This week marks the 143rd birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright, the man the American Institute of Architects recognizes as “the greatest American architect of all time.”
Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. He died April 9, 1959, in Phoenix, Arizona. From small town America to Tokyo, remnants of Wright can still be discovered and appreciated.
Over his 91 years, Wright designed a total of 1,141 structures, authored twenty books, published numerous articles, lectured across the world, and founded an architectural apprenticeship program at both of his homes, Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona. If that is not enough, he also designed furniture, linens, art glass, lamps, and dinnerware.
But Wright’s greatest accomplishments were only outward manifestations of his inner philosophy. It seemed he felt “noble” architecture was a necessity for society to thrive, and he was one who was able to create it.
“Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall,” Wright said.
Wright believed strongly in U.S. democracy, and felt architecture could reflect democratic principles and values—freedoms which could also be found in nature.
“Maybe we can show government how to operate better as a result of better architecture,” he said.
Wright remained loyal to the environment by using natural materials, and he allowed his designs to follow nature’s patterns. Look no further than to his “Prairie Houses” as odes to harmony of structure and landscape; these homes stretch out horizontally with the prairie itself.
Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. He died April 9, 1959, in Phoenix, Arizona. From small town America to Tokyo, remnants of Wright can still be discovered and appreciated.
Over his 91 years, Wright designed a total of 1,141 structures, authored twenty books, published numerous articles, lectured across the world, and founded an architectural apprenticeship program at both of his homes, Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona. If that is not enough, he also designed furniture, linens, art glass, lamps, and dinnerware.
But Wright’s greatest accomplishments were only outward manifestations of his inner philosophy. It seemed he felt “noble” architecture was a necessity for society to thrive, and he was one who was able to create it.
“Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall,” Wright said.
Wright believed strongly in U.S. democracy, and felt architecture could reflect democratic principles and values—freedoms which could also be found in nature.
“Maybe we can show government how to operate better as a result of better architecture,” he said.
Wright remained loyal to the environment by using natural materials, and he allowed his designs to follow nature’s patterns. Look no further than to his “Prairie Houses” as odes to harmony of structure and landscape; these homes stretch out horizontally with the prairie itself.
As other architects in Chicago emulated his design, Wright eventually became known as the father of the “Prairie School.”
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation shares, “Wright preached the beauty of native materials and insisted that buildings grow naturally from their surroundings.
“He freed Americans from the Victorian “boxes” of the 19th century and helped create the open plan with rooms that flowed and opened out to each other.”
Wright often called the United States, Usonia. In fact, he created a series of middle-income, family homes that he named, “Usonian Homes.”
These were of a single story, focusing on natural lighting and a connection between the indoors and outdoors. Wright also worked on a city plan called Broadacre City.
Brimming with Jeffersonian democratic ideals, Broadacre City aimed to bring the city, as well as new technology, into the countryside, so people could live free of centralization and structures could reside in harmony with the natural landscape.
Wright once said, “No house should ever be on any hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other.”
Although Wright was a noble architect, he was still a flawed human being and was not always a “noble” family man. His first marriage to Catherine Tobin faltered after his scandalous relationship began with Mamah Cheney, his neighbor’s wife. Wright and Tobin would eventually divorce.
Perhaps the hardest time of Wright’s life was when misfortune struck and a servant lit fire to his home, killing Mamah and her two children.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy lives on through the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Wright in 1940. The foundation owns and maintains two national historic landmark properties—each were homes to Frank Lloyd Wright—Taliesin in Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Arizona.
The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture currently has two campuses, also located at Taliesin and Taliesin West.
Aspiring students may visit or contact either campus for further details—but first, to set oneself on the correct path, consider the following Wright quotation as a measuring stick for success: “A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart.”
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation shares, “Wright preached the beauty of native materials and insisted that buildings grow naturally from their surroundings.
“He freed Americans from the Victorian “boxes” of the 19th century and helped create the open plan with rooms that flowed and opened out to each other.”
Wright often called the United States, Usonia. In fact, he created a series of middle-income, family homes that he named, “Usonian Homes.”
These were of a single story, focusing on natural lighting and a connection between the indoors and outdoors. Wright also worked on a city plan called Broadacre City.
Brimming with Jeffersonian democratic ideals, Broadacre City aimed to bring the city, as well as new technology, into the countryside, so people could live free of centralization and structures could reside in harmony with the natural landscape.
Wright once said, “No house should ever be on any hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other.”
Although Wright was a noble architect, he was still a flawed human being and was not always a “noble” family man. His first marriage to Catherine Tobin faltered after his scandalous relationship began with Mamah Cheney, his neighbor’s wife. Wright and Tobin would eventually divorce.
Perhaps the hardest time of Wright’s life was when misfortune struck and a servant lit fire to his home, killing Mamah and her two children.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy lives on through the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Wright in 1940. The foundation owns and maintains two national historic landmark properties—each were homes to Frank Lloyd Wright—Taliesin in Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Arizona.
The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture currently has two campuses, also located at Taliesin and Taliesin West.
Aspiring students may visit or contact either campus for further details—but first, to set oneself on the correct path, consider the following Wright quotation as a measuring stick for success: “A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart.”
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