House VI

Frank Residence (House VI)
House VI in 1977
Map
General information
Architectural styleDeconstructivist
Town or cityCornwall, Connecticut
CountryUnited States
Coordinates41°49′58″N 73°19′17″W / 41.832723°N 73.321445°W / 41.832723; -73.321445
Construction started1972
Completed1975
ClientSuzanne Frank
Technical details
Structural systemwood frame and sealed wood panels
Design and construction
Architect(s)Peter Eisenman

House VI, or the Frank Residence, is a significant building in Cornwall, Connecticut, designed by Peter Eisenman, completed in 1975. His second built work, this small getaway house, located on Great Hollow Road near Bird's Eye Brook in Cornwall, Connecticut (across from Mohawk Mountain Ski Area), has become famous for both its revolutionary definition of a house as much as for the physical problems of design and difficulty of use. At the time of construction, the architect was known almost exclusively as a theorist and "paper architect," promulgating a highly formalist approach to architecture he calls "postfunctionalism." Rather than form following function or an aesthetic design, the design emerged from a conceptual process, and remains pinned to that conceptual framework.

Eisenman's limited construction experience meant that the entire building was poorly detailed. The tiny building took three years to build, went completely over budget, and finally had to be reconstructed in 1987, leaving only the basic structure original. The Franks, in Peter Eisenman's House VI: The Client's Response, claim that they nonetheless love living in such a poetic structure, which they inhabit with their children. Also on the property is a barn for guests and supplies that do not fit in the kitchen.