Dear Ron:
Wright's
Robie House was the first important example of the so-called
"Prairie Style", though historically there were at least three other
architects working in the Mid-West at that time who were associated with design
of this kind, albeit much less talented (and self-aggrandizing) than FLW.
Wright's houses typically cost 5-10 times more than traditional houses, often
had "unbuildable" components, the roofs
leaked, the floors sank, the doors stuck, etc., and each required the seduction
of a "special" client with bottomless pockets and a flair for the
unconventional. Most of FLW's important works were
built for just such clients. The interiors were both stimulating and
revolutionary, but ultimately proved uncomfortable for their occupants. One by
one, the houses have passed into private or public trusts, run as institutional
showcases or tourist destinations, which function they appear to serve
admirably.
The next time you
visit Chi, you should bop over to
Not only was Wright
not a particularly practical designer, he was a horrible teacher, as evidenced
by the fact that no one of any note ever attended his Taliesin
East (in
If you have the
time, you should read a good biography of FLW. His life had as many turnings and abrupt crises as
any artist in history, with great tragedies and triumphs all along the way. His
second wife Mamah Borthwick
was murdered, along with several others, by an ax-wielding
servant one fateful night in 1914. Perhaps it was God's way of
punishing Wright, who had carried on an ignominious affair with Mamah while still living with and married to wife number
one and their several children in the
Truly a fascinating man, but not one to hire to build your house.
Chicago
is a deeply divided city, with the notorious ghettos on the South
Side as ingrown and regressive as they were 75 years ago. Police still
routinely pick up black teenagers wandering north across
Tally-Ho,
Curtis
There
are two Wright projects in which I’ve spent a serious amount of time over the
years. One is the Guggenheim & the other is his final project,
completed after his death, the Marin Civic Center. Designed to harmonize with
the surrounding hills, the structure inside is a
serious comment on how architecture communicates values. It consists of two
long buildings that connect at a central rounded dome. On the top floor under
the dome is – or was, when I worked in