the most beautiful structures ever created.

Walking through Falling Water one’s first realization is that photos can’t explain the mystery of the place. The sounds of the stream permeate the spaces as does the sense that Kaufman had no idea what he was getting into when he commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build a getaway from their socially driven life in Pittsburg for his family. As with anything that turns out better than expected the cost soared with Wright’s aspirations. But who cares what the cost was Falling Water is a masterpiece.

Roaming the two structures, the main house is connected to the guesthouse by a Pergola that gently leads the visitor from a cubist environment of the main house to the calm utility of the guesthouse the full scope of Falling Water becomes apparent. Following the docent we listen intently as she explains the steps to the stream that appear in the living room, the corner windows defying the norm and spanning the corners of the house, the rock floors that seem to rise from the stream.

As we entered the guesthouse the MR jumped out and almost bit me. What was a Mies Van Der Rohe chair doing in a Frank Lloyd Wright house? Especially since the frame was painted Cherokee Red. Who would defile this classic chrome and leather chair by painting it Cherokee Red?

How about Edgar Kaufman Jr. curator of Industrial Design at MOMA and his friend and co-curator Philip Johnson. What if Mies Van Der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright met at Falling Water? What if Edgar Kaufman Jr. and Phillip Johnson brought them together? It’s possible or at least plausible because Kaufman knew Wright very well and Johnson knew Mies. What if the two younger designers created the perfect mind meld by painting Mies’s chairs Wright’ signature color. What a surprise for both men. It would have either gone well or been a disaster. I’m voting it went well, I also suspect that Mies and Wright would have enjoyed this design mystery more than anyone else.

#DesignMysteriesSeries [#14]

Design Mysteries Series
Bruce Hannah 2017 ©