Sweat Equity

Schooled in the Wright tradition, Don not only learned how to become a designer and a draftsperson, but the apprentices also worked to construct and repair buildings at Taliesin. This training served Don well.

After leaving Taliesin, Don first worked for Flexicore Company, doing drafting. Flexicore manufactured pre-cast concrete slabs and were the originators of floor slabs. Don was later retained and worked for the architects Schewier and Eating, Frank Louis Glick, and Victor L. Charn of Ragnar Benson and finally as a construction superintendent and estimator for E. Zari & Son.

Not only did Don construct his first home in Palatine, Illinois, but having invested in the Barrrington land in 1965, and after finalizing the designs for his second house, Don worked alongside the carpenters and brick-layers to fully invest himself in the construction of his new home.

Pictured is a view from one of the bedrooms from the first Barrington home. Also pictured is Don pouring “sweat equity” into his new home.
The first house was leveled by a tornado, only to be rebuilt on the same foundation but with “pagoda” roofs.

In 1971, the Barrington house, capped by its new "Jamaican" roofs, was featured in House and Home magazine. In 1972, the fireplace in the living room was featured on the cover of "The Book of Fireplaces," which is pictured here.