While in New York, Wright designed a line of fabrics for Schumacher and furniture for Heritage-Henredon. While designing Tirranna, Wright spent long stretches of time in New York at his Plaza Hotel apartment overseeing the construction of the Guggenheim Museum. Construction drawings and supervision were done by Connecticut architect Allan Gelbin, a great fan of Wright’s work and a talented designer in his own right. Wright’s apprentice John DeKoven Hill oversaw the construction of the house and all of the built-ins. Tirranna is constructed of standard concrete block, Phillippine mahagony, glass, and Colorundrum flooring. William Allin Storrer has provided a detailed description of the construction of the house in “The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion” (University of Chicago Press, 1994). In those early days there were no Japanese-style bridges to cross the river, and Jennifer and her sister carefully navigated a rock walkway in the shallow ford below the dam to get across. Jennifer recalls their playful environment, the swimming pool, and the pond, which changed throughout seasons. In 1957 he designed a cinderblock playhouse for them, complete with a ladder to a small rooftop deck. The Rayward daughters, Jennifer and Victoria, remember the adventure of living in the house and meeting Wright. To maximize the natural light, a concave wall of glass (which Wright dubbed a “solar hemicycle”) follows the movement of the sun. A circular swimming pool projects into the pond, with the house and terrace overlooking it. Wright situated the house on the edge of the river, which he dammed to create a waterfall and pond. The house originally sat on 32 wooded acres on the Noroton River. Wright, who liked to title his buildings, named the house “Tirranna,” an Australian aboriginal term for “running waters.” During the last 60 years the house has evolved through four owners into a sprawling, 15,000-square-foot estate.Īs always, Wright’s philosophy was to let the design respond to the site and to interact with nature. Since its construction in 1955, the Rayward house has been a mystery for many and, except for a few photographs, has generally remained hidden from the public. To their amazement, Jennifer recalls, Wright said yes. Joyce encouraged her husband to send a letter to Wright to see if he might consider designing their house. As their daughter Jennifer remembers, her father did not think that an architect of Wright’s stature and fame would be interested in designing a small project for them. They came across the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and were immediately attracted to his human approach. In the early 1950s John Robert Rayward and his wife Joyce Rayward were searching for an architect to design a modern home for their family in New Canaan, Connecticut.
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