Are they Wright About the Mosher House – or Not?

 

Way back in 2014, I wrote about this house (here), located just south of Wellington on State Route 58. I'd been an admirer of it since the early 1980s, when I first read about it in the Lorain Public Library's copy of Preserving Our Past (1977) published by the Lorain County Regional Planning Commission. The book is an index with photos of historic and landmark buildings in Lorain County.

At that time, the book cited the house as an example of famed Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style architecture. But it couldn't definitely claim that it was indeed a Frank Lloyd Wright house.  As the book noted, "This is a less ambitious, yet handsome rendition of Wright's prairie style architecture. The eaves of the roof extend out four feet from the exterior walls. Inside, the kitchen and the central fireplace were remodeled by the last owner of the house. The present owners have done a limited restoration of the house."

Then a wonderful thing happened that seemed to settle the controversy once and for all. 

Drawings and plans for a house commissioned by John Mosher (sometimes spelled 'Moser') apparently turned up in the archives of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin office. A beautiful architectural rendering of what was believed to be the house was even posted on the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy website – and I linked to it on my 2014 post.

But when I tried to re-link it to this post, I discovered that it is now a dead link. And the 'search' comes up empty when you try to find those drawings.

Something's not Wright here. Is that the prevailing opinion now?

Apparently. According to its Wiki entry, "The Mosher House is an anonymous design attributed by some to Frank Lloyd Wright. The attribution to Wright is not recognized by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation or most Wright scholars. William Allin Storrer, who had previously rejected the attribution, ultimately included it in the updated third edition of his catalog, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. The attribution to Wright is based mainly on superficial resemblance to an unbuilt Wright design for the same client, although there is no evidence connecting Wright to the design of the house that was eventually built.

"The 1979 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) cites Wright as the architect but provides no evidence linking Wright to the design. Even so, the nomination notes that "It is doubtful that Wright supervised the work or even saw the house."

So we're Wright back where we were, unfortunately. But I still really like the house, and I don't think we've heard the last word on it yet.