Frank Lloyd Wright - Design New York Wednesday, December 7, 2022 | Phillips

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  • In 1939, C. Leigh Stevens reached out to Frank Lloyd Wright to commission what would become one of the designer’s most unique residential projects (and his only southern plantation) which is known as the "Auldbrass Plantation.” The compound took on a much different meaning than the traditional plantation house, however, and Wright’s novel design certainly reflects this. Stevens intended to use the house in Yemassee, South Carolina as a weekend hunting retreat, as was the fashion among wealthy northerners at the time. Rather than the site of large-scale planting and production, the home was intended to serve as a peaceful getaway and reflected the natural world around it.

     

    Exterior of the C. Leigh Stevens House, “Auldbrass” Plantation, Yemassee, South Carolina.  Credit to come. Photo by S.D. Loring.
    Exterior of the C. Leigh Stevens House, “Auldbrass Plantation," Yemassee, South Carolina.  © 2022 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Artists Rights Society. Photo by S.D. Loring.

    Wright’s architecture corresponded to the contemporary purpose of the site. Abandoning the typical neoclassical columns and rigid symmetry of the classic plantation house, aspects that were deliberately meant to evoke the authority of the owner, the "Auldbrass Plantation" comprises eighteen interconnected geometric buildings, triangular and circular in form with sloping walls likely inspired by the angularity of the trees on the property. Inside, a combination of built-in and freestanding wooden furniture, such as the present pair of chairs, complement the geometry of the structure.

     

    Drawings of the present model chair by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1941.  Image: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art
    Drawings of the present model chair by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1941. © 2022 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Artists Rights Society.
    Image: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art).

    Edward J. Wormley, a designer for the Dunbar Furniture Company, worked with Wright and Stevens to create furniture to suit the space. Known for his decorative sofas, Wormley designed two twelve-foot lounge sofas for the home’s living room. After Wright’s death in 1959, and Stevens' subsequent passing three years later, Auldbrass was left unfinished, and eventually fell into disrepair. The property was finally purchased by American film producer Joel Silver in 1986, who according to Wright’s original architectural plans for the house, brought it to its intended state.

    • Provenance

      C. Leigh Stevens, Yemassee, South Carolina
      Sotheby's, New York, "American Arts and Crafts," November 19, 1981, lot 275
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Literature

      Janet Kardon, ed., Craft in the Machine Age: The History of Twentieth-Century American Craft, exh. cat., American Craft Museum, New York, 1995, p. 212

Property from the Estate of William Murphy, Architect

49

Pair of chairs, from the C. Leigh Stevens House, “Auldbrass” Plantation, Yemassee, South Carolina

1940s
Cypress, fabric upholstery.
Each: 28 1/2 x 24 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. (72.4 x 62.2 x 64.8 cm)

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $27,720

Contact Specialist

Benjamin Green
Associate Specialist

Associate Head of Sale

bgreen@phillips.com
+1 917 207 9090

 

Design

New York Auction 7 December 2022