Part of:

People:

Peter D. Eisenman, Architect (creator)
Peter D. Eisenman, Architect (architectural firm)
Peter Eisenman (archive creator)

Title:

House X

Date:

1960-1977

Level of archival description:
File 20

Extent and medium:

Approximately 1035 drawings
Approximately 565 reprographic copies
Approximately 25 photographic material
0.02 l.m. of textual records

Scope and content:
File documents an unexecuted project for House X, designed for Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Aronoff for a 40-acre site on Lahser Road, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The ground floor consists of a kitchen, dining room, breakfast room, laundry room, two powder rooms and two garages. The second floor consists of a master suite with study, two bedrooms, bathroom, family and living rooms, bar, bathhouse and deck. The third floor consists of a solarium, terrace, bedroom and maid's room with bathroom. A swimming pool, tennis court and gatehouse are situated on the grounds.

Thirteen schemes were developed for this project: A, A1, B, C, C1, C2, D, E, E1, E2, F, G, H. Only schemes G and H were developed into detailed floor plans. The drawings have been organized by drawing type, because of the subtle variations which characterize each scheme. Eisenman manipulates the four "els" (fragmentary forms - the three-sided portion of a hollow cube - that he introduced in House X to replace the cube, the preferred generating volume of his first five houses) in over 200 conceptual drawings (DR1994:0138:001-0219). There are numerous design development and complete sets of working drawings (design development drawings: DR1994:0138:239-541; working drawings: DR1994:0138:1182-1457).

The project was extensively published, and the file includes a number of drawings and models created for exhibition and publication, including photographs of models (DR1994:0138:1481-1501), pieces of the "axonometric model" constructed after the project had been abandoned (DR1994:0138:1458-1476), and coloured paper cut-outs for collages (cut-outs, DR1994:0138:0929-0933 and DR1994:0138:1477-1480; collage: DR1994:0138:0928).

The file also includes drawings and reprographic copies for the following projects: a residence for Mr. and Mrs. Aronoff,designed by Irving E. Palmquist, (DR1994:0138:1512-1521); Bernstein House, Mamaroneck, New York, designed by John Hejduk (DR1994:0138:1524-1531); Maison Domino by Le Corbusier (DR1994:0138:0944-0965); and land subdivision and houses for Arnold Aronoff, designed by Eisenman (DR1994:0138:0434-0441). Material in this file was produced between 1960 and 1977.

File contains conceptual drawings, design development drawings, photographic materials, presentation drawings, presentation panels, publication drawings, record drawings, schematic drawings, a study model, textual records, and working drawings.

Reference number:

AP143.S4.D20

Location:

Bloomfield Hills Michigan United States

Language of material:

Documents are in English.

Related units of description:

Files 2 and 6 in Series 5 (AP143.S5.D2 an AP143.S5.D6) are publications that relate to House X. File 5 of Series 6 (AP143.S6.D5) is an exhibition that relates to House X. Files ARCH1532877, ARCH153747 and ARCH153867 in the Institution for Architecture and Urban Studies Fonds (AP057) relate to House X. Conceptual drawing DR1994:0131:136, in file AP143.S4.D11, is related to file AP143.S4.D20.

General note:

Some material in this file has been processed at a preliminary level. Consult curator for further information. Bibliographical source cited: Eisenman, Peter et al. "Special issue: Peter Eisenman." 'Architecture and Urbanism', no. 112 (January 1980)