The Purcell-Cutts House in Minneapolis: a unified vision

photograph by versluis 2011

The Edna S. Purcell House (now the Purcell-Cutts House), 1913 (east elevation)
(Architects: William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie)
Near Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis

For William Gray Purcell responsible architecture required that we must look and see and be sensitive to our environment — fitting for it’s time and place.

Think of… our prairies, fragrant [and] beautiful…vast riverways, our great lakes, and the procession of the seasons moving across the face of them…. Think of us as a people born into such [an]… environment, and dream of an architecture arising from the dynamics of a [people]…so nurtured, so blessed…. Do we believe in our spiritual resources? Then let us rely upon ourselves, let us not forsake ourselves. Do we believe in the divine creative impulse dwelling within us and working through us? Then let us…believe that beneficence may be worked through us, that genuine power is common to us all…. Do we believe in the reality of life? Then let us not deny our presence in…an ordered universe. Do we believe in the romance of life? Then let us utter a song! —William Gray Purcell [1]

Concerning details of the geometry of the house Jennifer Komar Olivarez writes:

The Purcells’ new house had a steel-reinforced structure and reddish buff-colored stucco exterior. In keeping with its site, the two-story house appeared strongly horizontal, owing to the overhanging eves, including a seven-foot projection at the front (east) of the house. The eves also regulated light and heat entering the house as a shield on hot days. A wall of windows under the eves connected the interior of the house to the garden and reflecting pool. Bands of windows on the second floor, some spanning more than one room, contributed to the horizontal line [along with the piers of spruce and cypress wood trim]. And a continuous band of red and blue stencil designed by Elmslie provided an imaginative, low-cost alternative to an expressive terra-cotta frieze. [2]

Here’s a link to an excellent website, produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, with 360° Quicktime® views of the interior.

1. Kennedy, Roger G. Introduction. Progressive Design in the Midwest: The Purcell-Cutts House and the Prairie School Collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Jennifer Komar Olivarez. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2000. 14. Print.
2. Olivarez, Jennifer Komar. Progressive Design in the Midwest: The Purcell-Cutts House and the Prairie School Collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2000. 38. Print.