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Interview with Brian R. Hannan

After 23 stays—in 23 years—at the Seth Peterson Cottage, Tim and Trish McNeely’s favorite season to sojourn there might not be a surprise: “All of them,” Tim said. “It is our favorite place to be on the planet.”

This summer, the Georgetown, Ky., couple were recognized at the 30th anniversary celebration of the cottage’s rehabilitation for having made the most overnight stays since it opened for rentals in 1992. They made their inaugural visit in 2001.

“The very first time that Tim booked the cottage, it was for one night, and he intended to make a business trip out of it,” Trish recalled. “When he saw how disappointed I was, he created an invitation to come with him and Above: Trish McNeely during the first stay she and her husband, Tim, made to the cottage in 2001. gave it to me for Christmas.”

She continued: “We have come in every beautiful season, as well as our birthdays, until we honed in on Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday (in early June). I cried tears of joy one birthday there when my card told me I could get a dog after asking for 14 years.”

Tim, a long-time enthusiast of Wright’s work, said he enjoys the cottage for its tranquility. He said he and Trish have seen 276 Wright-designed properties, been inside 121 and stayed as overnight guests in eight. They saw the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation archives when they were located at Taliesin West, with Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer showing them original Wright drawings and artifacts.

“All of these experiences were awesome, but they all pale with what we feel at the Peterson cottage,” Tim said.

Trish agrees: “The cottage has its own smell and feel, making you want to spend all your special occasions there. I married into (Tim’s interest) but have come to love Wright structures too. We’ve stayed in more than a few now, but this is the only one to which we keep returning, like it’s our second home.”

Interview with Brian R. Hannan

For Chicagoland architect John Eifler, being chosen as the lead architect for the Seth Peterson Cottage rehabilitation began not with a series of bids and proposals but with a simple gesture: He raised his hand.

“I attended an early meeting as I was interested in helping out,” Eifler recalled. “After a long discussion, with many people expressing doubts as to what the cottage could be used for, I approached Audrey Laatsch (who spearheaded the project and helped to create a nonprofit to support it) and asked if she had been talking to any architects. I more or less volunteered.

“I was fairly young at the time and was in the process of starting my own firm,” he added. “I already had completed the restoration of the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House (1936) in Madison and found that I very much enjoyed restoring Wright buildings.”

I recently spoke with Eifler about the cottage and the upcoming 30th anniversary of its rehabilitation. Eifler and his partner live in a Wright-designed home.

Why did you feel the Peterson cottage was worth restoring when it was in such a state of disrepair and all but forgotten?

I visited the property, jumped the chain link fence and walked around the outside of the building. It truly was in dreadful shape, but I realized that it had great potential. Besides, I knew enough about Wright that he was incapable of doing a bad building, so I trusted his skills.

Where do you put the Peterson cottage in the Wright portfolio?

Wright’s son-in-law Wes Peters described it as having “the most architecture per square foot” of any Wright project. Historians have a variety of ways to “classify” Wright’s work. In the case of the Seth Peterson Cottage, I feel that it’s a building that Wright already had presented to a variety of other potential clients for many years. I believe he even wrote a note to one of the apprentices when he took on the job referring to a previous project to get things moving. Some have referred to it as a Usonian design—which I do not agree with. By this late stage in Wright’s career, the homes were quite different in concept than the Jacobs house (the first Usonian). Also, it’s a one-bedroom, hardly a house for a family. Clearly it’s a custom home, designed specifically for Seth.

The cottage was completed after Seth’s death. Did you tackle other projects that had not been completed originally?

We had the original tables built, and we added chairs that we designed in Wright’s style of the time. Also, in an attempt to make the chimney draw better, the masonry was extended up 5 feet above the original—which still did not solve the problem. We lowered the chimney to 2 feet above the adjacent roof as required by code, and we then added ductwork connected to the outside and introduced at the hearth for makeup air and better draw. We also lined the chimney with a circular flue to increase the flow of smoke.

What other innovations were needed?

We performed an energy study that showed, on the coldest days, any heating system would have difficulty getting the cottage above 60 degrees—which, of course, was unacceptable. The Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy is a nonprofit, and we learned that everything had to be done at one time—as it’s all tied to funding, and donors do not like to give repeatedly.

Therefore we worked very hard to make the cottage inexpensive to heat—for both environmental and for ongoing cost reasons. We provided for maximum insulation in the ceiling cavity and also insulated beneath the radiant floor. I should mention that Wright’s specified radiant floor was never installed, probably due to cost, so the cottage utilized forced air with ductwork beneath the slab.

We thought the radiant slab may be a little bit of a problem with guests unfamiliar with its characteristics, as it sometimes takes hours for the place to warm up after turning up the thermostat.

We therefore developed a hybrid system so that when the cottage is calling for immediate heat, a forced-air heating system provides heat quickly, until the radiant slab can come up to proper operating temperature.

How did seeing the Peterson Cottage feel once work was completed?

It’s funny, we visited the house regularly during the construction process, so seeing the final product was, if anything, kind of a relief.

Naturally we were pleased, but it was a long, long process.

Why do you think the cottage remains so popular?

Thirty years later, overnight stays remain a tough ticket to get—and many people aren’t one-and-done visitors. It’s a variety of things. Of course, staying in a Wright house is always thrilling for enthusiasts, and it gives the opportunity to experience the house—the light, the sun, shadows, etc. throughout the day. No tours, no rushing through spaces, and no tour guide to tell you what you should think or feel.

It therefore becomes very personal, and the cottage has a very strong “feel” to it of peace, relaxation and experiencing nature up close. Being in a large state park, adjacent to a beautiful Wisconsin inland lake also helps, but people who stay there seem to treasure the experience.

I remember the initial meeting in the Wisconsin Dells. Many expressed hesitation about letting “just anybody” stay at a historical building after spending hundreds of thousands to restore it, but Audrey had a vision—and the success of the project proved her vision to be correct.

Andrew Pielage Chronicles Architectural Trek Through the Badger State for Travel Wisconsin

Interview with Brian R. Hannan

For Andrew Pielage, a recent commission to photograph the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail for Travel Wisconsin amounted to a “whirlwind.”

“Photographing sometimes multiple Wright sites a day, for several days, was a big challenge but also super-fun,” the Phoenix-based advertising and architectural photographer recalled. “Being in Arizona, I could not scout the designs beforehand, so it was really giving the site a quick overview and identifying and reading the light in the space – and just going for it.”

Growing up in what he calls an outdoorsy, “adventurist family,” Pielage said he was “hooked” at first sight when he visited his first Wright-designed site – Taliesin West – in 2011. “The winding road up to Taliesin West immediately reminded me of long, dusty desert drives with my family growing up. I felt at home when I arrived. The relationship and respect between Wright and the landscape I loved became more and more obvious. Taliesin West was everything I loved about growing up with my family in Arizona.”

That same year, Pielage began teaching photography workshops at Wright-designed homes, including Taliesin, Taliesin West and Fallingwater. He’s also begun a personal project to photograph Wright’s extant buildings, increasingly becoming recognized in Wright circles for his craft in the process.

“My goal photographing a Wright site is to attempt to capture just 1 percent of that visceral experience you get when you enter a building. That’s what I would consider a successful photograph” Pielage said. “With photographing the remaining Wright sites, there is definitely a documentary aspect to the project as well. These images will represent the current state of Frank Lloyd Wright designs in the 2000s.”

What is your “favorite” Wright design?

I tend to dive deep in my research into each Wright site before I photograph it, and it’s tough not to fall in love with it. With that said, I do have a few Wright sites that tend to stay with me longer than others. You don’t just see Wright’s designs, you can feel them when you walk in and around them.

That was especially true in Unity Temple. Walking into that space, I felt like all those lines were just wrapping around me; I felt like the space was holding me in its loving and peaceful arms. I ended up having to sit down and just breathe in the space for a few minutes before setting up my camera.

The David Wright house is another favorite. I was married there!

On the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, my favorite “non-accessible-to-the-public” area has to be the reception area on the executive floor in the SC Johnson Administration Building. It had all the same features of the Great Workroom but was designed for one desk instead of an office full of them.

When you visit a Wright property, are you a tourist first or a professional photographer? How does the visceral experience of seeing the work in person inform the work?

Definitely a tourist. Time permitting, I usually have my contact give me a tour of the site before any equipment comes out. As we walk around, I jump from tourist to photographer – looking first at where the light is and its relationship to the design.

I don’t think I can put into words how I attempt to capture not only his architecture but also the visceral experience in the images. Great photography comes from the head and the heart, and I just have to trust and follow those instincts when I photograph.

As anyone that has visited a Wright site would know, you don’t just see his designs, you feel them. And that goes hand in hand with my favorite photography quote. “A good photograph you see, a great photograph you feel.”

Editor’s Note: Learn more about Andrew Pielage and his photography on his website: www.apizm.com.