Fred B. Jones Summerhouse, Gate Lodge, Barn, and Stable
Date: 1900
Address: 3335 South Shore, Lake Delavan, WI
City: Lake Delavan, Delavan, Wisconsin
Category: Residential
Accessibility: Private
A wide archway connects the second story of the Fred B. Jones summerhouse to a tower in which Jones and his guests played poker. The gently graduated arch and adjoining tower, as well as the waterside orientation and recreational function of the vacation home, suggest the lingering influence of McKim, Mead, and White’s Agricultural Building, which Wright encountered at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. These elements also look back to Wright’s 1893 design for a boathouse on Lake Mendota. Indeed, Wright was mindful of the relationship between the house and nearby Lake Delavan. In Wright’s design the living room spanned the entire lakefront façade, while three porches afforded views of the water below. In addition to the summerhouse, Wright designed a gate lodge and barn for the site. The summerhouse and lodge were constructed of fieldstone boulders that gave them a rustic appearance appropriate to their setting.