It’s a dog’s designer life

Here’s a lovely little story for you. It’s about Frank Lloyd Wright, probably the world’s most renowned architect with a career spanning seven decades, and the doghouse he designed for a twelve year-old boy’s best friend…

Jim Berger, now 68, said to the Associated Press: “I was probably his youngest client, and his poorest client.” Wright had designed Jim’s family home in Marin county of San Anselmo which led Jim to ask his dad if he thought Wright would build a similar structure for their Labrador, Eddie. Jim’s dad was justifiably unsure – Frank Llloyd Wright was already extremely successful and in demand at the time – so the tenacious twelve-year-old set out to find out on his own.

He wrote Wright a letter that read: “I would appreciate it if you would design me a doghouse, which would be easy to build, but would go with our house… My dog is two and a half feet high and three feet long. The reason I would like this doghouse is for the winters mainly.” Dated June 19 1956, the letter was received by Wright and soon bore a reply that said, “a house for Eddie is an opportunity”, but at the time Wright was loaded with work and asked Jim to contact him back in November.

The kid wrote the famed architect on the first of November reminding him about his request. And although he offered Wright the funds he made on his paper route, the architect proceeded with the doghouse plans at no charge.

This incredible story has been captured in Michael Miner’s documentary ‘Romanza’, a feature that focuses on Wright’s incredible career. “The story of a twelve-year-old kid having the chutzpah to write a letter to the greatest architect of all time and having him design something as modest as a doghouse… I just knew it was a great story,” Michael told the Associated Press.

Berger told the filmmaker that the doghouse that Wright designed was only built ten years after he received the designs. Eddie, the Labrador, had died by then, but the kennel was built anyway for a new family dog. The designer doghouse then found itself in a dump, after Jim’s mother found no need for it. Jim rebuilt the doghouse last year for the documentary, working off Wright’s original plans.

“When I wrote him originally to design the doghouse, I specified that it had to be real easy to build,” said Jim, “It was a nightmare”.

The recently built rendition, a Philippine mahogany structure with a sloped shingled roof is a tad bigger than Eddie the Labrador was but weighs an incredible 110kg. And although Jim does have three dogs of his own he reckons the best place for the newly built Frank Lloyd Wright doghouse is in a museum.

‘Romanza’ is currently being screened in America.

More information: www.designedbyfranklloydwright.com