FRANK LLOYD

WRIGHT
William
Fremd High School
American Studies
Mr. Anderson/Mr. Palmer

Frank Lloyd Wright was

born in Richland Center,
Wisconsin, on June 8,
1867, and died in
Phoenix, Arizona, on April
9, 1959, at the age of 91.
(He often gave his
birthdate as 1869, but
records indicate that he
was actually born in
1867.)

Mr. Wright's "organic architecture" was a radical departure

from the traditional architecture of his day, which was
dominated by European styles that dated back hundreds of
years or even millenia. While most of his designs were
single-family homes (ranging from small homes for families
of modest incomes, to mansions like his unbuilt design for
Henry Ford), his varied output also includes houses of
worship, skyscrapers, resorts, museums, government
offices, gas stations, bridges, and other masterpieces
showing the diversity of Frank Lloyd Wright's talent.

Florida Southern College

Prairie houses were characterized by low, horizontal lines

that were meant to blend with the flat landscape around
them. Typically, these structures were built around a central
chimney, consisted of broad open spaces instead of strictly
defined rooms, and deliberately blurred the distinction
between interior space and the surrounding terrain. Wright
acclaimed "the new reality that is space instead of matter"
and, about architectural interiors, said that the "reality of a
building is not the container but the space within."

Robie
House
Chicago,
Illinois
(1909)

Basic Principles of Wright

Designs
Organic Colors
Simple Geometric
Shapes
Integration of
Building with
Natural
Surroundings
Strong Horizontal
Lines
Hidden Entries

Frank Lloyd Wright Home

and Studio
Oak Park, Illinois (1889)

Which of these basic principles do you see in

the Arthur Heurtley House in Oak Park, Illinois
built in 1902?
Organic Colors?
Simple
Geometric
Shapes?

Hidden Entry
Way?

Strong
Horizont
al Lines?

Integration
with Natural
Surroundings?

Here are some other views of the same house:

Exterior View

View from the Door

Music Room: Notice how

the same principles are
in effect in the interior.

Some of Wrights earliest homes are in Oak

Park. They show a blend of Victorian and
Prairie School elements. These are sometimes
called bread and butter houses. (On your
field trip, youll be asked to explain why they
might be referred to that way.)

"Fallingwater is a great
blessing - one of the
great blessings to be
experienced here on
earth. I think nothing
yet ever equalled the
coordination,
sympathetic
expression of the great
principle of repose
where forest and
stream and rock and
all the elements of
structure are
combined so quietly
that really you listen
not to any noise
whatsoever although
the music of the
stream is there. But
you listen to
Fallingwater the way
you listen to the quiet
of the country..."

Fallingwater (Mill Run,

Pennsylvania, 1937) is
generally considered to be
Wrights residential
masterpiece.

Another extraordinary Wright home in Oak Park

is the Nathan Moore house (1895, rebuilt in
1923 after a fire). Most observers think its
stunningly beautiful, or a hideous monstrosity.
Wright himself thought it was unattractive.

Although Wright continued to design residences

for the rest of his life, his later career included
commissions to design some remarkable public
buildings.
The
Guggenheim
Museum of
Modern Art
New York,
New York,
1959

An ideal
American
architectur
e should
develop in
the image
of trees.
Frank Lloyd
Wright

The Marin County (California) Civic Center (1962) is

basically a courthouse and community gathering
place.
We know that the
good building is
not the one that
hurts the
landscape, but is
one that makes the
landscape more
beautiful than it
was before that
building was built.
In Marin County
you have
one of the most
beautiful
landscapes I have
seen, and I am
proud to make the
buildings of this

Wright designed Unity Temple in Oak Park

(1905) as a place of worship for the
Unitarian faith. This is his original drawing
of the building.

As is consistent with the Unitarian faith,

the building is stately, solid, and devoid of
religious iconography.

Here are two more exterior views of Unity

Temple. Notice the solid concrete
construction, as well as the incorporation of
other typical Wright elements.

Unity Temples interior completes Wright vision

of a marriage of spiritual beauty and
architectural perfection.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the First

National Bank of Dwight, Illinois
(population 4,300) in 1905. Of three banks
designed by Wright, it is the only one still
functioning as a bank. Notice how it
contrasts to the building next door, built at
roughly the same time.

Detail of Exterior Light Fixture

The Johnson Wax building in Racine, Wisconsin

(1939) is Wrights vision for a corporate
environment.

The interior of the Johnson Wax

building features this
distinctive lily-pad design
which allows light to filter to
different floors.

Architecture is the triumph of

Human Imagination over
materials, methods, and men, to
put man into possession of his
own Earth. It is at least the
geometric pattern of things, of
life, of the human and social
world. It is at best that magic
framework of reality that we
sometimes touch upon when we
use the word order.
- Frank Lloyd Wright, 1930

Now well visit the Oak Park web site

to get a more in-depth look at the
neighborhood well be visiting.

William Martin House

Oak Park, Illinois (1905)