Frank Lloyd Wright's Auldbrass Plantation

Few modern architecture aficionados know that Frank Lloyd Wright designed a complete plantation, located in South Carolina's low country: Auldbrass in Beaufort County, near the town of Yemassee.

Known since 1736 as Mount Pleasant, Wright renamed the property Auldbrass (from "Old Brass") and designed the (smallish) main house, stables and other buildings for an industrial engineer, Leigh Stevens, who had joined five parcels to form the plantation.

After quite a tumultuous ownership history – last in line a club of local hunters with little interest in modern architecture or preservation – movie producer Joel Silver ("Matrix", "Hudson Hawk", Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon" etc.) bought the property in 1986 for $148,000. With a permanent staff of ten including an architect, Mr. Silver since has sunk considerable funds into preserving and restoring Auldbrass, as well as finishing buildings designed by Wright but never built.

The plantation is open to the public every two years for only two days, thus tickets sell out within days of becoming available. During this year's window, I was able to visit Auldbrass on November 3rd with a fun troupe from NCMH, the North Carolina non-profit for the preservation of modern architecture.

The wait to get in was well over 1.5 hours – no timed tickets, yet – so I unfortunately did not have a chance to see every building; in addition, interior photos are strictly (and understandably so) verboten by the owner.

Entry

Path to the main house

Main house, pool on the right, entry on the far left

Dining room on the left, main house adjacent to the right

Dining room shows angled walls and copper rain spouts

Kitchen windows details

Clerestory windows, main house with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths

Window detail, main house

Window detail, dining room

Dining room from opposite side

Angled walls at bedrooms (not to be entered by the public)

Pool and main house

Stables

Gate

More details about Auldbrass and South Carolina plantations can be found here. If you have visited Auldbrass, I'd love to hear your impressions!
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All photos ©tckaiser

Two events: Octoberfest Sep 22 - Oct 7, MiMo Tour Guide Academy Nov 3, 10 + 17

Two important events you can't impossibly afford to miss (well... important depending on what you like):

1. Oktoberfest in Munich

Einzug der Wiesnwirte - Parade of the Breweries and Participants

The Munich Wies'n (meadows), as Bavarians call it, will start tomorrow at 12 noon, after a spectacular procession through Munich to the location of the world's biggest beerfest, the Theresienwiese (Theresa's meadows).  

The march through town involves about 1,000 participants, including the brewers' families in decorated carriages, the magnificent horse-drawn drays of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats and all the beer tent bands. It's considered an honour to be invited to the Einzug.

And as every year since 1810, the first barrel will be tapped by the mayor of Munich, accompanied by the words "O'zapft is" (Bavarian dialect for it's tapped). 

Munich's Mayor Christian Uhde tapping the first barrel, Oktoberfest 2011

More info on this year's Wies'n, including live webcams, here. Interesting historical info on the Oktoberfest at wikipedia. 

Update: 

my favourite Wies'n-webcams are at http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/, and reportedly Mayor Uhde  did a fine job at the 179th Wies'n, tapping the first barrel. No wonder – this was his 17th (!) time around.



2. A bit different taste of culture is served up at the Art Deco + MiMo Tour Guide Academy

The Miami Design Preservation League offers the Art Deco + MiMo Tour Guide Academy, a course designed for people who would like to know more about Miami Beach’s unique architectural styles and wish to volunteer as tour guides.

The curriculum focuses on the history of the Art Deco District, its architecture, and the efforts to preserve it. 

Graduating from the Academy requires completion of two days of educational sessions, which include walking tours, the study of architectural styles and Miami Beach history, and guest lectures. Candidates who wish to become volunteer guides need to attend a third Saturday session, primarily devoted to student presentations of selected walking tour sites. The MiMo demonstrations are available for Tour Guide candidates on the first Saturday of each month. Candidates can plan to attend this portion of the course according to their personal schedules.

The cost for the Art Deco + MiMo Tour Guide Academy is $80 and includes walking tours, lunches, briefing materials, an architectural guide, information about the architecture MDPL is committed to preserving, and information about Miami Beach history.

More info at mdpl.org

So which one do you plan on visiting?

Photo: Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, designed by Morris Lapidus. © Philip Pessar.