Frank Lloyd Wright Light Frame Replication in Delavan, WI

When a general contractor needed to recreate two missing exterior lights for a Frank Lloyd Wright home on Delavan Lake, they contacted RC Portable Welding & Fabrication for help. The goal was not to create something new. The new light frames and posts needed to closely replicate the originals and fit into a property being restored according to Wright’s original drawings.

This was familiar territory for our professional metal fabricators. We have completed metalwork for Frank Lloyd Wright properties on Delavan Lake before, giving us experience with the level of detail that historic restoration work like this requires.

Recreating Missing Light Frames From the Original Drawings

Two original lights were missing from the property’s carriage house. To recreate them, we worked from templates along with the original Frank Lloyd Wright prints.

Rather than simply making new fixtures that looked similar, we used the available drawings and original design details as the guide for the new pieces. The dimensions, proportions, and construction of the light frames and posts all needed to match the historic design as closely as possible.

This kind of work is a good example of what can be accomplished through custom metal fabrication. When an original component is damaged, missing, or no longer available, existing pieces, drawings, and templates can provide the information needed to fabricate a replacement.

Fabricating the New Light Frames and Posts

We completed the fabrication work at our Elkhorn shop using a combination of hand tools, a press brake, and a hydraulic shear. We formed and fabricated each piece to match the original light frames and posts, then took them to the Delavan Lake property for installation.

The fabrication portion of the project took about four days, and our team was able to begin the work within a couple of weeks of the initial call.

Once the new pieces were installed, they restored a detail missing from the original carriage house while staying consistent with the property’s historic design. Both the homeowners and the general contractor were impressed with how closely the completed pieces matched the originals.

Metal Fabrication With a Piece of Wisconsin History

Projects like this are a little different from an everyday fabrication job. Frank Lloyd Wright designed five summer residences along Delavan Lake, and the homes remain an important part of the area’s architectural history.

RC has had the opportunity to perform work on these historic properties over the years. Being asked to reproduce pieces from original Wright drawings lets us use the same fabrication skills we bring to modern projects in a setting where every detail matters.

For us, that is one of the interesting parts of custom fabrication. One week may involve a commercial or industrial project, while another may involve recreating a metal component that has been part of a Wisconsin property for more than a century.

If you have a historic restoration project, a one-of-a-kind metal component, or another piece that needs to be recreated from an existing design, contact RC Portable Welding & Fabrication to discuss what you need.