“Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.”
- Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright is considered one of America’s greatest architects with a vibrant career spanning more than 70 years. He is responsible for creating such landmarks as the Guggenheim Museum and for pioneering such concepts as organic architecture and “prairie house” design.
Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867 in Richland Center, Wisconsin to parents William Carey Wright and Anna Lloyd Jones. Both parents had a strong background in education, with William working as a music teacher, a lawyer, and a minister and his mother, Anna, a county school teacher. A passion for beauty and for beautiful things was instilled in young Frank early on with his mother declaring, “Her child will one day grow up and build beautiful buildings” and nurtured his curiosity with engravings of grand English cathedrals all around his nursery. Wright soon learned immense responsibility as his parents divorced when he was fourteen and he assumed financial responsibility for his mother and two sisters.
Wright dabbled in traditional acadamia, attending a Madison high school but there is no evidence he actually graduated and then in 1886, Wright attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two semesters before moving to work in Chicago 1887. There, Wright worked for the architectural firm, Jospeh Lyman Silsbee, and then joined Adler and Sylvan’s firm as an apprentice to Louis Sylvan. Wright continued to build a name for his self with the marriage to his first wife, Catherine Lee Tobin in 1889, who was a daughter of a wealthy and well known businessman and subsequently, his social standing increased. During this time, Wright began to also design homes on the side of his work for Sylvan, and once this was discovered, Wright was asked to leave the firm and instead opened his own in 1893.
Wright’s practice thrived on creative residential designs known as “Prairie Houses.” These homes were conducive in tying land together with the structure and exhibited extended low buildings with shallow, sloping roofs, clean sky lines, suppressed chimneys, overhangs and terraces, using unfinished materials. Here we can see the concept of organic architecture, a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world. The Prairie House style is also considered the pioneer in the popular “open floor plans” that are seen in today’s homes and floor plans.
Wright’s career continued to flourish, but came to an abrupt halt as his personal life turned into scandal with his very public affair with a client’s wife. The two eloped to Europe in 1909, each leaving their respective spouses and children and that basically ended Wright’s ability to practice architecture in the United States. The romance fizzled and Wright remained in Europe for a year building his portfolio, known as the Wasmuth Portfolio, which helped establish Wright’s creditability in Europe. He returned to the United States in 1910, where his first wife, Catherine, finally granted Wright a divorce.
Wright resumed working and wed his second wife, Miriam Noel in 1923. However, due to Miriam’s morphine addiction, the marriage soon failed and they divorced in less than a year. Wasting no time, Wright met his third wife, Oglivanna Hinzenberg and they had a daughter together on December 2, 1925.
With Wright’s personal life stabilizing, he continued to work utilizing organic architecture and moved on from the Prairie House style to Usonian homes. These homes were much simpler in design and were based on clean, geometric shapes. Wright became very interested in community planning and intended these Usonian homes to be models for suburban development. This vision came true, and much of modern homes and developments reflect Wright’s stylistic concepts of open floor plans and simple geometric shapes. Wright’s most notable work is probably the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum located in New York City and took Wright 16 years to complete (1943- 1959). It’s very unique design makes it a popular landmark located on Fifth Avenue.
Frank Lloyd Wright died April 9, 1959 at the age of 91. Throughout his life, he designed more than 400 built structures with 300 of them still remaining intact. Wright’s legacy and concepts have greatly effected modern architecture and he will continued to be look at as a mentor and an inspiration.
1.) The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum located in New York City, New York
The Guggenheim is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most recognizable designs. Extremely unique for it’s shape, which resembles the spirals of a seashell. Wright intended visitors to ride an elevator to the top floor and then descend down the spiral central ramp to view the artworks it houses. However, today, the opposite format is what visitors will find as they walk up the spiral ramp to view artworks. The Guggenheim took 16 years to complete and was opened in 1959, six months after Wright’s death. It was declared a landmark by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission in 1990 and was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 2005. In October 2008, the Interior Secretary of the United States names the Guggenheim a National Historic Landmark in recognition of the museum’s significance within American history and culture.
2.) Fallingwater Home located in Bear Run, Pennsylvania
Fallingwater was built in 1937 in Pennsylvania and is the embodiment of Wright’s concept of organic architecture. The structure is built partially over a waterfall and the construction is a series of cantilevered balconies and terraces, using limestone for all vertical columns and concrete for the horizontal lines. The building utilizes natural elements and Wright’s love for clean, geometric shapes while embracing nature as part of the design of the structure standing among it.
3.) Gordon Home located in Silverton, Oregon
The Gordon House was designed in 1957 and wasn’t actually completed until 1963, four years after Wright’s death. The home is one of the last examples of the Usonian Home design movement Wright intended middle class clients to occupy. The Usonian Homes were usually small, single-story buildings without a garage or much storage. In fact, this is where the term “car port” came into use to describe the overhang that was left for a vehicle to park under. The homes were environmentally conscious with native materials, flat roofs and clean lines, and once again, exemplified Wright’s use of organic architecture.
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