Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
Historic American Buildings Survey,
Engineering Record, Landscapes Survey
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Margaret Esherick House, 204 Sunrise Lane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA
- Title: Margaret Esherick House, 204 Sunrise Lane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA
- Creator(s): Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
- Related Names:
Esherick, Margaret
Kahn, Louis I.
Esherick, Wharton
Peck, Frederick W. G.
Washburn, William
Madakoro, Yukio
Post, Janet
Post, Burnap
Gallagher, Lynn
Gallagher, Robert
Keast and Hood Company
Regan, Thomas J.
Ross & Company
Garber & Cohen
Ace Lighting Fixture Company
Adolph Soeffing & Company, Inc.
Albermar Company
Central Brick and Tile
Century Lighting, Inc.
Du Bell Lumber Company, Inc.
G & M Iron Works
Herman Glass Company
Yohn, John J.
Kirk Plumbing Company
Kohler
Markolmo Brothers
Schmidt, Mr.
New Holland Planing Mill
Penn Crete Products Company, Inc.
Pittsburgh Plate Glass
Products Service Company, Inc.
Auliffo, Ralph
Sylvan Electric Fixture Company
Sherwood, William
Jacobs, James A. , project manager
Arzola, Robert R. , project manager
Coble, Michelle Lynn , field team
Johnson, Christopher Allan , field team
Koning, William Cooper , field team
Simcic, Kristina , field team
Thomas, Ian Arthur , field team
Jacobs, James A. , historian
Rosenthal, James W. , photographer
Wikoff, MaryEllen Strain , delineator - Date Created/Published: Documentation compiled after 1933
- Medium:
Photo(s): 15
Measured Drawing(s): 4
Data Page(s): 39
Photo Caption Page(s): 4 - Reproduction Number: ---
- Rights Advisory:
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html)
- Call Number: HABS PA-6775
- Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
- Notes:
- Significance: Designed and constructed between 1959 and 1962, the Margaret Esherick House in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania is a masterwork of modern architecture and craftsmanship. Internationally renowned Philadelphia architect Louis I. Kahn designed the house at the exact moment his career began climbing to unprecedented heights of success and influence. His robust buildings emphasized structure, spatial organization, context, and the architectural separation of “servant” and “served,” and were received by critics as powerful alternatives to the, by then, ubiquitous International Style glass box. The Esherick House is one of only a handful of built residential commissions by an architect known for his, sometimes massive, institutional projects. Its sophistication has clarity of design approaching his most important projects and, because of its modest scale, issues a clear and comprehensible demonstration of Kahn’s complex ideas about the interplay of humanity and the built environment. The Esherick House might appropriately be called a modern suburban villa that has two distinct faces. The severity and closed quality of the street facade is entirely transformed and opened up on the garden front, which overlooks Pastorius Park. Expanses of glass blur the division between exterior and interior and this transparency is heightened in the warmer months by idiosyncratic wood shutters that open up sections of the exterior walls. These shutters are just one example of exquisitely detailed woodwork found throughout the house, rendered in apitong, a type of teak. The artistic quality of the woodwork becomes literal in the kitchen where important American sculptor Wharton Esherick, the uncle of client Margaret Esherick, crafted the cabinetry. Kahn designed a studio for Wharton Esherick in 1955 and he likely provided the introduction for his niece, a mature single woman and business owner at a time when affluent women tended to be neither. A confident woman in her own right, with a famed sculptor for an uncle and a prolific and well-known West Coast architect for a brother, Kahn likely respected her artistic opinion or at least her ability to get a sound second opinion on matters of design. Together, they created a jewel-box of a building that is a testament to Kahn’s abilities and Esherick’s sensibilities, one that continues to demonstrate the transcendent quality of outstanding design, craftsmanship, and stewardship.
- Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1681
- Survey number: HABS PA-6775
- Building/structure dates: 1959-1962 Initial Construction
- Building/structure dates: ca. 1963 Subsequent Work
- Subjects:
- Place:
- Latitude/Longitude: 40.072327, -75.206324
- Collections:
- Part of: Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
- Bookmark This Record:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa4101/
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
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- Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
- Reproduction Number: ---
- Call Number: HABS PA-6775
- Medium:
Photo(s): 15
Measured Drawing(s): 4
Data Page(s): 39
Photo Caption Page(s): 4
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- Call Number: HABS PA-6775
- Medium:
Photo(s): 15
Measured Drawing(s): 4
Data Page(s): 39
Photo Caption Page(s): 4
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Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
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No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.
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