Correspondence, 1912-1913: Design and construction

Letter from George Grant Elmslie to William Gray Purcell (September 12, 1913)

Dear Willie,

Your memo about the little joker at hand. Herewith some comments. Meant to write you last night but--couldn't-- I am right with you for soft tones throughout the house and see no reason why your programme of the old blue rug and a new green one for the Living Room should not work out well.

Soft tones. Delicate as you please and just a little warm, a warm and intimate gray. You refer to the present gray walls that you like so well. I suppose it is your apartment walls that you refer to-- Well they are not cheerful enough for me and surely you can't use a paper. To get a very soft tone in a wax stain is not much of a problem. I saw some lovely colors in the F.L.W. [1] Woodlawn Avenue house that bewitched me-- soft delicate and rosey-- Your wood work will I trust be in a silver gray. How did the gray chair come out? I wasn't particularly satisfied with Gus'[2] mixture.

The main point is the wall color. You have some large spaces and the color must be a lovely one to look at. That room can and must be made an enchantment of delicate color, with just a mild introduction into the upper parts of the windows. The windows as at present in mind will have a downward diminishing effect with little or no pattern but in keeping with the simple charm of the house itself. An elaboration of any part, nay, nay.

Would you mind omitting paper everywhere and using the soft color scheme on the plaster and using a very simple and personal (so to speak) system of stencils very much "minor"--of course the big interest centers on the Living Room and the fireplace. You may remember the intent [back] of the suggestion of the semi-circular wood stripping, a little picture not quite contained there, a little phantasy [sic], such as one may see when the fire blooms and the imagination goes avisiting--

I think the rain drop stone if effectively striaeted (guess that's sp.) will be the thing to use. I don't care for the Kasota in this connection. However there is a point here. I am not keen over the use of Oriental brick for the fireplace. I had thought the lightest of Roman brick for a broad effect with square cut 1/4" horizontal joints--with the same breaks as indicated, one 3/4" say and the other 1-1/2--the lintel stone [thus] getting a finer sense of continuity than is usually gotten in fireplaces of this type. Still in this case I think the rain drop would be an effective leaper over with as smooth a surface as it will take. I'd make the raised hearth without stone, a la Pr.(ofessor) Owre's [3] if I remember rightly.

This is not tabooing the Oriental brick of which I am mighty fond. So if your thought diverges radically from mine I'd suggest a selection as nearly all bloom as you can get them. No other type would suit I am quite sure--

According to your fireplace drawing there is little show for the thin fireplace stone lintel not splintering all to pieces.

The lighting system of the ground floor seems not to shape itself well. I recognize the somewhat inaptness of the ceiling system as suggested sometime ago--but feel the inadequacy of the lamp posts in a 13 foot ceiling Don't know what your idea is for the 6lt [?] in front of living room.

In some ways the ceiling motif as suggested, which was called rotten and then some--may not be so on reflection depending on the simplicity and way it was done. Close huggers of simple origins and nothing to them but the semi-bowl. Well, well tis done and I trust it will happily work out. The S.(outh) W.(est) corner of D.(ining) R.(oom) ceiling was supposed to be reserved for a hanging plant of drooping ivy--all right again [sketch: see Plate 60].

unsigned [possibly fragmentary]

1. Frank Lloyd Wright.
2. Probably Gustav Weber, an interior designer who worked for Purcell & Elmslie.
3. The Oscar Owre residence, built nearby in 1912.
 

research courtesy mark hammons