Frank Lloyd Wright

Built in 1923, the John Storer House was one of four structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Southern California employing his distinctive “textile block” system. Inspired by Mayan architecture, these buildings consisted of individual concrete blocks hand-cast onsite, reinforced with steel rods and impressed with geometric motifs. Concrete was both inexpensive and straightforward to work with, and though often dismissed as an inferior, utilitarian material, Wright explained that in his designs, “Each block is a piece of abstract art in its own right, but then together, they form something more.”

Faced with a plot of land on the steep Hollywood Hills, the modular construction method also suited Wright’s desire to make the house “a man-made extension of the landscape.” This concept of organic architecture that integrated with its surroundings was further augmented by a lush landscape design devised by Wright’s son and applied as well to the home’s interior furnishings. The present floor lamp was the ideal design to illuminate the space. Similar to the architecture of the house, the design of the lamp is at once simple in its form and tremendous in its visual power. The lamp’s strongly linear base matches the building’s impressive verticality, while its cantilevered square shade echoes the block configuration. Constructed from thin sheets of iron, the floor lamp also maintains a delicacy to balance the heaviness of the concrete. The shade’s frosted glass panels cast an atmospheric glow around the room, amplifying the feeling of having stepped into a temple that is simultaneously ancient and modern.