Como Orchards Summer Colony
Como Orchards Club, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1909 and located near Darby, Montana, was part of a land development scheme (Como Orchards) inspired by the western railroad expansion.
By 1909 three rail lines ran to Missoula, Montana, and when the Northern Pacific Railway connected a spur south to the Bitterroot Valley, transportation of people and products became increasingly easy. The establishment of the Bitter Root irrigation district and construction of the Lake Como Dam and the Big Ditch Canal, both financed by the Chicago investor W. I Moody and supervised by F. D. Nichols, enabled promoters to attract new investors (particularly college professors from the University of Chicago and intellectuals) with hopes of establishing a huge apple-growing industry in the valley.
Wright was asked to design the master plan, clubhouse, land office building, and cottages, while Marion Mahony Griffin and William Eugene Drummond supervised the project. At least fifty-three cottages were originally planned around the clubhouse (which had a two-story lounge and a large dining room with vast, open porches and three large stone fireplaces) but only twelve were constructed. The small frame structures had stone fireplaces but were built cheaply as seasonal, camp-like housing, with no central heat and pine blocks instead of foundations. The two-bedroom cottages had no kitchen space, while the three-bedroom versions had a kitchen and a porch.
Unpredictable weather and enormous shipping problems caused the project to fail. Wright lost money when the bank foreclosed in 1916. While several cottages stood until the late 1930s, others were gradually torn down. The clubhouse was altered, whitewashed, and used to house workers and store hog feed. In 1945 the boards were taken to build a barn. Now only the abandoned land office building and one three-bedroom cottage remain.[1]
See also
References
- ^ Lind, Carla (1996). Lost Wright: Frank Lloyd Wright's Vanished Masterpieces. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7649-4596-3.
- Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 0-226-77621-2 (S.144)
External links
- Alpine Meadows Ranch - current owner of Como Orchards
- All-Wright Site - Frank Lloyd Wright Building Guide - Montana
- Storied structures - Darby ranch owner relishes his land's colorful history
- Frank Lloyd Wright in Bozeman
- General Plan of the Como Orchards Summer Colony
46°01′50″N 114°13′04″W / 46.030663°N 114.217869°W / 46.030663; -114.217869
- v
- t
- e
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Frank_Lloyd_Wright_LC-USZ62-36384.jpg/86px-Frank_Lloyd_Wright_LC-USZ62-36384.jpg)
- Adams, M.
- Adams, W. and J.
- Adelman
- Affleck
- Allen–Lambe
- Alsop
- Arnold
- Bach
- Bachman–Wilson
- Baird
- Baker
- Balch
- Baldwin
- Barton
- Bazett
- Beachy
- Becker
- Blair
- Blossom
- Bogk
- Boulter
- Boynton
- Bradley
- Brandes
- Broad Margin
- Brown
- Buehler
- Bulbulian
- Charnley
- Cheney
- Christie
- Cooke
- Coonley
- Copeland
- Crimson Beech
- Dana–Thomas
- Davidson
- Davis
- DeRhodes
- Dobkins
- Ennis
- Fabyan
- Fallingwater
- Fawcett
- Forest
- Foster
- Fountainhead
- Freeman
- Fredrick
- Fricke
- Friedman
- Fukuhara
- G. Furbeck
- R. Furbeck
- Gale, L.
- Gale, T.
- Gale, W.
- Gerts
- Gilmore
- Gillin
- Glasner
- Goetsch–Winckler
- Gordon
- Grant
- Graycliff
- Gridley
- Hanna–Honeycomb
- Hardy
- Haynes
- Heath
- Heller
- Henderson
- Heurtley
- Hickox
- Hills
- Hoffman
- Hollyhock
- Jacobs I
- Jacobs II
- Johnson
- Jones
- Kalil
- Keland
- Kentuck Knob
- Keys
- Kinney
- Kraus
- Lamberson
- Lamp
- Laurent
- Levin
- Lewis
- Lewis, L.
- Manson
- Marden
- D. D. Martin
- W. E. Martin
- May
- McBean
- McCarthy
- Millard
- Miller
- Millard, G.
- Moore
- Mosher
- Mossberg
- Murphy
- Neils
- Olfelt
- Palmer
- Pappas
- Parker
- Pauson
- Penfield
- Peterson Cottage
- Pew
- Pope–Leighey
- Rayward
- Rebhuhn
- Reisley
- Richardson
- Roberts
- Robie
- Roloson
- Rosenbaum
- Rudin
- Samara
- Sander
- Schaberg
- Schwartz
- Serlin
- Shavin
- Smith, G. W.
- Smith, M.
- Smith, R.
- Sondem
- Spencer
- Staley
- Stockman
- Storer
- Stromquist
- Sturges
- Sullivan
- Sunday
- Sutton
- Sweeton
- Tan-Y-Deri
- Thaxton
- Thomas
- Tomek
- Tonkens
- Tracy
- Trier
- Turkel
- Wall
- Walker
- Walser
- Walter
- Westcott
- Westhope
- Weltzheimer
- Willey
- Williams
- Willits
- Wingspread
- Winslow
- Woolley
- Wright, D. and G.
- Wright, D. and J.
- Wright, R.
- Wynant
- Yamamura
- Young
- Zeigler
- Zimmerman
- Anderton Court Shops
- Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
- Arizona Biltmore Hotel
- Auldbrass Plantation
- Banff National Park Pavilion
- Beth Sholom Synagogue
- Child of the Sun at Florida Southern College
- Community Christian Church
- Como Orchard Summer Colony
- Coonley School Playhouse
- E-Z Polish Factory
- Eddie's House
- Fasbender Medical Clinic
- German Warehouse
- Guggenheim Museum
- Hillside Home School I
- Hillside Home School II
- Hoffman Auto Showroom
- Horse Show Fountain
- Humphreys Theater
- Imperial Hotel
- Jiyu Gakuen Girls' School
- Johnson Wax Headquarters
- Kundert Medical Clinic
- Lake Mendota Boathouse
- Lamp Cottage
- Larkin Administration Building
- Lawrence Memorial Library (Springfield, Illinois)
- Lindholm Service Station
- Lockridge Medical Clinic
- Marin County Civic Center
- Midway Barn
- Midway Gardens
- Riverview Terrace Restaurant
- Roberts Stable
- Rookery Building
- Romeo and Juliet Windmill
- Park Inn Hotel
- Pettit Chapel
- Pilgrim Congregational Church
- Price Tower
- Frank L. Smith Bank
- Teater Studio
- Unitarian Society Meeting House
- Unity Chapel
- Unity Temple
- V. C. Morris Gift Shop
- Waller Apartments
- Wyoming Valley School
- Olgivanna Lloyd Wright (3rd wife)
- Lloyd Wright (son)
- John Lloyd Wright (son)
- Anne Baxter (granddaughter)
- Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson)
- Maginel Wright Enright (sister)
- Richard Bock (associate)
- Mamah Borthwick (client and lover)
- Marion Griffin (associate)
- Walter Burley Griffin (associate)
- George Mann Niedecken
- Jaroslav Josef Polívka (associate)
- The Last Wright: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Park Inn Hotel
- Shining Brow
- Loving Frank
- "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright"
- Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright
- The Women
- The Wright 3
Commons
Wikinews
Wikiquote
This article about a building or structure in Montana is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e