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INVENTORY OF THE PETER EISENMAN ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS FOR
HOUSE VI, 1972
920049
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Title: Peter Eisenman architectural drawings for House
VI
Date (inclusive): 1972
Collection number: 920049
Creator:
Eisenman, Peter,
1932-
Extent:
63 drawings
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California 90049-1688
Abstract: Sixty-three architectural drawings in pencil,
pen and marker on paper document the design development of House VI, one of
Peter Eisenman's most important early polemical designs. Commissioned by
Suzanne and Dick Frank, it was designed and built in 1972-1975, in Cornwall,
Connecticut. All the drawings in this collection date from 1972.
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Language: Collection material in
English
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Peter Eisenman architectural drawings for House VI, 1972, Research
Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 920049
Acquired from Peter Eisenman in 1992.
Processed in 1993, more finely processed and arranged in 2001.
American architect, educator and theoretician, Peter Eisenman founded
the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City in 1967.
Critics of that time dubbed him one of the New York Five (along with Michael
Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Richard Meier), a loose, theoretical
and aesthetic grouping of New York architects that presaged Post-Modernism. The
Corbusier-inspired design of House VI, Eisenman's sixth house design, signals
the formalist aesthetic of that school.
Commissioned by Suzanne and Dick Frank in 1972 for a site in Cornwall,
Connecticut and built in 1975, it was the most polemical of his designs to
date. Published widely, the house thus garnered both recognition and
controversy for Eisenman.
Many critics considered House VI, also known as the Frank House,
Eisenman's most important work. It certainly generated considerable dialogue
within the architecture community among architects, critics and historians.
John Hejduk described the residence as the "second canonical De Stijl house," a
reference to Gerrit Rietveld's Neo-Plastic Schroeder House, although Eisenman
took issue with this conclusion, describing House VI instead as an "inversion"
of De Stijl design. Critics have noted Eisenman's attempt to marry linguistic
theory to design; his interest in Noam Chomsky's theory of syntax and
transformational grammar is particularly evident in the series of
"transformational" axonometric drawings he made of House VI.
Several of the design drawings in this collection appear in Suzanne
Frank's book,
Peter Eisenman's House VI: the client's
response
, published in 1994.
Sixty-three architectural drawings in pencil and ink on paper document
the complete design development for House VI, also known as the Frank House.
All the drawings are from 1972 and have ID numbers written on them by
Eisenman's office. Most critics and historians consider House VI one of
Eisenman's most important early designs. The most theoretical and polemical of
his designs to date, Eisenman described House VI as a turning point in his
career. The collection includes an elaborate series of preliminary sketches
that reveal the origin of elements retained in the final design. During the
design process, Eisenman felt that he “achieved a synthesis between the
isolation of the architectural sign and the generation of the autonomous
object.”
Arrangement
Arranged in one series by the drawings' ID numbers.
Architecture—Connecticut—Cornwell—20th century
Architecture,
Domestic—United States
Architecture,
Postmodern—Designs and plans
Architecture,
Postmodern—United States—Connecticut
House Six (Cornwall,
Conn.)
House VI (Cornwall,
Conn.)
Cornwall
(Conn.)—Buildings, structures, etc
Architectural
drawings
Design development
drawings
Sketches
Eisenman
Architects
Eisenman, Peter,
1932-
Frank, Dick
Frank, Suzanne S.
(Suzanne Shulof)