FLW used to be a mainstay of the architectural publishing industry. In the pre-digital era, before the monograph became the calling card of the emerging practice and not a studious look back at a lengthy career, the most popular architect in the ‘design’ section was the irascible, foppish, arrogant but eternally creative Frank Lloyd Wright, a man whose career spanned seven decades and over 500 buildings.
Wright’s enduring popularity is down to many factors, his quality of work notwithstanding. He was a skilled self-publicist, the author of many books. He cultured a guru-like following amongst his staff and students, especially at the Taliesin schools he established. His ‘total work of art’ approach extended down to the smallest detail, creating houses of such visual richness, craftsmanship and invention that they stand apart from the art movements that may or may not have influenced them. And his presentation was second to none. In addition to 500 completed works, there were as many unbuilt, all surviving in the characteristically beautiful drawings and watercolours that he used to seduce clients and historians alike.
Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer is our era’s pre-eminent Wright specialist, having begun his career as Wright’s apprentice. Now archives director at Taliesin West, he has access to hundreds of thousands of documents, allowing this monograph to be a masterful summation of FLW’s long career. Compiled from Taschen’s vast three-volume oeuvre complète, this single volume is a greatest hits and more, covering everything from the elegant houses built around Chicago’s Oak Park, with their long, low ‘Prairie Style’ proportions and elaborate detailing, through to the pioneering Larkin Administration Building – oft cited as the world’s first modern office block – and the more expressive, space age futurism of his later work. There is more than enough here to make this the ultimate compact work on a definitive character in architectural history.
From the book: William Winslow House, River Forest, Illinois, 1893. This was Wright's first realised commission as a recognised independent architect and anticipates his later homes for the Midwest American prairie. Pictured here is the perspective drawing
Susan Lawrence Dana House, Springfield, Illinois, 1902. From left: Susan Lawrence in front of her house; glass and bronze table lamp, 2002. Right: street view of the house, 1997
Larkin Company Administration Building, Buffalo, New York, 1903 – Wright's most challenging commission to date. Left: a promotional item for the building. Right: a view from Seneca Street
Inside of the Larkin Company Administration Building. Left: central court and the initial perspective drawing. Right: working spaces and a varnished metal office chair
Meyer May House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1908. The architect has made the movement within the building circuitous. Left: the street view of the house in 1989. Right: the elegant living room.
Avery Coonley Playhouse, Riverside, Illinois, 1912. Left: glass designs for the windows. Right: the small triptych colour design.
Broadacre City, the model, 1934. Left: model in the drafting room at Taliesin. Right: the master plan alongside site plan and detailed model
Gift shop for VC Morris, San Francisco, California, 1948. Wright's tunnel like design was a remodel of an existing space. Left: the interior view, 1949. Right: The entrance in 1951, which Wright humorously referred to as a 'mouse trap'.
Aline Barnsdall's 'Hollyhock House', Olive Hill, Los Angeles, California, 1919. Named after Barnsdall's favourite flower, this U-shaped house was commissioned alongside theatre projects, terrace shops and houses
INFORMATION
Photography: Hanna Pasanen
-
An Indian mud house - and more, on Sketch Design Studio's natural material wondersSketch Design Studio in Rajasthan, India does wonders with the simplest ingredients
-
Experience this Singapore apartment’s Zen-like qualities and cocooning urban havenWelcome to Singapore apartment The Rasidence, a spacious, Zen-like interior by Right Angle Studio
-
The Park: step inside Jeremy King's mid-century dinerOne of several 2024 openings from restauranteur, Jeremy King, food critic Ben McCormack books in at The Park
-
Frank Lloyd Wright architecture: from Prairie House to Guggenheim New YorkFrank Lloyd Wright, hailed among the 20th century's greatest architects, has left a rich legacy that inspires to this day; here, we invite you to dive into his world
-
A Petra Island house rises from Frank Lloyd Wright's original drawingsBased on Frank Lloyd Wright drawings, the cantilevering Petra Island Massaro House, located in New York’s Hudson Valley, is now open to visitors
-
‘Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania’: two exhibitions bring new life to historic designsFrank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania and Fallingwater designs, realised and unrealised, are celebrated in two exhibitions, at The Westmoreland and at Fallingwater itself
-
Roll up, roll up! The Wright and Like Tour 2023 visits MilwaukeeThe upcoming Wright and Like Tour 2023 celebrates buildings designed and inspired by architectural pioneer Frank Lloyd Wright in Milwaukee
-
Unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright houses brought to life in 3DUnbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright houses are celebrated in full, modern 3D glory, brought to life by home project specialist Angi
-
Exploring Frank Lloyd Wright's early career and architectural identityA new exhibition on Frank Lloyd Wright at the Elmhurst Art Museum, titled ‘Wright before the ‘Lloyd'', explores the celebrated architect's early career and trajectory as he defined and built his, now well-known, architectural identity
-
Join virtual tours of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpiecesA new series of virtual tours offer you the chance to explore Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture from the comfort of your home. The campaign to continue educating and inspiring the public through the digital sphere is also a reminder of the importance of the physical experience of architecture, and an appeal for funding support to heritage sites all over the world during the Covid-19 crisis
-
MoMA proves that Frank Lloyd Wright still has it, even at 150
