William B. Wiener House

• Designed by: William B. Wiener Sr.
• Design date: 1950

William B. Wiener Sr. designed his family’s residence in 1950 in the Pine Park Subdivision at 2 Longleaf Lane.  Following the tradition of his half-brother Sam 13 years earlier, the house would be William B. Wiener’s magnum opus.

Wiener designed his house in a Marcel Breuer inspired binuclear plan with a “T” configuration.  The head of the “T” contains the equally important public and private functions separated by a 12” thick (nominal) wall of Roman brick with raked horizontal joints.  To the east of this Roman brick wall is the foyer, living room, dining room, and kitchen which is terminated with another Roman brick fin wall on the east side of the house.  To the west of this Roman brick wall is the service porch, mechanical room, and bedrooms/bathrooms which is terminated with another Roman brick fin wall on the west side of the house.  The masonry fin walls along with the flat roof establishes the planar organization of the house.  In between the masonry fin walls are aluminum curtainwall sash units that respond to the 8’-0” plan module.  At the living and game rooms, the sash units extend just above the terrazzo flooring to the ceiling at a nominal 10’-0” height.  At the bedroom end of the house, the sash sills are 3’-6” above the terrazzo flooring and extend to the ceiling at a nominal 8’-9” height.  The hallway leading to the bedrooms has steps (three 5” risers) connecting the public side of the house to the private side.  The steps in the hallway accommodate the topography of the gently sloping site (west to east) and the internal spatial hierarchy.  The roof at the head of the “T” is optically flat and has a 1’-3” tall copper fascia.  The leg of the “T” has a 1’-0” tall copper fascia that intersects the head of the “T”.  The leg of the “T” is about 2’-7” below the taller roof to accommodate clerestory glazing at the service porch.  The leg of the “T” is gently sloped toward the northernmost property line at approximately 3/8” on 12” which is almost imperceptible.

The house is structured using tube steel and pipe columns supporting steel beams.  Originally William wanted to build his steel-framed house shortly after the end of WWII similar to Case Study Houses in California; however, the scarcity of steel forced a delay of almost five years.  William designed and occupied a house located at 435 Longleaf Road shortly after the war to serve as a temporary residence.  The temporary house was sold after Wiener’s steel-framed house at 2 Longleaf Lane was complete.