Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Zimmerman House

Last Wednesday, we carpooled to Manchester, took a shuttle bus from the Currier Museum of Art, and ended up here - at the Zimmerman House. The house was built in 1950 for Isadore and Lucille Zimmerman. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in his distinctive Usonian style. Mrs. Zimmerman passed away in 1988 and, as the couple had intended, the house was donated to the Currier at that point.

We had a lovely tour with our professor (who was in charge of the house years ago) and one of the docents she trained before she left. We definitely got a more "insider" tour because of this. Not that we were allowed to run around touching things, heaven forbid, but we did get a lot more process-focused information than the typical visitor gets.

I couldn't find any great interior images, but I think the
stunning living room is the best part of the house. It boasts wonderful windows that extend nearly floor to ceiling. They have built-in window boxes beneath them that match up with the long flower bed on the other side of the glass. The museum struggled with whether or not to have real plants in the boxes and eventually decided to. I think this was the right choice, as it helps visitors understand the organic design of the house and its connection with nature, as Wright intended.

For more information on the Zimmerman House, check out the following:

No comments: