200% Alive - A Frank Lloyd Wright Project

Note: Click “Keep Reading” to view Whole Bibliography and Citations

Image: Frank Lloyd Wright in front of Taliesin, source: flwright.org

Frank Lloyd Wright died just two months shy of his ninety-second birthday on April 9, 1959.  His career spanned over seven decades and saw multiple rises and falls both in his career and personal life.  With 532 works produced in that time it is safe to say without a doubt that Frank Lloyd Wright was an instrumental part of developing American architecture in the twentieth Century.  Many of his best pieces of work are national historic landmarks like Falling Water or Taliesin. His Prairie houses set the style for suburban standards in the coming of the twentieth century, some of which are still occupied by families today.  The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation continues to preserve his work and educate future architects on FLW’s vision and inspiration. He is one of the American Institute of Architects’ “greatest American architect of all time.”27  While the list provided for review here is not even close to being completed, it is with great hope they have shown what Wright’s vision and passion was about- connecting humanity to nature through their environment and their living space. The foundation cites FLW’s quote: “As for the future—“Wright prophesied, “the work shall grow more truly simple; more expressive with fewer lines, fewer forms; more articulate with less labor; more plastic; more fluent, although more coherent; more organic.”28 Architecture is forever changing, just like the society that lives within it.  Wright’s passion for using new techniques for his buildings and influence from nature is a passion that is surely missed from today’s lineup.  The relationship between nature and man was something that FLW worked so hard to show the world through his work.  Wright lived his life to the fullest regardless of this change; he just kept working.  As one of his draftsmen once said, Frank Lloyd Wright was “200% alive.”29

Image: Falling Water House, source: fallingwater.org

Image: Falling Water plans, source: fallingwater.org

Falling Water (1935)

           Year Built: 1935

           Location: Route 381 South Mill Run, PA

           Client: Edgar J. Kaufmann and his wife Liliane

           Status: National Historic Landmark. Open to the public with tours available.

 FLW: Ah, yes, Falling Water was a stunning piece of architectural innovation if I do say so myself.  And I was sixty-eight by the time of its completion.  Talk about a long winded career.

Jen: Yes but FLW had assistants working under him at this point to do the busy work.  And Falling Water was completed following another decline in his career.  In the 1920’s FLW had built a school of architecture, where he taught the son of Edgar J. Kaufmann, a prominent businessman from Pennsylvania.  The Kaufmanns would then commission FLW to build a summer home at the location of one of their most favorite places in in the woods of the state.  They originally intended for him to build near the centerpiece waterfall, but FLW had other plans, and decided the house was to be on top of the waterfall. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation discusses this decision, “Determined to build over the stream that punctuated the property, Wright remarked that rather than simply look out at it, he wanted the Kaufmanns “to live with the waterfall…as an integral part of [their] lives.’ ”24

FLW: Yes exactly! I wanted to combine the house and the idea of a living hearth with modern civilization within the wilderness.  In an organic style I used sleek lines and concealed the inside from the wilderness but made the outside completely accessible to its residents.  As the building is built on a four support beams over the waterfall, Falling Water is very much a part of the bedrock in which it sits.  Roth again does a good job describing my work, stating “There is a sharp contrast between the smooth concrete horizontal balconies which hover over the water and the rough masonry piers laid up of rock found on the site in such a way as to simulate the natural strata.”25 The handiwork that went into Falling Water was one of much patience and innovation.  My goal was to bring together the modern and the organic.  I do not believe that there is any other piece of architecture quite like this. The function of the house is not to be a home but the manifestation of the relationship between man and nature.26 

Image: a view of Taliesin, source: Milwaukee Journal Sential

Image: Taliesin plans, source: PBS

Taliesin & Hillside (1911, 1914, & 1925)

           Year Built: 1911, rebuilt 1914 and 1925

           Location: Highway 23 Spring Green, WI

           Client: Frank Lloyd Wright

           Status: National Historic Landmark. National Register of Historic Places. Open to the public with tours available.

 FLW: My true pride and joy was Taliesin, a project filled with my entire being.  It a sense of symbolism, Taliesin was my return to my roots after many years away from Spring Green.  Though still technically a prairie house, the complex supports its own flair of uniqueness. In what I consider to be my most organic piece of work, the flat resting building seem to flow into the hill, not rest on top of it.  My intent was to make it a living part of the hill.  The harmony that Taliesin emulates is meant to promote natural tranquility, and is built into the brow of the hill, not its crest.  The name itself means “shining brow” and is meant to symbolize the fact that it is a part of the hill, not on it.17

Jen: O’Gorman states, “Taliesin is not merely rural, it is anti-urban…[It] is not a mere building but an entire environment in which man, architecture, and nature form a harmonious whole.  There is at Taliesin Wright’s own summing-up of the role of man in nature that stems ultimately from the age of romanticism.” 18 Taliesin was FLW’s own romantic fairytale come to life.  Even the materials used in the construction of the building were locally harvested.19 His connection to nature is strongest at Taliesin, and his love for the property unmatched as he had to rebuild it twice.20

FLW: Yes, tragedy struck my life in 1914 when one of our cooks killed my dear Mamah and her children before burning the building to the ground. I rebuilt it in her honor, and moved on to other women when the time was right.  After all, I cannot be kept down for too long! In 1925, however, a lighting storm caused Taliesin to burn down yet again.  So I built it again.  Hah!21

Jen: Do you ever think the universe was trying to tell you something?

FLW: Well it’s a good thing I wasn’t listening anyways.  I left Taliesin in my will to whoever would take care of its uptake.  The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation was founded in 1940 to continue my work and legacy.22

Jen: The building still stands today and is open to visitors and aspiring architects alike, but the foundation has admitted that its upkeep has provided a bit of challenge, stating “Like any building, Taliesin remains exposed to the elements and suffers the ravages of the often harsh Wisconsin climate. In time, routine repair and maintenance must be supplemented with more intensive physical intervention.”23

FLW: All buildings require upkeep, and mine are no exception, yes. However, if you truly love a building you will put all the care needed to keep it standing and you will do it with vigor!

Images: Mamah Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright at 40 years of age, source: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation timeline

Jen:  Starting in 1903, FLW began an affair with a client’s wife, Martha “Mamah” Borthwick Cheney. This affair would go on until in 1909, the two decided to abandon their families and flee to Europe.  FLW left his wife Catherine after twenty years of marriage and six children. She would grant him a divorce for fourteen years.16

FLW: The affair became public and I was shunned from the architecture community in America.  No one wanted to commission me for following my heart, and so my career entered a period of decline.  Mamah and I spent about a year in Europe before I decided to return to the United States and start anew, on the very spot that I had spent all of those summers growing up.

Image: Construction of the Robie House circa 1906, source: wttw PBS

Image: outside exterior of the Robie house today, source: wttw PBS

Frederick C. Robie House

           Year Built: 1906

           Location: 5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL

           Client: Frederick C. Robie

           Status: U.S. National Historic Landmark, open to public for tours

 FLW: My most famous prairie house is none other than the Frederick C. Robie House, built in Chicago in 1906.  Funnily enough, my main objective with prairie houses was to allow its residents to view the beauty of nature.  Here in Chicago, in the city, one might initially find it hard, and also humorous that my most famous organic prairie house is in the city far away from the vast fields and woodlands of the plains. So how, you may ask, did I work this stunning work of art?

Jen: The thing is, FLW’s prairie style could work about anywhere. O’Gorman describes the style in general as, “The prairie house is profoundly different from anything Richardson achieved because it was designed in an era in which new materials and constructional technology permitted a fresh attitude toward structure, resulting in an opening of form never contemplated by the older architect.”15 This take on embracing the new materials that the coming twentieth century were beginning to produce really set FLW apart from other architects. So as long as he worked the materials to good use and extravagant purpose, as he was known for doing, the Robie house was destined to be an iconic success.  

FLW: It was the flow of the house that counted. The Robie House boasts an abstract flair complete in brick work and sharp, geometric corners. The horizontals are emphasized and the dimensions are dynamic and fluid.  Much more so than Richardsonian.  The house is adorned with many windows so as to let light and therefore, nature, into the house.  Those concerned with private exposure need to look no further than the second floor’s exterior landing.  It is meant to keep the private sphere private, but allow the residents to look out into the world.  The interior boasts a major portion of my 9 principles- the use of space.  I wanted to open up the house and connect the important family by placing an emphasis on the fireplace as well as the dining room. The Robie house is an excellent example of this intimacy in the private sphere, and it was my goal to reflect this image in all of my prairie houses.  

Note: to view the 9 principles of FLW’s prairie houses, click here 

Jen: After the completion of the William Winslow House, FLW had begun to solidify his architectural style.  Naming it Prairie Style, these suburban houses were meant to be open to nature and show the beauty in the landscape.  FLW would oversee many prairie houses and eventually inspire other architects such as Walter Burley Griffin, William Gray Purcell, and George Grant Elmslie to further pursue the style.13 FLW had narrowed down the stylings of Prairie houses to nine principles.

FLW: These principles go as following:

1.      The number of parts used to make the house must be reduced to a minimum to achieve the greatest unity

2.      The House must be integrated with the site through the extension of its horizontal planes

3.      Boring “box rooms” must be eliminated in favor of spaces defined by screening and paneling instead; There needs to be minimal space wasted on the structure

4.      Basement needs to go. Instead, raise the structure above the ground so that the main living quarters are up at least one flight; this way residents get a better view of the landscape

5.      Windows are to be ‘light screens’ and not just holes in the wall

6.      The number of materials used must be reduced to a minimum and designed from the machine; therefore the final result reflects a majority of straight lines

7.      All utilities must be incorporated into the building and made into architectural features

8.      All furnishings must be one with the building

9.      The ‘fashionable decorator’ must be eliminated 14

Image: William Winslow House front view, source: chicago-curbed

Image: backside of the winslow house, source: Pamela Tilton real estate

William Winslow House (1894)

           Year Built: 1894

           Location: 515 Auvergne Pl. River Forest, IL

Client: William Herman Winslow

Status: National Register of Historic Places. Privately owned.

 FLW: I decided to leave Adler & Sullivan in 1892, as I had a desire to do outside commission work on my own. Something that Sullivan did not approve of.

Jen: FLW had actually been doing outside-of-firm commissions for clients while he was supposed to be working exclusively for Adler & Sullivan. When Sullivan found out about this under-the-table work, he dismissed Wright and refused to speak to him for twelve years.9

FLW:  It is certainly a good thing that people came to desire my work under Sullivan then. People were still lining up to commission me, and one of my first completed commissions on my own was the William Winslow House in River Forest, IL. I designed it with the idea of the public and private spheres of society in mind. Therefore the front façade is very flat, heavy limestone with three bays on the second floor and five on the first. The roof is low-raised and overall the front presents such a strong symmetrical value that almost reminisces with that of neoclassicism.  Nonetheless I had to add my own take on this piece, and if you view the back of the house you will see a stark difference.  I rather like the description of it by scholar James F. O’Gorman in his book Three American Architects: Richardson, Sullivan, and Wright, 1865-1915: “Around back all hell breaks loose.  Here in the relative privacy of the rear yard, where the family unbuttons and relaxes, the rigid control of the façade gives way to picturesque clutter.”10 What a great description of what I had planned!  While the front was to remain symmetrical and appropriate for the public, the back itself is irregular in design. The axis that I planned into the front completely disappears into an asymmetrical work of art.  The back serves function not aesthetic.  

Jen: O’Gorman goes on to comment, “The contrast between the front and back is a dramatic architectural demonstration of the distinction between the public and private spheres of the domestic establishment.”11 FLW severed this distinction in a stark contrast, one that echoes his personality and fervor for design.  All of these influences of design were finally coming together for Mr. Wright, and as Roth states “Thus in the Winslow house one can perceive synthesis underway, in the combination of neoclassicism, Sullivan’s work, colonial sources, and even a touch perhaps of the Turkish pavilion at the Columbian Exposition in the second story stucco frieze.”12 His defining piece on the field of architecture was about to take form.

Image: Front facade of the Oak Park Wright House, source: flwright.org

image: Drafting plans of the Wright house and studio addition, source: planetclaire.flw.org

Oak Park and Studio

           Year Built: 1889, altered 1898

           Location: 951 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302

           Client: Frank Lloyd Wright & his first wife Catherine

           Status: National Historic Landmark. Open to the public with tours available.

 FLW: Oak Park was my first true creation from the heart.  It was the first building I had complete artistic control over as I was the one who commissioned it.  It had to be perfect! It had to emulate what my being was as an architect.  Of course I was only twenty-two at the time, and my tastes were not yet known to myself, so my Oak Park residence was a piece of experimentation and discovery.

Jen: What can you tell us about its physical structure Mr. Wright?

FLW: Well, though I hate to admit it, this was the time that I was still being influenced by Sullivan’s love of Richardsonian architecture.  It’s evident in how the inside appears to extend outward through thick diamond-paned windows.  Six whole bays of these windows on the second floor with an arching window adorning its top.  The elevated piazza makes the building appear slightly heavier, especially with stone and brickwork fencing.  Nonetheless I inspired by the work of my previous employer Silsbee and his love for the ‘shingle style.’  I decided to shingle the entire surface though, instead of selected sections. This is apparent on the front gabled equilateral triangle. The rest of the roof work follows the gabled style, bringing the house together in a tasteful asymmetrical style.  

Jen: Author of A Concise History of American Architecture Leland M. Roth actually discusses your Oak Park residence in his book.  He says, “Wright simplified the forms, reducing the house to a single broad gable on a low base.”6  While minimization would become a prime piece of your work later on, you can begin to see its workings here especially on the front façade.  That large gabled geometric triangle really grabs the eyes in a way that seems to push the rest of the house aside.  Your shingle work on this piece also is a rather bold statement, as this style was more localized to the New York-New England region.7

FLW: I am a bold architect, am I not? In a sense, I get a taste of colonial American revival from this piece.  I was only beginning to work out my style and aesthetic choices; it was all so new to me.  I actually coined it for a time ‘seaside colonial’ as the shingling was influenced by those regions.  In 1898 I altered some of my residence to add on a studio for my work. It still held the same geometric purpose and image that was known to my earliest work, though.8 

image: section of Chicago skyline circa 1893, source: digital collections for the classroom - The Newberry 

FLW: In my younger years, as I had mentioned, I grew up in Wisconsin and spent many summers on my Uncle James Lloyd Jones’ farm.  The farm was just outside of Spring Green, WI, and I had developed my love of nature there.  Little did I know, but nature and organic life would become an iconic theme of my future architectural endeavors.

Jen: in 1885, FLW dropped out of high school to become a part-time draftsman for the civil engineering professor, Allan D. Conover. The following year he was hired by Joseph Lyman Silsbee as a draftsman for the reconstruction of Unity Chapel, the local chapel in Spring Green.3 This is where he got his start in the profession of architecture. He began taking classes at the University of Wisconsin for engineering, but he quickly switched to architecture.

FLW: At the ripe age of twenty I decided to move to Chicago and see where the work took me.  I was hired yet again by Silsbee as a draftsman, and began my humble work in the windy city. In 1888, I began work under the American architect Louis Sullivan after he finally recognized that I had some talent in me.  Though I suppose I do owe him some credit for exposing me to the public. His work with furthering Richardsonian architecture is what influenced much of my early work.

Jen: Sullivan was a renowned architect at the time, and had developed his own firm, Adler & Sullivan.  Wright had caught the attention of Sullivan and was asked to do work for them.  Sullivan was so pleased with Wright’s work that he actually promoted him to Chief of Design in the same year he started working under the firm.4 Chief of Design meant that Wright was in charge of all residential work, while Sullivan could focus on more public projects.5

FLW: in 1889 I signed a five-year contract with Sullivan, and in turn he gave me a loan of $5,000 to build a house for my first wife, Catherine Lee Tobin. It was to be outside of Chicago, in Oak Park, IL.

Frank Lloyd Wright: It is with the humble pleasure that I hold myself to in every waking moment of my life that I introduce myself to you, dear reader.  My name is Frank Lloyd Wright, born in 1867 and raised in the glowing wilderness of the Wisconsin woodland.  I am one of America’s most influential dreamers and intellectuals, as much of my handiwork graces American suburban life.  It is decades old, yet still visible today.  As a renowned architect, my work can be found all across America and even as far as Japan.  Out of 1,114 architectural works, 532 were seen through to completion and my genius realized.1 My most prized work, Taliesin, is boasting with an organic style that I coined myself.  I pride architecture’s connection to nature

Jen: Hello, fellow readers.  I am here to help Mr. Wright tell his story.  Most of my contribution will come from those who have studied Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and analyzed its impact on the history of American Architecture.  FLW was known for his embellishing and rewritings of personal history, so while I will let him tell his story, I am also here to keep the facts and outside opinion straight.2 Mr. Wright, if you would please continue?

FLW: Yes, of course.  The selected pieces that I shall be discussing today are my 1889 Oak Park family home and studio, the 1894 William Winslow House, the 1906 Frederick C. Robie House, my beloved 1911 Taliesin, and finally the 1935 Falling Water House. Without further adieu, let us take a journey through some of my greatest gifts to America.

Greetings

Introduction

Adler & Sullivan: Moving to Chicago

Oak Park and Studio

William Winslow House

Prairie House Principles

Frederick C Robie House

Scandal and Exile

Taliesin

Falling Water

Architectural Impact

This blog is meant to be a final project for a college course.  The overall objective of this blog is to review some of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s best known pieces and pivotal moments in his life, written in his imagined perspective and my own personal reflection on his architectural style. 

The selected pieces should in no way serve as a complete list of his work, and to find out more on FLW and his work, please check out the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation official website.

The following is the list of architecture pieces that will be the highlight of this project: 

Oak Home Park and Studio (1889, 1898)

William Winslow House (1894)

Robie House (1906) 

Taliesin & Hillside (1911, 1914, & 1925)

Falling Water (1935)

From here on out, each post will be in two perspectives: my own and FLW’s.  Please understand that this is an imagined perspective on his personality and personal opinions based on research, and may not reflect him perfectly.  It is with hope that I am able to capture the true essence of FLW through applied   architectural analysis.  

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Jennifer Petz

HST 332 - American Architecture 

Dr. Kimberly Alexander