Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly

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FALL 2013 VOL. 24 NO. 4

CIVIC AND CELEBRATED Wright’s Marin County Civic Center

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S MUSICAL ORIGINS

ARTIST TO ARTISTS Marion Pike and the Wrights


FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FALL 2013 | VOLUME 24 NO. 4

CONTENTS 2

NEWS 4

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Membership

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Wright News in Brief

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Wright Books & Recommended Reading

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Wright Events Calendar

FEATURES 14

Civic and Celebrated: Wright’s Marin County Civic Center By: Ron McCrea

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Transformations | An Interview with Herb Kritz By: Jonathan West

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Musical Origins By: David W. Patterson

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Artist to Artists: Marion Pike and the Wrights By: Indira Berndtson

REFERENCE 42

Wright Sites Open for Public Access

THIS PAGE: Frank Lloyd Wright looks over the site of Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, CA, 1957. COVER PHOTO: Natural light shines through the light wells of Marin County Civic Center onto Peter Behr Drive. The building uses arches to bridge 3 hills and over the road. With the inclusion of light wells, Wright’s design allows for the natural world to integrate into even the most hidden areas of the building. Photo © Ezra Stoller/Esto. All Rights Reserved. Unless otherwise noted, all photos and drawings published in the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly courtesy Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York).


LETTER FROM THE CEO

Dear friends, 3

Fall is an exciting time for us. Our Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture makes its migration from Taliesin in Wisconsin to Taliesin West in Arizona. We excitedly welcome new students to the school. And we congratulate our new graduates, who embark on their promising careers after completing our intensive Masters of Architecture program. After years of immersion in the core values of Wright’s architecture and the Taliesin Fellowship (founded by Wright in 1932), our recent graduates remain an important part of the broader Taliesin community—an important part of the continuum of great architecture and architectural education. We are very proud of them. Fall also sees the launch of our school year K–12 educational programs, including our highly successful distance learning program, Wright Design; a dramatic increase in individuals experiencing the beauty and power of visiting Taliesin West, as we move past the high temperatures of the Arizona summer; the conclusion of 2013 restoration projects and planning for next year’s restoration and preservation; the launch of new Frank Lloyd Wright Collection products, allowing people an opportunity to make the artistry and values of Wright’s creations a part of their daily lives; an exciting 2013 symposium at Taliesin West, presented in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), exploring the challenges and opportunities of adapted and new buildings at historic sites; and much, much more. Fall is also when many of our friends, like you, start thinking about renewing your support for the work of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. As you start to do that, I thought it worth reiterating what that work is. OUR MISSION Preserve and steward Taliesin, Taliesin West, and the Taliesin Collections. Shape architecture and design at the highest level. Transform people’s lives through the living experience of Frank Lloyd Wright’s body of work. OUR VISION The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation will be a leading, global, multi-disciplinary center for education, scholarship, debate, and research—committed to the place of architecture and the arts in enriching the quality and dignity of life. Realizing our critical and exciting mission and vision depends on your continued support. “Our” includes you, and none of this is possible without you and your fellow donors/ members. As always, I eagerly welcome your ideas, questions, and suggestions—as we all continue to do our work together. Yours most sincerely,

Sean Malone President and CEO, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation seanmalone@franklloydwright.org FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


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Photo by Kristen Abbey

Photo by Nick Abele

As a Donor/Member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, you support the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision.

Photo by Andrew Pielage

Photo by Jason Silverman


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Photo by Andrew Pielage

Photo by Andrew Pielage

One of the most important ways donors can help the ideas and activities of the Foundation continue to grow is to introduce others to our work to transform people’s lives through the living experience of Frank Lloyd Wright’s body of work. Gift Memberships are an ideal way to support the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and open up a world of innovation for a friend or relative. Your donation through a Gift Membership includes thanks from the Foundation, in addition to a subscription to the Quarterly magazine and special introductions to Taliesin, Taliesin West, and other public Wright sites. Thank you for your continuing support, and thank you for considering a gift that will touch someone else’s life deeply with inspiration, vision, provocation, and unending investigation.

Photo by First Solar, Inc.

Photo by Andrew Pielage

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


WRIGHT NEWS IN BRIEF EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAM PROVIDES SUMMER ENRICHMENT

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This past summer, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s Education Outreach Program offered young people memorable experiences tied to architectural exploration. Sponsored in part by Avnet Corporation, the enrichment camps allowed students to delve into Frank Lloyd Wright’s approach to design. Four different camps were offered at Taliesin West. The Architectural Discovery camps introduced students to Wright’s abstract nature patterns and “textile block” system used for Usonian Automatic homes. In Photographing Wright camps, students learned how to manipulate composition and light, shutter speed, and aperture. The Design Your Dream Space camps challenged students to imagine a site, draw a floor plan, develop a color scheme, design furniture, and construct a furnished and landscaped 3-D model of a dream home. Wright for the Future introduced students to issues of globalization as they worked in groups to plan and design an ideal city of the future. The summer activities culminated with a “Celebration of Creativity” in the Taliesin West Pavilion showcasing the numerous projects created during their summer of exploration. In July, the Desert Ridge Shopping Center Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Phoenix, Arizona, hosted an architecture event to promote their LEGO® Architecture Studio,

a specialty kit that provides architecture students, designers, and enthusiasts the opportunity to experiment and create original architectural designs with over 1,200 monochromatic building pieces. The kit includes a 250-page guidebook outlining key architecture concepts such as scale, mass, density, symmetry, modules, repetition, space, section, and surface. Shawn Rorke-Davis, Education Outreach Program Director, was a guest expert at the event. She spoke about key architectural concepts, and provided guidance as participants built LEGO® projects on-site. Rorke-Davis also taught the group about Wright’s “textile block” system, used for Usonian Automatic homes, and Wright’s Price Tower as she walked students through the main stages of the architectural process—definition of project, gathering inspiration, exploring context, research and development, and final presentation.

The Education Outreach Program’s popular Wright Design program continues for a second year this fall. This distance-learning program, a partnership with Paradise Valley Unified School District, enables students to learn about architecture and experience Taliesin West without ever leaving their classrooms. This year’s Wright Design program will have a special emphasis on Taliesin West Desert Shelters. The program is comprised of live broadcasts from Taliesin West. Each week, students watch different interviews with Foundation Fellows, architects, and experts, along with footage of Taliesin West in realtime. The students also participate in a live question and answer segment and in-class activities. For more information about the Education Outreach Program, visit www.franklloydwright.org/about/K–12 Education.html.

Above: Jason Silverman, Foundation Residence Life Manager, presents a project during a Wright Design broadcast. Photo by Kristen Abbey. Left: Children learn basic architecture concepts by experimenting with LEGO® Architecture Studio kits. Photo by Shawn Rorke-Davis.


IN MEMORIAM: STEPHEN NEMTIN

Legacy Fellow Stephen Nemtin died in California on Friday, August 23 from complications of a stroke. He had been a member of the Taliesin Fellowship for 54 years and was married to Frances Nemtin, one of the remaining Legacy Fellows of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Nemtin hailed from Canada. He attended McGill University in Montreal before interviewing with Frank Lloyd Wright and being accepted into the Fellowship in 1958. He arrived at Taliesin in June of 1959, just after Wright died. Six months later, he married Frances Lockhart, who had joined the Fellowship in 1946.

Stephen and Frances lived and worked together as a part of the Taliesin community. The couple spent four years in Iran, carrying out the design and landscaping of the $3.4 million Pearl Palace estate commissioned by Shams Pahlavi, the sister of the Shah of Iran, in Mehrshahr, and also a second estate at Chalus on the Caspian Sea. In the United States, Nemtin’s architectural interests centered on heath care facilities, including an innovative residence for Alzheimer’s patients in Ohio that won notice in the The New York Times, and a similar facility in Sun City, Arizona.

Nemtin mentored students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, served on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation board, and was a landscaper and gardener at the campuses at Taliesin in Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Arizona. In addition to his wife Frances, Nemtin is survived by a stepdaughter and stepson, Leslie Bisharat and Brian Lockhart, and his wife.

Memorial gifts may be sent to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, P.O. Box 4430, Scottsdale, AZ 85261 and directed to the Stephen Nemtin Scholarship Fund.

IN MEMORIAM: FRANK HENRY Frank Henry (August 22, 1934–July 28, 2013) achieved architectural greatness through his entire life. He was inspired to become an architect after meeting Frank Lloyd Wright while attending Phoenix College in the 1950s, and was the first person in Arizona to receive a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He attended Arizona State University and studied under two Frank Lloyd Wright apprentices, Charles Montooth and Fred Langhorst.

Henry’s graduate thesis was selected as the outstanding thesis in architecture in 1960 by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was exhibited at the Octagon in Washington, D.C. in 1961. Henry worked for 30 years at DWL Architects and designed many award-winning buildings, including airports, university buildings, hospitals, banks, and churches. Henry was also studio master emeritus at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and taught Hand Rendering, Perspective Drawing, and participated in design project mentoring and critiques. Henry gave architectural tours, lectures, and wrote publications related to the unique architecture and ecology of the southwest. Frank Henry’s connection to architecture was deeply personal. He was very active within the architectural preservation movement in Phoenix, and played a key

role in saving modern landmarks such as the David and Gladys Wright House in Arcadia. The Foundation and Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture hope to promote the type of passion Henry possessed for architecture in others through the establishment of the Frank Henry Memorial Scholarship Fund. The Scholarship will support students who exemplify Henry’s ideals of poetry in design, sustainability, and passion in architecture.

Gifts may be made and sent to: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Attn: Frank Henry Memorial Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 4430, Scottsdale, AZ 85261. Gifts may also be made directly to The Frank Henry Memorial Scholarship Fund online at: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/ frankhenrymemorialscholarship.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

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WRIGHT NEWS IN BRIEF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT SITES TEAM UP WITH PITTSBURGH ART MUSEUMS Photo © Mark Hertzberg.

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Mattress Factory Art Museum have teamed up in a new marketing initiative to encourage visitors to make a coordinated weekend trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to experience these unique destinations. The goal of the new initiative is to showcase the close proximity of all of these destinations to visitors seeking significant cultural experiences. A new website, www.pghtrip.org, includes a variety of pre-planned trip itineraries and information about transportation options including travel via car, plane, or public transit.

The site also offers staff recommendations on local dining and accommodations. The four organizations came together as part of a planning grant provided by the Pittsburghbased Benter Foundation. The Benter Foundation supports leaders, organizations, and ideas that help communities and individuals thrive with a special emphasis on making Pittsburgh even more vibrant. Lynda Waggoner, Director of Fallingwater and Vice President of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy said, “Western Pennsylvania is a cultural destination and deserves to have that distinction. A tour of the region will illuminate something we have long known to be true; Great artistic minds are drawn to this place.”

TALIESIN VEGETABLE GARDEN The Taliesin Vegetable Garden perpetuates Frank Lloyd Wright’s original vision for Taliesin through the integration of agriculture into the academic, cultural, and daily communal activities of the site. Farming at Taliesin has a long-standing tradition, and blossomed during the Great Depression when architecture work was at a downturn. Farming became not only a necessity during the 1930s and ‘40s, but was intentionally included by Wright

as an educational experience for his young Taliesin apprentices. Wright’s principles of organic architecture encompass his ongoing search for a balance between the built and natural environment. In his autobiography, Wright’s original vision for the Taliesin estate is clear: “Taliesin should be more of a garden. And a farm behind a workshop and a home, I saw it all, and laid the foundation of herd, flocks, stable, and fowls

as I laid the foundation of the house. It was to be a complete living unit genuine in point of comfort and beauty, from pig to proprietor.” The Taliesin Vegetable Garden continues successfully into today, maintained by staff, interns, residents, and students. Jentri Colello, Taliesin Vegetable Garden Coordinator, reflects, “I hope that the garden space feels welcoming to everyone from honeybees to urban tourists. Aside from providing the Taliesin kitchen with organically grown produce, the garden also educates students and visitors about sustainable food systems.” Colello says, “There are moments in the garden when it feels like the only thing separating us from the early days of Wright’s Taliesin is a block of time. Students have been yanking produce out of the earth, snacking on Sun Gold tomatoes and sugar snaps, and learning about soil properties here for decades.”

Photos by Jentri Colello.


ARTS AND CULTURE SUMMER PROGRAMS AT TALIESIN

The Taliesin Arts and Culture Program provides diverse audiences with authentic, personal experiences at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. It enhances public access to Taliesin’s unique architecture through concerts, lectures, exhibitions, and workshops. Taliesin’s outreach program attracts participants locally and nationally, and draws inspiration from the rich, ancestral heritage of the beautiful Lloyd Jones Valley, the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the cultural and artistic legacy of the Taliesin Fellowship community. This past summer’s events included a variety of chamber music concerts and theater productions at the unique Hillside Theater, art exhibitions in Wright’s personal drafting studio, and weekend on-site workshops. Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society returned for their 22nd season at the Hillside Theater, bringing the intimate performance space to life in a most authentic way. Twice this summer, Hillside hosted the Rural Musicians Forum summer concerts, and a partnership between Taliesin Preservation, Inc. and the UW-Madison Theater and Drama Department brought six drama performances of “Wondrous Tales of Old Japan II” and more than 600 rural elementary students to the theater.

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Photo by Jim Wildeman.

CORRECTIONS Local audiences from surrounding communities visited Wright’s main residence during the Garden Reception, meandering through his private home, personal drafting studio, and the blooming flower gardens while meeting members of the Taliesin community. All summer, Wright’s personal drafting studio served as exhibition space for local and national artists with each exhibition opening with a free public artist reception. August was Art Month at Taliesin with unique weekend art workshops offered to the public: Milwaukee Area Technical College photography professor and department chair Jim Wildeman lead a photography workshop; internationally known artist and Finlandia professor Yueh-mei Cheng offered a Chinese watercolor workshop; and Taliesin’s own faculty member Aris Georges closed the month with a Nature Patterns workshop. For more information on these and other public outreach programs, please visit www.taliesinpreservation.org.

The following corrections refer to the Summer 2013, Vol. 24, No. 3 Quarterly. The first caption on page 31 referring to the top photo on page 30 should read: (Top) Senior Fellows gather in the Hillside studio at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Bottom row from left–right: Gene Masselink, Tom Casey, Louis Wiehle, Cornelia Brierly, Jack Howe, Wes Peters, Davy Davidson, Kenn Lockhart. Top row from left–right: Joe Fabris, Charles Montooth, John Ottenheimer, Jim Pffercorn, Ling Po, Kamal Amin, John Rattenbury, Bruce Brooks Pfieffer, David Dodge. Indira Berndtson’s biography on page 32 incorrectly states that William Wesley Peters died in 1982. Mr. Peters passed away in 1991. Stephen Nemtin is the correct spelling in the Legacy Fellow biographical information on page 33. In the second paragraph of the second column on page 40, Indira Berndtson is the proper spelling of Ms. Berndtson’s name. On page 47, the caption referring to the bottom photo of the back cover should read: (Bottom) Wright examines drawings with Gene Masselink (left), two unidentified apprentices, and Jack Howe (right).

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT Photo by Jim Wildeman.


WRIGHT NEWS IN BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE’S SUMMER AT TALIESIN

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Continuing a tradition established by Frank Lloyd Wright and his earliest apprentices, students, staff, and professors of Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture successfully completed their annual migration to the Taliesin campus in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The summer season was full of exciting lectures, visiting scholars, and progressive course work. Colleen Halverson, professor at University of Wisconsin-Richland, taught the Writing Workshop. In this course, students explored the relationship between ideology and imagination in architectecture and investigated the ways in which cities may

Above: M.Arch student Pablo Moncayo presents his project for Silence Studio in which he explored the theme of perception, how we perceive ourselves and the environments around us.

be reimagined. Halverson reflected on her course saying, “Through writing workshops and discussions, I encouraged students to begin articulating their own ideologies and belief systems and exploring the ways in which they might manifest those beliefs creatively through design. As we have made our way through the coursework, I have been struck by how the questions of Wright’s generation prevail in our own times. Questions such as class, labor, technology, and the environment will certainly come to bear on the designs of our students.” Halverson was inspired by working on site at Taliesin. She says, “I have come to a profound understanding of Wright’s legacy and have learned to appreciate the deeply transformative power of spaces in my own life and in the lives of my students. As a scholar of literature, my work involves studying through language the ways in which we live, think, feel, and express our most human of experiences. Working at Taliesin is like working inside a poem. The more time I spend within Wright’s design, the more I realize how deeply he understood the beautiful dramas that take place within the everyday; how looking out a window can become a life event, making a cup of coffee for a colleague can lead to an intimate commingling of ideas, and walking across a room can feel like a fairy tale journey. Fred Esenwein, architect and current Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania, taught History of Architecture. Esenwein says the importance of architectural history lies in its ability to assist architects in interpreting the past through a theoretical framework to uncover continuity and distinctions in how architecture and human habits are in dialogue with each

other. Esenwein said, “History has always been part of the education of the architect dating at least to the 1st century AD when Vitruvius wrote The Ten Books on Architecture…The importance of history, for me, is that it reveals how architects make dwelling enriching.” Fred asked his students to sketch notable projects from the past in order to encourage drawing as a close-reading analysis of past architecture. Students also selected an architectural topic they were exploring for their final project and critiqued projects from history, enabling them to participate in an imagined discussion with architects from the past on architectural topics that are still relevant to practice today. To help engage the conversation, students also read from notable architecture treatises, including Vitruvius, Alberti, and manifestos and essays from the 20th century such as Gropius’ “Bauhaus Manifesto of 1919” and Wright’s “The Art and Craft of the Machine.” The goal was for the student to be aware of concerns and possibilities for architectural qualities rather than imitating forms as precedents from history. Ross T. Smith, a current Ph.D. student at the University of Melbourne, Australia, taught Silence Studio this past summer. The course was a conceptual process based


Right: Artist-in-residence Karrie Hovey’s fabric red line descending from the Taliesin hill created a focal point on the landscape. Far Right: Hovey works on another piece, wrapping red fabric around a walnut tree outside the Hillside Studio.

in the theories of phenomenology, sensory perception, and experiential learning. The purpose was for the students to do their own research into ideas which they wished to investigate such as Memory, Grief, Revelation, the Visible and the Invisible, Transitional Atmospheres, and Play. The outcomes were architectural in thought, but not in the usual mode of technical drawing. There were drawings of spatial qualities devised through photography of found objects, a multi-layered drawing that encapsulated mnemonic references to loss and memory, a stop motion animated film as a whimsical view of perception as reflection, a reconstructed landscape intended for play, and word games and magic tricks to question the very nature of how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. Smith explained, “The overriding purpose of the Studio was to make students more acutely aware through sensory perception of their relation to the world and how they will progress these newfound ideas in architecture. Conceptual thinking is a generative process which opens up the imagination and offers new ways of experiencing and expressing creative revelations.”

Above: M.Arch student Corinne Bell presents her work at the conclusion of Silence Studio. Corinne explored the themes of transformation, transition, and atmosphere, and how they could inform the design of the built environment.

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In addition to visiting scholars at Taliesin, the School also hosted experienced visual artists to engage and respond to the unique characters of the campus in conjunction with the Taliesin Artist Residency Program. This summer, artists Karrie Hovey, Melanie Manos, and Montana Torrey were in residence at Taliesin in Spring Green. Each of the artists created site-specific works that responded to the environment around them. They worked in a variety of sites, scales, and media, including both traditional materials such as fabric and wood, as well as lessexpected materials such as packing tape and apples. Karrie Hovey’s wrapped walnut tree behind the Hillside Studio and her fabric red line along the hill created focal points in the landscape. Montana Torrey’s installation engaged the stone walls surrounding the Midway barns in a fictional attempt to

repair them with “bricks” made of packing tape. A second, whimsical piece produced an apple orchard where apples appear frozen in space while falling from the tree. Melanie Manos interacted with multiple sites on campus, photographing her body in corners, rafters, walls, and windows in a variety of performances that addressed scale and humorously challenged perceptions of space. In addition, each artist gave a presentation about their work at the Hillside Theater that was open to members of the Taliesin community and the public.

Right: Montana Torrey works on her installation on the stone walls near Midway Barn at Taliesin. Photos courtesy of Saskia Jorda.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


WRIGHT BOOKS & RECOMMENDED READING

YOUNG FRANK, ARCHITECT 12

By Frank Viva $16.95 | 40 pages MoMA Publications Available at franklloydwright.com “Young Frank, Architect” is a new storybook for children ages three to eight. Written by award-winning children’s author Frank Viva, it was published recently by the Museum of Modern Art. The story follows the adventures of Young Frank, a resourceful young architect who lives in New York City with his grandfather, Old Frank, who is also an architect. Young Frank sees creative possibilities everywhere, and likes to use anything he can get his hands on— macaroni, old boxes, spoons, and sometimes even his dog, Eddie—to creates things like chairs out of toilet paper rolls and twisting skyscrapers made up of his grandfather’s

books. But Old Frank is skeptical; he doesn’t think that’s how REAL architects make things. One day, donning matching bow ties, straw boater hats, and Le Corbusierinspired glasses, they visit The Museum of Modern Art, where they see the work of renowned architects like Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright. And they learn that real architects do in fact create wiggly chairs, twisty towers, and even entire cities. Inspired by what they see, Young Frank and Old Frank return home to build structures of every shape and size: “tall ones, fat ones, round ones, and one made from chocolate chip cookies.”

ON FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S CONCRETE ADOBE: IRVING GILL, RUDOLPH SCHINDLER & THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST By Donald Leslie Johnson $89.95 | 230 pages Ashgate Publishing Company Available for purchase at amazon.com During the years 1919–1925, Frank Lloyd Wright worked on four houses and a kindergarten located in metropolitan Los Angeles using concrete blocks as the main building material. The construction system has been described by Wright and others as ‘uniquely molded’, ‘woven like a textile fabric’ and perceived as groundbreaking, truly modern, unprecedented. Many have attempted to uphold these claims, while some thought the house designs borrowed from old exotic buildings.

For the first time, this book brings together Wright’s declarations, the support of upholders and inferences in order to determine their accuracy and correctness, or the possibility of feigned or fictional stories. It examines technical developments of concrete blocks by Wright and others before his experiences in Los Angeles began in 1919. It also studies the manner of Wright’s design process by an examination of relevant pictorial and textual documents.


WRIGHT EVENTS CALENDAR OCTOBER OCTOBER 11–JANUARY 5 Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab This exhibit features key urban trends from the New York, Berlin, and Mumbai Labs, as well as new digital submissions from cities around the world. Free with museum admission. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128 www.guggenheim.org/100urbantrends OCTOBER 12 Family Arts Festival at Price Tower Arts Center This annual festival celebrates arts and crafts and includes food, games, live entertainment, and fantastic prizes. 10am–4pm. Free admission.

NOVEMBER OCTOBER 16 Growing Up in a Frank Lloyd Wright House Book Signing Author Kim Bixler speaks about the joys and challenges of growing up in a Frank Lloyd Wright house in this special presentation and book signing. 6:30pm. Free admission. Taliesin West 12621 Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard Scottsdale, AZ 85261 www.franklloydwright.org OCTOBER 19 An Afternoon with Frank Lloyd Wright The Friends of Cedar Rock’s ninth annual conference addresses the history and current state of prairie-style period structures in Iowa. A tour of the Wright-designed Cedar Rock house is included. 1pm–4pm. $10 donation.

Price Tower Arts Center 510 South Dewey Avenue Bartlesville, OK 74003 www.pricetower.org

American Legion Hall 102 Walter Street Quasqueston, IA 52326 Email Cedar_Rock@dnr.iowa.gov or call (319) 934-3572 to reserve a spot.

THROUGH OCTOBER 13 The Photography of Pedro E. Guerrero This exhibit of photographs invites visitors to explore iconic images from Pedro E. Guerrero’s pioneering work documenting Frank Lloyd Wright’s achievements and buildings. Free admission.

OCTOBER 21 Guggenheim 54th Anniversary: Archtober Building of the Day Tour A special architecture history tour to celebrate the 54th anniversary of the Guggenheim’s iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building. 12pm. Free with museum admission.

Taliesin Visitors Center 5607 Country Road C Spring Green, WI www.taliesinpreservation.org

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 5th Avenue New York, NY 10128 www.archtober.org

NOVEMBER 2–30 Charles E. Heaney Art Exhibition and Book Signing This unique exhibit of original Charles E. Heaney prints and paintings enriches viewer’s experience of Wright’s Gordon House. Exhibition curator Roger Hull’s book, “Charles E. Heaney: Memory, Imagination, and Place,” will be available for purchase and signing during the art reception on November 9, 4–7pm. Free admission. Gordon House 869 West Main Street Silverton, OR 97381 www.thegordonhouse.org

JANUARY JANUARY 25–MAY 4 “Bauhaus Twenty–21: An Ongoing Legacy” Exhibition The exhibit, conceived as a multidisciplinary project encompassing architecture, design, and photography, not only conveys the architectural history, but also illustrates the enduring philosophies of the Bauhaus. Free admission. Price Tower Arts Center 510 South Dewey Avenue Bartlesville, OK 74003 www.pricetower.org JANUARY 26 Gala Time: That’s A Wrap! The fundraiser begins with a VIP Reception in Price Tower Arts Center’s Taliesin Room. The gala event at the Bartlesville Community Center includes dinner, dancing, and live and silent auctions. 6pm. Tickets range from $150–$1,500. Call (918) 336-4949 for tickets. Price Tower Arts Center 510 South Dewey Avenue, Bartlesville, OK 74003 www.pricetower.org FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

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CIVIC AND CELEBRATED WRIGHT’S MARIN COUNTY CIVIC CENTER BY: RON McCREA

Wright’s design for the Marin County Civic Center reaches out and bridges the hills of San Rafael, California. Photo © Scot Zimmerman.


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Late in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, when he was at his pinnacle of fame, some big, institutional commissions came through the door: a museum for New York’s Fifth Avenue; a Greek Orthodox church; a royal palace in Iran. His final commission, a public space for civic engagement, was realized a half century ago, and, in October 2013, the Marin County Civic Center concluded a full year of celebrations honoring the 50th anniversary of the building’s dedication on October 17, 1962.

Wright made a promise to the people of Marin County. “The beauty of Marin must be expressed in our architecture,” he told the crowd that came to San Rafael to witness the signing of the contract for his 770th and final commission on July 30, 1957. When he climbed out of a Jeep on one of the three hills on the 147-acre site, his associate Aaron Green recalled, he said, “I know exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll bridge these hills with graceful arches.” FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


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“Maybe we can show government how to operate better as a result of better architecture.” –Frank Lloyd Wright

This civic structure overcame various obstacles to take the form Wright had intended and begin its service. A shift in power on the Marin County Board halted work on the civic center after $1 million of construction had been completed. The push came from Wright’s McCarthyera enemies, who considered him a “communist.” They tried to convert the project to a hospital, but a popular uprising and recall election quickly reversed the decision and construction went forward. Today, Marin County Civic Center fulfills Wright’s promise as a functional space that is a bridge to community.

Page 16 left: Concrete is poured for the domed roof. Page 16 right: The open light wells widen as they rise, allowing natural light to enter the space and multiple floors to be open to each other. Page 17 top left: Construction of the 584-foot-long Administration building began in February 1960, about a year after Wright died. Page 17 top right: A worker looks up into one of the signature open light wells. Bottom: Construction of the 880-foot-long Hall of Justice.


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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


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WRIGHT’S VISION REALIZED TODAY In recognition of 50 years as a civic hub for the people of Marin County, celebrations included illuminations of the building’s golden spire, a commemorative postal imprint at the clamshell-shaped San Rafael Post Office (Wright’s only federal commission), and an exhibit of models and artifacts, “Marin & the Realm of Frank Lloyd Wright,” curated by county librarian Laurie Thompson. Special guest tours were conducted by veteran Taliesin Fellowship architects William J. Schwartz and Richard A. Kedin, who had worked on the project for many years.

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A summer exhibition at the Marin County Fair on the Civic Center fairgrounds featured “The Wright Place,” an educational center with the original scale model on display of Wright’s master plan, built by apprentices in 1960. A “Plein-Air Paint-Out” allowed artists to pick a favorite spot from which to paint the Civic Center.

Aaron Green

William Wesley Peters

Tony Puttnam

Frank Lloyd Wright

UNIQUE COMMUNITY, DISTINCT CHARACTER Environmental sensitivity is just one value embraced by the distinctive community that gave Wright his final commission. Marin County, a bedroom suburb of San Francisco with a population of 252,000, is the pot of gold at the end of the Golden Gate Bridge. It has the highest median income in California for joint tax returns ($120,170) and also individual returns ($52,032). Known for its seashores, redwoods, and artistic communities, Marin is a Democratic stronghold that voted convincingly for Barack Obama and against Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban. The civic center Wright planned for Marin County rose out of the need for new public facilities and amenities in the boom years after World War II. The commission offered Wright the opportunity to build on a site of unusual natural excellence. Wright maximized the

nature in his response, choosing a single, flexible megastructure rather than a collection of office buildings. The details of interiors were left up to “his boys,” architects of the Taliesin Fellowship, since Wright knew that he would not live to see the project to completion. Several Taliesin Fellows had a hand in the project, including Aaron Green, his West Coast representative; William Wesley Peters; and Tony Puttnam. Conceived as a government building, the Marin County Civic Center was originally designed to house county administration offices, county courts, and a jail. The Marin facility, built to plan and advertised as Wright’s last commission, still maintains these functions, including a library and County Board meeting chamber in the central hub.

Opposite Page: Early view of the civic center from the nearby lagoon. Top: Marin County Civic Center commemorates its 50th anniversary by illuminating its signature 172foot golden spire. Photo by Sandra Fawn. Courtesy Marin County Civic Center. Top Right: 50th anniversary commemorative postal imprint. Courtesy Marin County Civic Center.

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“Marin County has nearly everything. The buildings of the new Civic Center will express this natural beauty; they will not be a blemish upon the landscape.” –Frank Lloyd Wright

Top Left: The spire’s golden color comes from the anodized coating applied to the cladding panels. The golden spire was restored in 2002. Photo © Mark Hertzberg Left: The entrance gates designed by Taliesin Architects echo the geometry of the building. Photo © Scot Zimmerman.

Top Right: Marin’s visual vocabulary is defined by its curves and repeated patterns of pendant cresents, circles, and semicircles. Photo © Scot Zimmerman.


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Visitors to Marin immediately notice a futuristic appearance due to the building’s curves and the repeated accents of pendant crescents, circles, and semicircles. Two long wings bridge three hills like Roman aqueducts, and tourists who enter the building are struck by the vertical light wells that run the length of the long, landscaped hallways in curved oblong sections, bringing sky light and variety into every floor. (The buildings and hallways have appeared in two science fiction films, “Gattaca” and “THX-1138.”)

number on Thursdays. Each Fourth of July, there is a week-long fair that has consistently captured national awards for imagination and quality. The Lagoon Park is open to the public at no charge and is quite popular. Walkers regularly circle the Lagoon as part of their daily exercise. Special events such as a recent symphony concert, art shows, and other non-profit fundraising events take place on a portion of the Lagoon Park that is able to be controlled. At the east end of that park, there are community-maintained bocce courts and a dog park.”

Above: Marin’s repeated visual patterns stretch across the valley and bridge the hills. Photo © Scot Zimmerman.

Because Wright emphasized the landscape and did not crowd his sites with traditional structures, the center uses its natural setting for public enjoyment. Architect and County Supervisor Steven Kinsey notes, “There is a wellmaintained and handsome garden off the cafeteria that is used regularly on weekdays by couples getting married by the county clerk. The Farmers Market draws almost 2,000 people to its Sunday market weekly and a smaller

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The open light wells run the length of each long hallway. They are an excellent example of Wright’s ability and desire to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces. The open middle is filled with planters, creating an interior garden mall, while the skylights allow for natural light to shine in. Wright developed this design feature as a way to ensure that every office has a view of either the indoor garden mall or out to the terrain of the lagoon and hills. Photo Š Scot Zimmerman.


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Above: A view looking down at the main entrance from the third floor. Photo Š Mark Hertzberg. Left: The gates of the main entrance to the civic center underneath the arches.

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WRIGHT’S MODEL FOR MARIN COUNTY CIVIC CENTER

Marin County Fairgrounds Pavilion

Health and Welfare building.

Lagoon

Amphitheater

Hall of Justice

Administration Wing Marin County Post Office.


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Above: East Elevation and site aerial view. In the design plan for Marin County Civic Center, Wright rejected traditional forms of government architecture. Instead, he focused on ways design could encourage citizen participation and freedom. Wright said, “The civic center would catch, embody, retain, and express the best thought of which democracy is capable.� FLLW FND 5746.020, 5745.001. Left: Rendering of proposed Marin County Fairgrounds, north of the civic center. FLLW FND 5754.004. Left: Design for amphitheater bordering the lagoon. FLLW FND 5755.005.

Left: Design for Marin County post office. FLLW FND 5753.002.

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ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT Aerial view of the Marin County Civic Center site soon after it was completed.

With the growth of government and convention business, plans are moving forward to allow Marin County Civic Center to accommodate its future needs. The entire Marin County Sheriff’s Department will move off-campus in 2014 to a new public safety building two miles north of the Civic Center, allowing both law enforcement and Hall of Justice offices a chance to expand. Planning has also begun for new northern gateway improvements that will include road, bus stop, and pedestrian upgrades, and landscaping. These will set the stage for a commuter rail station. Supervisor Kinsey says, “The county has provided a site adjacent to the new rail station that will house a new building of up to 30,000 square feet, demonstration gardens, public gathering areas, and a covered pavilion to allow for year-round convenience during the market times and other activities that might be programmed by the Cultural Affairs Department.” Sym van der Ryn, the former California state architect, has been retained by

the market to design the facility. The final design will go before county voters for approval in 2014. Frank Lloyd Wright envisioned Marin County Civic Center as a bridge to community. Wright’s apprentice and West Coast representative Aaron Green, who played a major role in the project, perhaps best described the lasting effect of Wright’s final commission. “Here the latent power of a great artist’s genius can exert its force for the future, enriching the lives of governmental employees of Marin County, as well as of those thousands of owners, users, and participants,” Green wrote. “Children exposed to such an environment may well retain in future years the connotation of dignity and beauty associated with civic enterprise and government. The total effect is invaluable. This is indeed architecture for democracy.”


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ron McCrea reported about the Marin County Civic Center and other Wright sites during a 20-year career at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. He is the author of “Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home of Love and Loss” (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2012) and serves on the board of AIA-Wisconsin as a professional affiliate member.

The central dome of the civic center and golden spire are a focal point for the community. The dome measures 80 feet in diameter and links the Administration wing and the Hall of Justice. The 172-foot spire was restored in 2002. Photo © Jeff Wong, courtesy Marin County Civic Center.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


TRANSFORMATIONS

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HERB KRITZ REMEMBERS THE WRIGHTS AND APPRENTICES AT TALIESIN

Frank Lloyd Wright speaks with his apprentices during the customary afternoon tea break at Taliesin.


It’s easy to think of Frank Lloyd Wright as a genius, a visionary and a largerthan-life legend in the world of architecture. But what does it mean to think of Wright as your neighbor? When Wright started the Taliesin Fellowship in Spring Green, WI, a young boy named Herb Kritz lived down the road on his family farm and took note of the the industry and distinction occurring right in his backyard. Kritz would go on to a successful life as a businessman working for some of the largest corporations in the world, but he ultimately set his sites back on his hometown, supporting the educational efforts that Wright had created back in the 1930s through a connection to the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

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Forget New York, London, Rome, or Paris. According to Herb Krtiz, “Wyoming Valley is the center of the universe.” Kritz formed this opinion as a boy when he noticed that the students and architects living, working, and experimenting with new ideas a short spell down the road from his family farm in Spring Green, Wisconsin, were not your everyday ordinary group of artists and scholars. One big difference he understood, even as a young boy growing up in the 1940s, was that the center of the universe for everyone who took up residence at Taliesin was a man named Frank Lloyd Wright. “I was born in 1934, three miles up the road from Unity Chapel,” recalls Kritz. “Whenever we went to worship or to buy groceries we passed Taliesin. We used to call it ‘The Bungalow.’ It was something that seemed to magically appear before our eyes.” Kritz’s early encounters with the apprentices and Wright’s associates at Taliesin speak to the total integration of work and study that the Taliesin Fellows found when coming to study with Wright in Wisconsin in the late 1930s. “I totally admired the apprentices,” says Kritz. “The students had to work on the farms, had to gather crops and feed the animals. There were lots of students from other countries. It was unique to see in our community. You would never see them at two in the afternoon, though. Everything stopped at that point.”

That afternoon break was all centered around the daily teas that Olgivanna Wright would plan. In the middle of the day, everything would pause and a moment of reflection and serenity would come over Taliesin as apprentices, guests, architects and the Wrights would gather and take time to enjoy the beauty of the land where they lived and worked.

Top: Herb Kritz celebrates the commemoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday at Taliesin, June 8, 2013. Photo by Carissa Dixon. Above: An apprentice works in the Taliesin vegetable garden between the Hillside Studio and Midway Barn seen in the distance.

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Above Left: Apprentices work on a masonry project near Midway Barn at Taliesin. Above Middle: Gathering corn from the fields of Taliesin was just one of the apprentice jobs that connected them all more closely to nature.

Frank Lloyd Wright speaks with his apprentices during the customary afternoon tea break at Taliesin.

“Frank Lloyd Wright would take his apprentices out on tours around the Valley.” Kritz remembers seeing the Wrights and the Fellows exploring Spring Green and setting up tents on the Taliesin land. “My father always said that ‘they loved to sleep under the stars.’” Krtiz recalls that his father and Frank Lloyd Wright had a mutual fondness for each other. “Mr. Wright liked my father because he had black horses, and Mr. Wright seemed to really love the look of those horses.” That connection would come full circle in 1959, when Wesley Peters knocked on the Kritz’s front door to ask if the horses could be prepared to lead the cortege for Frank Lloyd Wright’s funeral. “There was a farm wagon with wooden sides on it, and it was backed up to the horses. A big carpet off the floor was put in the wagon,

and the body on top of that. The mourners all walked behind, and the horses were quite spirited. I remember it was a dreary, grey day for a funeral.”

“I totally admired the apprentices. The students had to work on the farms, had to gather crops, and feed the animals. There were lots of students from other countries. It was unique to see in our community.” An active observer of life at Taliesin, Kritz remembers seeing the Wrights and the Fellows drive through town in jeeps with the tops down. “The cars were all painted in a distinctive color, and you knew they were from Taliesin,” said Kritz. “I was always a snoop and remember Richardson’s Garage in town was the place where the Wrights’ cars would get tuned up. I used to sneak a look at them all. Wes Peters had a great big Jaguar, which is something you didn’t see in Spring Green.” Though Kritz himself says he never went to events at Taliesin as a boy, he remembers that his grandmother was good friends with Mrs. Wright. “My grandmother ran a restaurant called The Rally Inn where all the apprentices used to eat. She would also make some potent dandelion wine that she used to give to the


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Wrights. It was strong stuff—a couple of country boys broke into her basement once and drank a few glasses of it and didn’t feel so good the next day.” In Kritz’s eyes, Frank Lloyd Wright was larger than life, but also a man of the people during his time in Spring Green. “I remember Mr. Wright calling everyone together into the high school to discuss building a concrete bridge leading up to Taliesin. It was the first pre-stressed bridge of its kind in the area and he laid it out in detail for everyone to understand.” When Kritz finally left Spring Green as a young man set on making his mark in the world, he became a successful businessman working for large companies such as Caterpillar, Rolls Royce, and Lockheed. After his years in business, Kritz settled in San Francisco, leading a garage door company. He also had time to brush up on his real estate skills, and that’s what led him back to Spring Green. “At a certain point, I had some spare change in my pocket and bought the bank building in Spring Green that had been designed by one of the apprentices,” said Kritz, referring to a downtown Spring Green building designed by Taliesin Architects. “Then I made a couple of crazy offers on a building downtown, and that became the first location in downtown Spring Green where Taliesin had a presence.” Kritz’s purchase of a downtown Spring Green building opened room for Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture to create a teaching studio through an affordable lease arrangement.

Kritz is philosophical about his support of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. “I had a discussion with a friend about my involvement with the Foundation and the School of Architecture, and it all has to do with legacy,” said Kritz. In a nod to his former neighbor down the road in Spring Green, Kritz explains, “They don’t remember you for what you do…they remember you for what you build.”

Above: The Spring Green bank building, designed by Taliesin Architects. Below: The Spring Green medical office purchased by Herb Kritz helps Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture maintain a downtown Spring Green studio and classroom space. Photos by Nick Abele.

Interview compiled by Jonathan West, Director of Communications for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S MUSICAL ORIGINS

BY: DAVID W. PATTERSON

Frank Lloyd Wright plays the piano in the Taliesin living room. Wright held composers Beethoven and Bach in high esteem, even regarding Beethoven as “his favorite architect.” Photo © John Engstead.


From the outset of Frank Lloyd Wright’s career, music was one of his closest artistic allies, a “sympathetic friend”1 useful not only as a metaphor for his own methods, but also as an abstract inspiration for design, a validation for his aesthetic positions, and even an occasional sword against his rivals. Critiquing the International Style in 1931, Wright cautioned, “Do not imagine, my architects and critics, that mathematics is music.”2 Wright was unabashedly fond of equating himself with Beethoven and insisted that his own progeny—both personal and professional—engage in active music making on a daily basis. He himself played the piano, a lifelong companion whose value he cryptically acknowledged in the rumination stage of his creative process. In his writings and lectures, music illuminates Wright’s idiosyncratic terms, such as “organic architecture” and “integral ornament,” and he could pay no higher compliment to one of his designs than to designate it a “symphony.”

consistent. William’s brother Thomas was his first piano and music theory teacher, and during his teen years in New England, his piously-inclined mother fretted for his future. “As for William, he is all Music, Music,” she wrote in 1844. “I think he will make something if he tries. I feel troubled on his account at times as well as the rest. I have felt very desirous that my sons should occupy useful stations in the Church of God.”3 Graduating from Madison University in 1849 with a law degree, William nonetheless remained “all music, music,” teaching piano, voice, and violin at a number of women’s boarding schools in upstate New York. He also published his first compositions during this period, parlor pieces for keyboard and songs for voice and piano—the two genres to which he adhered almost exclusively for the next 50 years. By the age of 29, he had issued his most ambitious work to date, an 84-page textbook entitled, “The Piano Forte Manual,” acknowledging himself on the title page as “Wm. C. Wright, A.M., Professor of Music.”

While Wright’s passion for music is well known, the figure responsible for sparking this interest—no less than his father, William C. Wright (1825–1904)—remains enigmatic. Yet in truth, William was the intellectual head of the Wright household, teaching Frank not only about music, but also about nature, culture, and even graphic design (the last of these by way of a home printing press). Although he worked at different times in his life as an attorney or minister, William was first and foremost a musician, performing as a pianist, vocalist, and violinist; teaching, writing essays and books on music, and composing.

One of William’s boarding school piano students during this period was Permelia Holcomb, whom he married in 1851. Permelia ultimately gave birth to five children (two stillborn), and the realities of family life dashed William’s immediate hopes for any focused career in music. Relocation to Lone Rock, Wisconsin, in 1859 did little to improve financial circumstances, and after holding a number of administrative positions, William opted to pursue the ministry, being ordained a Baptist minister in 1863. Permelia herself took in boarders, one of whom was a local schoolteacher named Hannah (Anna) Lloyd Jones.

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William C. Wright c. 1850s. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Wright Heller Collection, State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

Among the scattershot records of William’s life, the thread that traces his musical activities is the most 1. Frank Lloyd Wright, “In the Cause of Architecture,” (1908) in Frank Lloyd Wright Collected Writings, Volume 1, 1894-1930, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, ed., New York: Rizzoli/The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 1992, 95-96.

3. Letter from Reverend David Wright and family to his son David Russell Wright, May 9-10, 1844. Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, file 1025.013 SF #3.

2. Frank Lloyd Wright, “To My Critics in the Land of the Danube and the Rhine” (1931), in Frank Lloyd Wright Collected Writings, Volume 3, 1931-1939, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, ed., New York: Rizzoli/The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 1993, 19. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


When Permelia died suddenly in 1864, William was left a widower with three children—Charles, George, and Elizabeth. Two years later, he married Anna—an uncomfortable arrangement from the start, given her intense dislike of her new stepchildren and blatant favoritism toward her own first newborn, Frank Lincoln (later Lloyd) Wright.

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Right: William C. and Permelia Holcomb Wright wedding photograph, 1851. Photo courtesy Mary Catherine Rogers.

Below: Letter from William C. Wright to Thomas Wright, July 1843. Photo courtesy Wright Family Papers, University of Pennsylvania Rare Books and Manuscript Library.

Finances were a perennial issue. William’s salary as a minister in Rockland Center, Wisconsin, was meager, and seeking greener pastures, he moved the family in 1869 to McGregor, Iowa, a Mississippi River ferry town some 60 miles away. In heralding his arrival, the local newspaper made it clear that old dreams had not been abandoned: “Rev. Mr. Wright of the Baptist Church has moved to McGregor for permanent residence. Mr. W. is not professionally a clergyman though he preaches very acceptably when requested to do so. His business is with Music, the tuning of pianos, organs, melodeons, and C. R. Hubbard & Co. have sold Mr. Wright an interest in their extensive Musical department …”4 As before, though, William’s musical ambitions were fanciful at best. It was only a matter of weeks before Anna gave birth to their second child, Mary Jane (“Jane”), and William’s position as “temporary” pastor of McGregor’s Baptist church ultimately extended over two years. 4. “Home and other Items,” North Iowa Times (McGregor, IA), March 3, 1869.

The Wright family’s radical relocation from McGregor, Iowa, to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1871, did little to improve life at home. As pastor of the fiscally-challenged High Street Church, William’s very salary was less than assured, and his daughter Elizabeth left to live with relatives in order to escape Anna’s abuse. Still, William managed to publish his first composition in almost 20 years, reviving in earnest his musical avocation. In 1874, he left Pawtucket to assume the post of minister of the First Baptist Church of Weymouth, Massachusetts, a brief and unfortunate mismatch with a strict congregation intolerant of “theatricals” and largely unreceptive to William’s attempts to infuse musical entertainments into church activities.5 Perhaps this music-based confrontation with Baptist rigidity compelled William’s conversion to Unitarianism in 1877. In any event, he moved the family again that year, this time to Madison, Wisconsin, and while he did indeed preach, he also attempted a musical career once again, opening his own conservatory and teaching violin, voice, and piano in a rented space, hoping for greater success than he had attained in McGregor, Iowa. The stories of the tumultuous Wright household during the Madison years are well known; Anna’s unflagging devotion to young Frank, the fistfight between the robust teenaged Frank and his nearly 60-year-old 5. Mary Jane Hamilton with Anne E. Biebel and John O. Holzhueter, “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Madison Networks,” in Frank Lloyd Wright and Madison: Eight Decades of Artistic and Social Interaction. Paul Sprague, ed., (Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990), 1.


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father, and the ultimate divorce. Contrary to Frank’s accounts, the dissolution of his parents’ marriage was primarily the consequence of Anna’s ceaseless hostility and abuse. “I hate the very ground you walk on,” she had told William in March of 1883. Having reached his own limit, William filed for divorce in 1885 and left Madison, bringing to an end his connection to Anna, and, consequently, their children. The last 19 years of William’s life were especially peripatetic, revolving around the three now-grown children from his first marriage. Accepting son George’s invitation, he first moved to Wahoo, Nebraska, to take up the law again, but he soon gave that up in deference to musical ambitions. He had published no pieces at all during the Madison years, and his return to the Midwest had brought an end to his easy access to established publishing companies on the east coast. Undaunted, his solution was to self-publish, and from 1885 onward, all of his compositions bore the imprint of the ostensible “Nebraska Music Company” of Wahoo.

Above: William C. Wright at the piano, 1904. Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives. Left: Cover of William C. Wright’s “Beautiful Maiden When First We Met,” 1888. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Wright Heller Collection, State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

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Frank Lloyd Wright said, “Never miss the idea that architecture and music belong together. They are practically one.� Wright had multiple Steinway pianos at both of his Taliesin campuses, including this one in the Taliesin West pavilion.

William Wright instilled the value and importance of music in Frank Lloyd Wright who, likewise, incorporated it as an important element in the Taliesin community. To this day, music plays an integral role in the cultural life of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, as well as the broader community. Photo by Carissa Dixon.


From Wahoo (1885–1890), William moved to Omaha (1890–1892), and then to Stromsburg (1892–1895), where he was the director of the Central Conservatory of Music, losing the position due to the financial problems of the organization. He also returned to writing about music; in 1890, he self-published a second keyboard textbook entitled, “The Golden Monitor,” and, at some point, published a third book, “The Golden Precepts of Vocal Art.”

American parlor music style, they constitute an incisive and corrective portrait of a man largely misrepresented for decades. It is especially intriguing that these very works found their way into the fingers of many of William’s own piano students—including son Frank. And while it’s impossible to draw a straight line between William’s compositions and Frank’s later work in architecture, these pieces, along with works by composers such as Beethoven and Bach, were central in introducing the young Frank to basic concepts such as structure, proportion, motivic Following a brief stint in the St. Joseph, Missouri/ development, and organic unity. As Frank himself Atchison, Kansas area (1895–1896); William lived acknowledged, long before he first sat at a drafting table, in the Des Moines, Iowa area (1896–1900); York, his father had taught him “to listen to a symphony as Nebraska (1900–1902); and finally, Ladora, Iowa an edifice of sound”—one of only many musical lessons (1902–1904). During these years, he at last achieved a that would ultimately affect and, in part, guide his own genuinely national audience by contributing eight essays fundamental interpretation of architecture itself. on piano technique to the prominent music magazine The Etude. In these articles, his tempered sense of wit comes through, as does his skill at pedagogy: “Power of tone is to be sought in swift suddenness of stroke, not by bearing on the keys with the weight of the shoulder and body. A baby’s hand with a spasmodic hit would bring out a louder sound than would the slow tread of an elephant’s foot.”6 Visiting his son Charles in Pittsburgh in June of 1904, William suffered a massive stroke and died in a matter of minutes. He was buried in Bear Valley in Richland County, Wisconsin, next to Permelia. Even after death, it seems, he was still not done with music. His final essay for The Etude appeared posthumously in the September 1904 edition. William C. Wright’s musical legacy survives him, thanks in large part to the children of his first marriage. Daughter Elizabeth passed down not only most of his 30 musical scores, but also a family photograph album and her own autobiography, and today the Elizabeth Wright Heller Collection at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Iowa City remains the central repository for information about William C. Wright. Descendants of his son George bequeathed another important collection at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Earlier this year, many of William’s compositions were at last recorded and issued in CD and digital download format as “The Music of William C. Wright: Solo Piano and Vocal Works 1847-1893.” Journeyman pieces in the

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For more information about “The Music of William C. Wright: Solo Piano and Vocal Works 1847-1893,” see www.PermeliaRecords.com. The recording itself can be found at the site shops of: Chicago Architecture Foundation Fallingwater Kentuck Knob Monona Terrace Robie House Taliesin Taliesin West Wright Home & Studio (Oak Park) Both the CD and digital download are also available through www.CDBaby.com/cd/musicofwilliamwright

6. William C. Wright, “From a New Standpoint,” The Etude, August 1895, 179.

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ARTIST ARTISTS TO

MARION PIKE AND THE WRIGHTS BY: INDIRA BERNDTSON Portrait artist Marion Pike works on a painting of Lisa Albanese in the 1950s. During her career, Pike made portraits of Frank Lloyd Wright, wife Olgivanna, and daughter Iovanna, in addition to other celebrities, including Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and Coco Chanel. All photos for this story courtesy of the Jeffie Pike Durham Collection.

In early 2012, Jeffie Pike Durham contacted the Archives at Taliesin West with word that she had a collection of correspondence between Olgivanna Wright and her mother, artist Marion Pike. Jeffie’s parents had been clients of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1947 (though the house he designed for them was never built,) and the correspondence began with that relationship. Jeffie reached out to enquire about where to donate this collection, and I happened to take her phone call that day. I immediately remembered Marion Pike’s visit to Taliesin West in 1989. Ms. Pike’s paintings were on exhibit at The Amparo Gallery in Scottsdale at that time so my Archives’ staff colleague cameraman Greg Williams and I went to meet her and see her work. The following day, Marion Pike visited Taliesin West where I had the opportunity to interview her as part of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Oral

History Program. In the video interview, she reminisced fondly about her friendship with the Wrights and Fellowship members. After hearing that story about her mother, and realizing the close personal connection that so many of the Fellows and residents at Taliesin West had with the Wright family, Jeffie saw that memorabilia such as she had would mean a lot to us. Subsequently, she decided to donate the wonderful collection of letters, photos, and two pastel portraits of Iovanna to the Taliesin West Collections. Those original letters are also being shared as part of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). The correspondence reveals an interesting history of early connections, missed opportunities, and lingering friendship between the Wrights and the Pikes.


Marion Pike was born in 1913 and died in 1998. When she was eight-years-old, her mother married Sam Pauson, brother of Gertrude, Jeannette, and Rose Pauson. Marion’s first experiences with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright can be traced to her aunt Rose, who commissioned Mr. Wright in 1940 to design a house for her in Phoenix, Arizona—a stunning home which was destroyed by fire in 1943. Remembering the Pauson home as “a magical house” probably influenced Marion’s later decision to build a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house of her own.

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In 1947, Marion and her husband John approached Frank Lloyd Wright to design their home in Los Angeles. When Marion and John announced their plan to have Mr. Wright design a home for them, some of their friends were skeptical. One person who did support the choice of Frank Lloyd Wright was architect Eric Mendelsohn. In a letter to Marion, he eagerly supported his friend’s decision. “Congratulations! I am happy that you have chosen Frank Lloyd Wright and not one of the “brain specialists.” In November 1947, after going to Taliesin and meeting Mr. Wright for the first time, Marion wrote glowingly to one of her doubting friends, Mrs. Kenyon Boocock, affectionately known as “Doogie.” “The only regret I have at this moment is that you did not accompany me to Taliesin. With due caution in respect to my “enthusiasms”—I still have come away completely sold on Frank Lloyd Wright.” In that letter, Marion also wrote about her first magical evening with the Wrights and some of their apprentices during which they “talked away about everything from Japan to Hollywood” and viewed some of Mr. Wright’s Hiroshige and Hokusai prints. Saturday of Marion’s first visit with the Wrights was movie night and Sunday

Right: A letter from Eric Mendelsohn to Marion Pike affirming her choice of Frank Lloyd Wright to be the architect for her new home.

morning produced a discussion between Ms. Pike and Mr. Wright, after which she wrote, “We were evenly matched for volubility to say the least, and we both enjoyed it. Wright is an egoist, not an egotist—he is arrogant as he himself told me, but it is an arrogance based on something accomplished.” Although she was less than half his age, Marion noted a deep connection to Mr. Wright. “He is no age. I feel closer to him than to 99% of all the people I’ve known, spiritually and mentally. He is as simple as all truly great people and as honest. I know we shall get along building our house—for it is not only a house—it is a way of life. I don’t think I shall be disappointed.”

Top: A postcard sent from the Pauson sisters to Marion Pike. Rose Pauson (Marion’s aunt by marriage) commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for her, which is pictured in the postcard. Above: In the 1950s, Jeannette Pauson Haber (Marion’s aunt by marriage) made the ceramic red tiles for Wright to put on his favorite buildings.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


After that first Taliesin meeting, the Wrights and the Pikes often visited together and Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Pike developed a warm relationship. The house project was ultimately never realized, however, as John and Marion decided to divorce in 1950. Nevertheless, the friendship between Marion Pike and the Wrights continued.

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Marion was schooled in San Francisco, and became a painter with numerous exhibitions and awards. She painted such celebrities as Pope John Paul II, Bob Hope, Lee-Kwan Yu, and Ronald Reagan, whose portrait graced the cover of Time Magazine in 1965. She did drawings of both Frank Lloyd Wright and his daughter Iovanna. Iovanna visited the Pikes in Los Angeles several times. It was probably during one visit that Marion did the pastel drawings of Iovanna. One of those drawings now hangs in Iovanna’s Sun Cottage at Taliesin West, and the other is kept in the Taliesin West Collections. Ms. Pike also completed a portrait of Mrs. Wright. In 1948, shortly after posing for her portrait, Mrs. Wright wrote, “Dear Marion, The hour of your painting my portrait will be registered in space always. I will never forget that deep absorption on your face, complete blending with your work and the sparks that flew from it in our conversation. I had a sense of true contact between two human beings which is rare…” Below: Dinner with (Left to right) Iovanna Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marion Pike, Unknown, John Pike, Olgivanna Wright, Unknown, and Dan Gordon.

Left: Portrait of Iovanna Wright. Below: Letter from Olgivanna Wright to Marion Pike.


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Many years later, in 1970, Marion corresponded with Mrs. Wright recalling an earlier conversation that helped shape her work. “Dear Olgivanna—Just returned to Paris and it was so good to hear from you. Have thought of you so many times the past years. One thing you told me long ago was “When you get the ‘I’ out of painting you’ll start to really paint.” Funny how that has always stuck in my head—I can only say that I have endeavored to follow your counsel—and in some ways succeeded, for the work is much, much better.” Marion divided her time between her home in California and her home in Paris. She was “Woman of the Year” in Los Angeles in 1955. She was close friends with George Cukor, producer Freddie Brisson, and his wife Rosalind Russell. It was through Mr. Brisson that Marion met Coco Chanel, who became a very close friend. Marion was the only artist that Chanel allowed to paint her portrait. From September through November of 2013, the exhibition “COCO CHANEL: A NEW PORTRAIT BY MARION PIKE—PARIS 1967–1971” will be featured at London College of Fashion. It showcases her work in London regarding Coco Chanel and other Parisrelated paintings. After London, the exhibition will go to the Palazzo Morando in Milan through February of 2014.

In 1989, during her oral interview at Taliesin West, Marion further reminisced about Mr. Wright. “He taught me so much. I remember when he was staying with us in Los Angeles he used to take me out every day and we’d go shopping. And he bought me those old Chinese dishes that are made with rice, the really old ones. He took me everywhere—even up to see his granddaughter Anne Baxter, the actress. Anne and I became great friends after that.” Marion also talked of having wanted to do a painting of Mr. Wright because he had “such a wonderful face. And such a sparkling wit! He really was funny!” At the end of her Taliesin West visit in 1989 Marion wrote a message for the Taliesin West community in the Amparo Gallery brochure promoting her exhibit “Marion Pike, An American in Paris.” “It’s so wonderful to be back in Phoenix here after all the visits with Olgivanna and Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin.” Jeffie Pike Durham’s phone call on a day not long ago and the generous donation of her mother’s writings and artistic work bring a wonderful story of friendship and connection back to Taliesin West, a fitting tribute to those long ago visits with the Wrights.

Above Left: Marion Pike’s portrait of Coco Chanel. Top Right: Marion Pike’s portrait of her daughter Jeffie, 1970. Acrylic on masonite. Jeffie graciously donated a collection of correspondences between her mother and the Wrights to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). Bottom Right: Marion Pike’s portrait of a young Coco Chanel.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


WRIGHT SITES OPEN FOR PUBLIC ACCESS EAST

42

Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY. Photo by Mark Hertzberg.

The following sites are open for public access or tours. Contacting sites directly in advance of your visit to make tour reservations or confirm dates, times, and fees is recommended.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @FLLWFoundation and tag your travel pictures #WrightSites so we can follow along on your trips to see Wright’s work around the world.

Fallingwater, Bear Run, PA. Photo by Robert Ruschak. Courtesy Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

Fontana Boathouse 40 Porter Avenue, Buffalo NY 14201. (716) 362-3140 www.wrightsboathouse.org Tours April–August. Francis Little House II (Living Room Reconstruction) Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 5th Ave., New York, NY 10028. (212) 535-7710 www.metmuseum.org Museum open year-round. Graycliff 6472 Old Lake Shore Rd., Derby, NY. (716) 947-9217 www.graycliffestate.org Tours year-round.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Zimmerman House 223 Heather St., Manchester, NH 03104. (603) 669-6144, ext. 108 www.currier.org Tours April–January. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 1071 5th Ave., New York, NY 10128. (212) 423-3500. www.guggenheim.org Museum open year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply

NEW YORK Blue Sky Mausoleum at Forest Lawn 1411 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209. (716) 885-1600 www.blueskymausoleum.com Tours year-round.

Martin House Complex 125 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo, NY 14214. (716) 856-3858 www.darwinmartinhouse.org Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply

PENNSYLVANIA Beth Sholom Synagogue 8231 Old York Rd., Elkins Park, PA 19027. (215) 887-1342 www.bethsholompreservation.org Tours year-round. Duncan House 187 Evergreen Lane, Acme, PA 15610. (877) 833-7829 ext. 2 www.polymathpark.com Tours and room reservations year-round. Fallingwater 1491 Mill Run Road, Mill Run, PA 15464. (724) 329-8501 www.fallingwater.org Tours March–December. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply Francis Little House II (Library reconstruction) Allentown Art Museum 31 North 5th Street, Allentown, PA 18101. (610) 432-4333 allentownartmuseum.org Museum open year-round. Kentuck Knob 723 Kentuck Road, Chalk Hill, PA 15421. (724) 329-8501 www.kentuckknob.com Tours March–December.


MIDWEST

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Unity Temple, Oak Park, IL. Photo by Paul Rochelau.

The Rookery, Chicago, IL. Photo by Mark Hertzberg.

ILLINOIS B. Harley Bradley House 701 S. Harrison Ave., Kankakee, IL 60901. (815) 936-9630 www.wrightinkankakee.org Tours year-round. Charnley-Persky House 1365 N. Astor St., Chicago, IL 60610. (312) 573-1365 www.sah.org/about-sah/ charnley-persky-house Tours year-round. Dana-Thomas House 301 Lawrence Ave., Springfield, IL 62703. (217) 782-6776 www.dana-thomas.org Tours year-round. Fabyan Villa 1511 S. Batavia Ave., Geneva, IL 60134. (630) 377-6424 www.ppfv.org/fabyan.htm Tours March–November. Laurent House 4646 Spring Brook Rd., Rockford, IL 61114. (815) 877-2952 www.laurenthouse.com Currently closed for renovations. Muirhead Farmhouse 42W814 Rohrsen Rd. Hampshire, IL 60140. (847) 464-5224 www.muirheadfarmhouse.com Tours year-round.

Historic Park Inn Hotel, Mason City, IA. Photo by Nick Abele.

Oak Park Home & Studio 951 Chicago Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302. (312) 994-4000 www.FLWright.org Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply Pettit Chapel Belvidere Cemetery 1121 N. Main St., Belvidere, IL 61008. (815) 547-7642 Chapel open year-round. Robie House 5757 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. (312) 994-4000 www.FLWright.org Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply The Rookery 209 South LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60603. (312) 994-4000 www.FLWright.org Tours year-round.

INDIANA John Christian House, SAMARA 1301 Woodland Ave., West Lafayette, IN 47906. (765) 409-5522 www.samara-house.org Tours April–November by appointment. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply IOWA Cedar Rock 2611 Quasqueton Diagonal Boulevard Independence, IA 50644. (319) 934-3572 www.iowadnr.gov Tours June–October. Historic Park Inn Hotel 15 West State St., Mason City, IA 50401. (641) 423-0689 www.wrightonthepark.org Tours and room reservations year-round. Stockman House 530 1st St. NE Mason City, IA 50401. (641) 423-1923 www.stockmanhouse.org Tours May–Oct., Nov.–April by appointment. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply

Unity Temple 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL 60301. (312) 994-4000 www.FLWright.org Tours year-round.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


WRIGHT SITES OPEN FOR PUBLIC ACCESS MIDWEST

44

Elam House, Austin, MN. Photo by Dianne Plunkett Latham.

Meyer May House, Grand Rapids, MI. Photo courtesy Meyer May House.

KANSAS Allen-Lambe House 255 Roosevelt
St., Wichita, KS 67208. 316-687-1027 www.allenlambe.org Tours by appointment only.

MINNESOTA Elam House 309 21st Street SW, Austin, MN 55912. (507) 438-9503 www.theelamhouse.com House reservations year-round.

OHIO Penfield House 2203 River Road, Willoughby, OH 44094. www.penfieldhouse.com House reservations year-round.

MICHIGAN Affleck House 1925 North Woodward Avenue Bloomfield Hills, MI 48013. 248-204-2300 www.flw.ltu.edu Tours April–November.

Francis Little House II (Hallway Reconstruction) Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55404. (888) 642-2787 www.artsmia.org Museum open year-round.

Weltzheimer-Johnson House 534 Morgan Street, Oberlin, OH 44074. (440) 775-8671 www.oberlin.edu/amam/flwright Tours April–November.

Meyer May House 450 Madison Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. (616) 246-4821 www.meyermayhouse.steelcase.com Tours year-round.

Lindholm Oil Company Service Station 202 Cloquet Avenue Cloquet, MN 55720. Service station open year-round.

Palmer House 227 Orchard Hills Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (734) 414-0811 www.flwpalmerhouse.com Room reservations year-round.

MISSOURI Community Christian Church 4601 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64112. (816) 561-6531 www.community-christian.org Church services year-round.

Westcott House 1340 East High Street, Springfield, OH 45505. (937) 327-9291 www.westcotthouse.org Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply

Kraus House 120 N. Ballas Rd., Kirkwood, MO 63122. (314) 822-8359 www.ebsworthpark.org Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply

Westcott House, Springfield, OH. Photo by Mark Hertzberg.


45

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Milwaukee, WI. Photo © Mark Hertzberg

WISCONSIN A.D. German Warehouse 300 Church St., Richland Center, WI 53581. Currently closed. American System-Built Homes 2714 W. Burnham St., Milwaukee, WI 53215. (608) 287-0339 www.wrightinmilwaukee.org Tours year-round. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church 9400 W. Congress, Milwaukee, WI 53225. (414) 461-9400 www.annunciationwi.org Sunday Divine Liturgy year-round. Arnold Jackson House N7669 Indian Hills Trails Beaver Dam, WI 53916. (920) 356-9440 www.arnoldjacksonhouse.com Room reservations available year-round. SC Johnson Administration Complex 1525 Howe St., Racine, WI 53403. (262) 260-2154 www.scjohnson.com/visit Tours year-round.

Wingspread, Racine, WI. Photo © Mark Hertzberg

Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center 1 John Nolen Dr., Madison, WI 53703. (608) 261-4015 www.mononaterrace.com Open year-round. Seth Peterson Cottage E9982 Fern Dell Rd., Lake Delton, WI 53940. (877) 466-2358 www.sethpeterson.org Tours and house reservations year-round.

Wingspread 33 East Four Mile Rd., Racine, WI 53402. (262) 681-3353 www.johnsonfdn.org Tours year-round. Wyoming Valley School 6306 State Hwy. 23, Spring Green, WI 53588. (608) 588-2544 www.wyomingvalleyschool.blogspot.com Tours by appointment.

Bernard Schwartz House 3425 Adams Street, Two Rivers, WI 54241. (612) 840-7507 www.theschwartzhouse.com Tours and house reservations year-round. Taliesin & Hillside­ 5607 County Road C, Spring Green, WI 53588. (877) 588-7900 www.taliesinpreservation.org Tours May–October. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply Unitarian Meeting House 900 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705. (608) 233-9774 www.fusmadison.org Tours year-round.

Monona Terrace, Madison, WI. Photo courtesy Monona Terrace.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


WRIGHT SITES OPEN FOR PUBLIC ACCESS SOUTH

WEST

Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL. Photo by Wayne Edward Koehler.

Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, CA. Photo by Michael Freeman.

ALABAMA Rosenbaum House 601 Riverview Dr., Florence, AL 35630. (256) 740-8899 www.wrightinalabama.com Tours year-round.

ARIZONA Arizona Biltmore Resort 2400 E. Missouri Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85016. (602) 955-6600 www.arizonabiltmore.com Tours year-round.

FLORIDA Florida Southern College 111 Lake Hollingsworth Dr., Lakeland, FL 33801. (800) 274-4131 www.flsouthern.edu. Tours year-round.

First Christian Church 6750 N. 7th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85021. (602) 246-9206 www.fccphx.com Sunday Services and tours by appointment year-round.

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OKLAHOMA Price Tower 510 Dewey Ave., Bartlesville, OK 74003. (918) 336-4949 www.pricetower.org Tours and room reservations year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply TEXAS Kalita Humphreys Theater 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas, TX 75219. (214) 526-8210 www.dallastheatercenter.org Ticketed performances year-round. VIRGINIA Pope-Leighey House 9000 Richmond Hwy., Alexandria, VA 22309. (703) 780-4000 www.popeleighey1940.org Tours March–November.

Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium Arizona State University Campus, 1200 S. Forest Ave. Tempe, AZ 85287. (480) 965-3434. www.asugammage.com Performances year-round. Taliesin West 12345 Taliesin Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85258. (855) 860-2700 zerve.com/taliesinwest Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply CALIFORNIA Samuel Freeman House 1962 Glencoe Way, Los Angeles, CA 90068. (323) 851-0671 www.usc.edu/dept/ architecture/slide/Freeman Currently closed for renovations.

Gordon House, Silverton, OR. Photo by Eric Silberg.

Hanna House 737 Frenchmans Rd., Stanford, CA 94305. (650) 725-8352 www.hannahousetours.stanford.edu Tours October–January. Hollyhock House 4800 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 644-6269 www.hollyhockhouse.net Currently closed for renovations. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply Marin County Civic Center 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. (415) 499-3237 www.marincounty.org. Tours year-round. Nakoma Golf Resort 348 Bear Run Clio, CA 96106. (530) 832-5067 www.nakomagolfresort.com Resort open year-round. OREGON Gordon House 869 W. Main St., Silverton, OR 97381. (503) 874-6006 www.thegordonhouse.org Tours year-round. *Reciprocal Membership Benefits apply


FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT INTERNATIONAL

FALL 2013 | VOLUME 24 NO. 4

President & CEO: Sean Malone Vice President of Finance & COO: Lisa Murphy Vice President of Development & Communications: Dottie O’Carroll 47

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES +Also serve on Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Board

Yodoko Guest House, Ashiya, Japan. Photo courtesy Yodoko Steelworks Ltd.

JAPAN Imperial Hotel Lobby (Reconstruction) Museum Meiji-Mura, 1, Uchiyama, Inuyama-shi, Aichi Pref., 484-0000 Japan. (0568) 67-0314 www.meijimura.com/english Museum open year-round. Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan 2-31-3 Nishiikebukuro Toshima-ku Tokyo, Japan 171-0021. 81-3-3971-7535 www.jiyu.jp/tatemono/index-e.html Museum open year-round. Yodoko Guest House 3-10 Yamatecho, Ashiya, Hyogo Pref., 659-0096, Japan 0797-38-1720. www.yodoko.co.jp/geihinkan/index e.html. Tours year-round.

Michael Bierut, New York, NY Carmen Lonstein, Chicago, IL John Cummerford, Phoenix, AZ Alanna Mack, Scottsdale, AZ John DiCiurcio, Chicago, IL Daniel F. Marquardt, Spring Green, WI +Donald Fairweather, Laguna Beach, CA +David Mohney, Lexington, KY Jeffery C. Grip, Chairperson, Owings Mills, MD Doug Moreland, Los Angeles, CA Janice Jerde, Los Angeles, CA John Stubbs, New York, NY +Reed Kroloff, Blooomfield Hills, MI Thomas Wright, Des Moines, IA Neil Levine, Cambridge, MA Steven G. Zylstra, Scottsdale, AZ Susan Jacobs Lockhart, Cambridge, MA FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE BOARD OF GOVERNORS *Also serve on Taliesin Preservation Inc. Board Maura Grogan, Chairperson, Tucson, AZ Susan Krane, San Jose, CA Jacalyn E. Lynn, Paradise Valley, AZ Anna Hill Price, Tucson, AZ Sarah Robinson, Kentfield, CA *Sandra Shane-DuBow, Evanston, IL Jeff Stein, Scottsdale, AZ

Max Underwood, Tempe, AZ Jerry Van Eyck, New York, NY Kim Hurtado, Milwaukee, WI (faculty representative) Mark Thomas Cordova, Scottsdale, AZ (student representative)

TALIESIN PRESERVATION INC. BOARD OF TRUSTEES Todd Asmuth, Madison, WI Jane Clark, Madison, WI Karen Ellzey, Boston, MA Patricia Frost, Milwaukee, WI Jeffrey Jahns, Chairperson, Chicago, IL Ray Lipman, West Bend, WI Howard Marklein, Spring Green, WI

Christopher Multhauf, Lake Forest, IL Laura Peeters, Colorado Springs, CO Tony Puttnam, Spring Green, WI Beverly Simone, Middleton, WI Daniel Stephans, Madison, WI James Tye, Madison, WI Gary Zimmer, Blue Mounds, WI

The Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly is published four times a year by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. For editorial inquiries and comments please contact: Director of Communications: Jonathan West at jwest@franklloydwright.org, (414) 376-6293. Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation | Communications Office P.O. Box 4430, Scottsdale, AZ 85261-4430 © 2013 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation | www.franklloydwright.org

Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan, Tokyo, Japan. Photo © Koichi Mori

Unless otherwise noted, all photos and drawings published in the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly courtesy Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT


“Here is a crucial opportunity to open the eyes of not Marin County alone, but of the entire country to what officials gathering together might themselves do to broaden and beautify human lives.” –Frank Lloyd Wright

County officials stand underneath the main archway at Marin County Civic Center examining Wright’s work. The main archway crosses over Peter Behr Drive and bridges two hills on the site. One of Wright’s signature light wells (pictured on the front cover) allows natural light to shine into the otherwise dark area under the arch.


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