Linda Henderson's List: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Architecture

U.S. history is full of men and women who worked their way up from humble beginnings. Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is one of them. As you read about FLW's life, think about the influences it had on his architecture and self-created style.

FLW's Home & Studio was built in 1889 by FLW to serve as his personal studio and offices, as well as a home for him & his wife, Catherine, along with their six children. FLW lived there until 1909. In the neighborhood of his house in Oak Park, FLW designed and built at least 27 other homes.
(Additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright_Home_and_Studio)

Taliesin is Frank Lloyd Wright's estate home in Spring Green, WI. It is here that FLW designed some of his most famous works. Perhaps you can research Taliesin's application to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taliesin West was Frank Lloyd Wright's "Winter home" from its construction in 1937 until his death in 1951. Investigate what FLW felt was special and unique about building in Arizona.

Frank Lloyd Wright built the Thomas Gale House in 1892 not far from his own Home & Studio in Oak Park. This house is one of the three "bootleg houses" built by FLW as he built these "on the sly" while working for another famous American architect (do you know who?!). The Thomas Gale House is a great example of FLW's very early works.

Built for the Unitarian Universalist congregation with which Frank Lloyd Wright was associated, Unity Temple was supposedly one of FLW's most favorite projects. Built from 1905-1908, it is considered one of FLW's most important structures from his first decade of work in the 1900s. This is considered by many to be the first "modern building" in the world. Can you determine why?
(Additional information: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_Temple)

Situated on the campus of the University of Chicago, the Robie House typifies Frank Lloyd Wright's "residential" style. Built in 1908, how did this house "break loose" from the more European styles common in the U.S. in the late 1800s?

Built in 1915 as a private home, this typical Prairie style house is unique in that it is open to the public for rental for events, vacation stays, The home page shows you a wonderful photo montage of the house. Click on either "About" or "History" at the top for more detailed information about the house. What classical Prairie style features do you see in the Emil Bach House?

Built between 1936 and 1939, FLW's Fallingwater is located south of Pittsburgh, PA. In 2004, Travel & Leisure Magazine named Fallingwater one of "12 landmarks that will change the way you see the world". What are Fallingwater's most unique features? Why to this day is it considered one of the world's most interesting architectural pieces?
(Additional information: http://www.fallingwater.org/explore?to=2)

Built in 1940, the Pope-Leighey House is very representative of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian style - FLW's vision of affordable, middle-class residences in the United States. For whom was this house built? Was the cost really "affordable" in 1940?
(Additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope-Leighey_House)

Auldbrass is the only plantation designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. How is FLW's style communicated through a very different design structure such as this?

This home page of the Kentuck Knob house in PA shows you a great photo montage of the house. Located south of Pittsburgh, PA, not far from Fallingwater, it was designed for family use. For information about the house itself, click on "About Kentuck Knob" in the upper left, and then "The Home". Read about the current "British royalty" owners!

Located outside Philadelphia, PA, Beth Sholom Congregation is the only synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Begun in 1954 and completed in 1959, what are some classic FLW features you notice in the synagogue?

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City is probably one of the last, if not the last, structure on which Frank Lloyd Wright worked. Why was it considered so "revolutionary" when it opened in 1959?

The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture trains architects in the tradition of FLW himself. There are a few campuses in the U.S. Where are they?

A chronological list of all of Frank Lloyd Wright's works. Check out some of the "notable unbuilt works". Can you pick out some of the structures designed by FLW but were built posthumously?