WISH-CRAFT - HOUSES OF THE WHOLLY THEORETICAL

'THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW'

"YOU CERTAINLY ARE A BIG BOY"

Architect and author Matt Bryan met Mary Richards when he came to do sketches of her apartment as part of a project he was working on.  Apparently the Lindstrom house had been designed and built by Frank Reich - NOT Frank Lloyd Wright! - who did not have the best of reputations in the business.  In fact, the Minneapolis house owned by Dr. Lars and Phyllis Lindstrom was probably the best example of his work.  

Although it was not stated, a good reason for it having a better reputation than some of his other homes was that it was at least original.  I think we can lay the blame for so many houses in different TV shows (and located in different Toobworld cities) looking exactly the same at the feet of Mr. Reich.  

This is the house I'm referring to:

There are several house designs which show up over and over again in Toobworld and I think we can blame Frank Reich for all of them.  He was a very lazy architect and would re-use his designs in different parts of "Telemerica" if he felt he could get away with it.  

Here are just a few examples:

'COLUMBO'

"FORGOTTEN LADY"

(LOS ANGELES)

This was the home of Dr. Henry Willis and his wife Grace Wheeler, the former movie actress.  Since Lt. Columbo was investigating the murder of Dr. Willis, we know that the house lies within the environs of Los Angeles.

'MURDER, SHE WROTE'

"IF THE FRAME FITS"

(CEDAR HEIGHTS, CT.)

The house can also be found on the East Coast in this shoreline bedroom community for the rich in Connecticut.  New York publisher Lloyd Marcus lived there around the time when his daughter was murdered.

'THE FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES'
"THE MURDER WEEKEND MYSTERY"

(GREATER CHAMPAIGN/URBANA, IL., AREA)

Famed mystery novelist Jack Patton led a secluded life somewhere in this area, where he outfitted his Reich-designed home with secret passages, traps, and surveillance systems.  None of which did him any good, since he was murdered there anyway.

i'm not exactly sure where that Fourth Reich house (Sorry about that, Chief) seen at the top of this list came from but I think it might be a 'Remington Steele' episode.

I'm hoping I'll be finding more examples of this architecture but one day I'll compile the examples of other houses designed by Frank Reich.......

BCnU!