Stuart Richardson House

The Stuart Richardson House (affectionately named 'Scherzo' by Frank Lloyd Wright) in Glen Ridge, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, was built in 1951 for Stuart Richardson (an actuary) and his wife Elisabeth, who owned the house until 1970. It is one of Wright's "Usonian" houses, which were designed to be functional homes for people of average means. The primary building construction materials employed in the design of the house were red brick, old growth tidewater cypress wood, and glass on a Cherokee red radiant heated concrete floor mat.

The Richardson House, originally designed in 1941 to be built in Livingston, New Jersey but built a decade later in Glen Ridge due to complexities imposed by World War II, is set on a large suburban lot. The home is a stunning, extremely rare example of a FLLW Usonian home based on dynamic hexagonal geometry - all angles are either 60 or 120 degrees. Invisible from the street (save for its handsome gate) and tucked into a woodland meadow setting with a stream and multiple ponds and waterfalls running along its private landscaped entry, this hidden sanctuary is 20 miles/45 minutes door-to-door from midtown Manhattan. The home's centerpiece is a massive triangular living/dining space with prow-like wood-burning fireplace, an astonishing sculptural inverted truss pyramidal ceiling unlike anything seen in any other home designed by FLLW, and dramatic illuminated clerestory windows with perforated motifs that relate to the 'Scherzo' name of the home. Fourteen full-length french doors allow sunlight to pour in, swinging open onto two terraces and a flagstone in-ground heated swimming pool sparkling in the backyard oasis.

In addition to the spacious triangular living/dining area, the home also contains a carport, entry/loggia, large kitchen, library/studio, two bedrooms, a guest bathroom, a master suite with separate bedroom, dressing area, and master bath, and a large garden/sun terrace. Every room contains the original desks, dressers, shelving, tables, chairs, and credenzas all designed by Wright, and there is ample storage space integrated throughout the home. A recent ten year restoration by previous owners John and Edith Payne with the expertise of New Jersey based TARANTINOarchitect returned this architectural treasure to the integrity and beauty FLLW envisioned, and earned the 2010 Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Spirit Award for outstanding stewardship to private individuals in the conservation of their FLLW designed homes.

References
  • Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 0-226-77621-2 (S.282)
  • On the Trail of Frank Lloyd Wright - New York Times, October 14, 2001


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