A plethora of plywood

The hardware store in Gibsonville, NC is wonderful. Wood from around the world is organized neatly in towering pallets. It is from here that we will purchase our interior wall siding. Sheetrock will be on the ceiling, but wood will be the walls.

The Pope-Leighey house is clad inside and out with cypress from the Everglades, which were being destroyed at that time to make way for southern Florida's housing boom. It was the cheapest wood available at the time.

We'll have to make do with domestic natural birch plywood. It has a little less "WOW" factor and a lot more ecological friendliness. We had looked at a whiter birch plywood with less grain, but this is an imported type. It is an American house designed by the quintessential American architect. We're going with the domestic brand.

Usonians should be built with local materials. Both Taliesins, the one in Wisconsin as well as Arizona were built with locale mud, stone and wood. Burlington used to have a brick factory but that is gone now. At least our appliances are from Sears and as far as we know Made in America.

Just below is the link for Taliesin (Shining Brow) in Wisconsin. This is the home Wright built as a refuge for Mamah Borthwick Cheney and himself after their initial scandalous elopement to Europe. The one on the website is the house Wright rebuilt after the servant went nuts, set fire to the house and murdered Mamah and her children. A so-so novel, LOVING FRANK, by Nancy Horan goes into this in detail.

http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/

Here is the link for Wright's second Taliesin in Arizona, a home for the stewpot of architectural students who came to study at the feet of the master.

http://www.franklloydwright.org/Home.html