Auldbrass

July 19, 2013

By Temple Ligon
July 19, 2013

Auldbrass, Frank Lloyd Wright’s working farm near Beaufort, will open for tours on the first weekend in November. This is a rare event and one worth the experience. Albeit not the full original acreage, the place is plenty big today at 334.09 acres. Our friend and the contributor of most of this article, Columbia’s Dale Boozer, formerly the owner of Boozer Lumber, regularly attends the Wren lectures at the Capital City Club. Dale urges us to decide now if we want to attend in order to secure tickets in time.

The plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was purchased in 1986 by film producer Joel Silver after Donna Butler, a FLW real estate appraiser, convinced him to restore it. Auldbrass Plantation is an extraordinary example of historic preservation and is very
rarely open to the public. Tours benefit the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

1940 – Wright had all the initial drawings and plans finished. Hexagonal shapes and inward-sloping walls were the main design features of the house and complex. The following buildings were to be part of the complex: stable and kennel, caretaker’s cottage, guest house, main house with a detached kitchen, farm buildings, staff cabins, swimming pool, and laundry and bath houses for the staff.

Construction began in September. One problem that the contractors would face throughout the whole project was the shortage of materials coming to the United States as a result of the war in Europe.

1941 – The farm buildings were nearly completed and the main house was in the beginning stages.

1942 – By December all worked had stopped on the construction of Auldbrass. Owner C. Leigh Stevens was running low on funds due to the war, and as a result creditors were hounding him to receive their payments.

1946 – Wright’s client Stevens was ready to resume construction and complete the main house. He decided to move into Auldbrass and first occupied the nearly completed caretaker’s cottage, more or less camping out.

From 1946 to 1948 not much, if any, work was done on the complex. Stevens became involved with Harvard as a Visiting Lecturer at the Business School. He would remain there until his death in 1962.

1950 – Up until this point Stevens’s wives had never had any interest in what was going on at Auldbrass. However, Stevens’s third wife Nina Lunn took an interest in Auldbrass and started to direct the workers herself.

Since the beginning of the project Wright’s designs had been modified numerous times by Stevens and now by his third wife Nina. The original plans had been designed for a bachelor’s lifestyle. With the addition of a female in the picture, the designs changed again to reflect her wants.

1952 – In March, a fire destroyed portions of the farm buildings. The fire began in a large detached barn but quickly spread to the hay barn and machine shed. The volunteer fire fighters were able to hack down the roof that connected the barns to the caretaker’s house, stables, saddle room, cook shed, and kennels. The main house and staff cabins were not affected.

Stevens did not have the buildings replaced. Instead, he built a small hexagonal shed to store tools and house electrical switches.

1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright died.

1962 – Stevens died and he gave Auldbrass to his son and daughter. His daughter Jessica Stevens Loring bought out her brother’s share of Auldbrass and proceeded to manage the complex.

1971 – Jessica and her husband Stanton moved into Auldbrass permanently in order to manage it more efficiently.

They proceeded to make extensive repairs to the buildings. They replaced the roof and upgraded the mechanical systems. They tried their best to reverse the changes made by Nina Lunn.

The Lorings also had to deal with visitors who had an interest in Wright’s work. The visitors were always given a tour and welcomed in.

1976 – To help make sure the property would always be protected and recognized as a Frank Lloyd Wright project, the Lorings had Auldbrass nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.

1979 – Due to the cost of constant upkeep of all the buildings and land, the Lorings sold Auldbrass to Boise Cascade, a timber company. However, they kept the Old Combahee tract for themselves.

Almost immediately the land was sold to Westvaco Corporation. Westvaco sold the buildings and a small parcel of land to a group of local hunters, including Columbia’s Tommy Boyle.

1980s – The hunters found the management of the buildings difficult, and the farm gradually fell into ruin. The hunters realized the buildings were not well suited to their needs and tried to donate Auldbrass to Clemson University for an architectural restoration center. Working with the Beaufort County Open Land Trust it was decided to place an easement on the property and offer the place for sale at a drastically reduced price.

1986 – Joel Silver, who had just finished restoring another Wright building in California, was contacted about purchasing and saving Auldbrass. Silver made a donation of $148,000 to the Open Land Trust with an agreement that the house and property would be open for tours on occasion. Silver became the next owner of Auldbrass.

Silver planned to restore the complex in four stages. First he would restore all of Wright’s original buildings as he had designed them, retaining as much of the original designs as possible.

Second, all Wright-designed buildings that had been destroyed or altered beyond recognition would be rebuilt using materials as close to the originals as possible.

Third, Wright’s unbuilt projects for the complex would be built as he had designed. The exteriors would look like the original designs, but the interiors would be organized to meet Silver’s needs.

Fourth, the buildings needed by Silver would be added, designed to mimic Wright’s designs but located at a distance so as not to intrude on the original complex.