# Frank Lloyd Wright Sesquicentennial **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434 "2017-06-08T14:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/1 "2017-06-08T14:13:28Z")
The visionary American architect was born 150 years ago today. [http://flwright.org/aboutus/wright150](http://flwright.org/aboutus/wright150) > **[Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation](https://franklloydwright.org/)** > > Frank Lloyd Wright changed the way we build and live. He is considered the “greatest American architect of all time.” > **[Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive | MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1660)** > > Exhibition. Jun 12–Oct 1, 2017. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most prolific and renowned architects of the 20th century, a radical designer and intellectual who embraced new technologies and materials, pioneered do-it-yourself... > **[Celebrating Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday](https://www.architecture.org/news/historic-chicago/celebrating-frank-lloyd-wrights-150th-birthday/)** > > 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth. Here’s a list of ways to celebrate this occasion with CAC. Please post a picture of a favorite Wright work - repeats of a particular structure are fine, but try to show a different image from those already posted. Fallingwater has long been a personal favorite of mine: [![](https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/c_fill,f_auto,h_600,q_75,w_1800/v1/clients/laurel/2CC9735F8BFA9521CBAD4F77DF93E4AA_6e2754af-1de4-4efc-9ae8-604f07ca03da.jpg) ](https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/c_fill,f_auto,h_600,q_75,w_1800/v1/clients/laurel/2CC9735F8BFA9521CBAD4F77DF93E4AA_6e2754af-1de4-4efc-9ae8-604f07ca03da.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/2 "2017-06-08T15:59:38Z")
You got mine. Falling Water is just stunning. For some reason, I also find the interior at [Johnson Wax](http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/flw/jwax2.jpg) to be rather interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/3 "2017-06-08T16:01:22Z")
I became a fan after visiting his design school in Spring Green, WI. Things I learned on that day: NEVER combine a visit to FLW works with a visit to House on the Rock on the same day (or maybe even the same week, or month). The cognitive dissonance was almost fatal. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/4 "2017-06-08T16:08:53Z")
What on earth is the House on the Rock? Is it a resort? The pictures of the place look ‘busy’. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/5 "2017-06-08T16:13:01Z")
I always liked [The Robie House](http://orig06.deviantart.net/5e8a/f/2012/301/c/2/robie_house_by_7y8i-d5j8ils.jpg). I made a 3-d exterior replica of it on AutoCad for a project back in my architecture school days. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/6 "2017-06-08T16:15:01Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > What on earth is the House on the Rock? Is it a resort? The pictures of the place look ‘busy’. Psychotically, busy, yes. If you search for threads on the place, you’ll find a few. With my comments about my experience in them. Resort? I’d resort to arson, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/7 "2017-06-08T16:15:32Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > What on earth is the House on the Rock? Is it a resort? The pictures of the place look ‘busy’. FLWs Taliesen West is prairie style architecture. The House On the Rock is like stepping into a Terry Gilliam movie. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/8 "2017-06-08T16:40:44Z")
When I lived in Madison , Wisconsin, I lived down the street from the Unitaian Curch in Shorewood Hills. There weren’t/are many houses in the area designed by students of his. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/9 "2017-06-08T16:45:55Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > FLWs Taliesen West is prairie style architecture. > > The House On the Rock is like stepping into a Terry Gilliam movie. no, not nearly enough ductwork ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/10 "2017-06-08T18:11:25Z")
They just redid [Unity Temple](https://chicago.curbed.com/2017/6/7/15751444/frank-lloyd-wright-architecture-unity-temple-restoraton) (and are now looking for the $ to pay for it!) I’m kinda partial, since it is a UU building. Pretty awesome, right on a main suburban street. My wife and I, and her best friend, are huge fans of Prairie style. Both of our houses reflect many aspects of it. But the other day we were in their living room, and they were discussing a recent visit to Taliesin (sp?), and I realized I was - uh - somewhat blase about Wright. Weird, because I really appreciate it, but I almost feel that I’ve ODed on Wright. Born and raised on the NW side of Chicago, still spend a ton of time in Oak Park. Since I was a REALLY little kid, I recognized Wright and Prairie was my favorite style. Just kinda weird. I still love it, but I don’t feel a need to go out of my way to visit any sites or read any more books… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/11 "2017-06-08T18:19:56Z")
It’s sometimes amusing to encounter people who don’t understand what Wright was trying for. Like, they’ll see Falling Water, and assume that blocky rectangles were “his style”. Rather, he didn’t really have one style of his own, but was always fitting his buildings into their environment. Falling Water fits in, in a shale riverbed, but wouldn’t on the open prairie. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/12 "2017-06-08T18:52:57Z")
I like the Guggenheim Museum. [https://www.nyc-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/guggenheim-museum-arch490.jpg](https://www.nyc-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/guggenheim-museum-arch490.jpg) (SDMB isn’t letting me highlight?) I like the space age look of it, but I really like the interior, it’s a large spiral, with a skylight, lots of light and air. [http://www.interestingamerica.com/images/NY\_images/Manhattan/Guggenheim/Guggenheim\_Museum\_NY\_interior\_across\_and\_down\_Petra\_Klaassen\_426.png](http://www.interestingamerica.com/images/NY_images/Manhattan/Guggenheim/Guggenheim_Museum_NY_interior_across_and_down_Petra_Klaassen_426.png) My parents were big fans of Wright, they got to see Fallingwater before I was born, so I didn’t get to see it. They did take me to the Guggenheim when I was little. I remember we went to the top and walked down the spiral so we saw a Calder exhibit in reverse. I have a bunch of books about him that I inherited. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/13 "2017-06-08T19:12:42Z")
I also like his (never built) superskyscraper, The Illinois: > **[The Illinois](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illinois)** > > The Mile-High Illinois, Illinois Sky City, or simply The Illinois is a visionary skyscraper that is proposed to be over 1 mile (1,600 m) high, conceived and described by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his 1957 book, A Testament. The design, intended to be built in Chicago, included 528 stories, with a gross area of 18,460,000 square feet (1,715,000 m2). Wright stated that there would be parking for 15,000 cars and 100 helicopters. > If built, it would top the list of the tallest building... [![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1b/b7/6f/1bb76f91a3253ebe35c477c0f48fec6b.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1b/b7/6f/1bb76f91a3253ebe35c477c0f48fec6b.jpg) [http://www.jmhdezhdez.com/2013/06/mile-high-tower-wright-illinois.html](http://www.jmhdezhdez.com/2013/06/mile-high-tower-wright-illinois.html) (scroll down) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/14 "2017-06-08T19:26:23Z")
[This hotel in](http://www.stoneycreekhotels.com/hotel/travel/masoncity-parkinn/home.do) Mason City, Iowa is the only Wright-designed hotel you can stay in. It’s great – especially waking up, surrounded by Wrightesque details – but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite of his works. His Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was demolished, alas. The other FLW hotel you CAN sleep in – a smallish skyscraper (one of his few, another being that Johnson Wax mentioned above) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma – was originally an office building (Price Tower). It’s great, too! All triangles. I’ll come up with an actual favorite in a bit (Robie House was taken). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/15 "2017-06-08T19:34:50Z")
I’ll go with the [Hollyhock House](https://goo.gl/images/aiOu0C). No one picture does it justice, so I linked to an architectural plan – but do a Google image search. Sort of Mayanesque exterior, but Prairie interior – and nice use of outdoor spaces, as befits its location. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/16 "2017-06-08T19:39:35Z")
I just read that the Hollyhock House was one of the few where Wright didn’t supervise the construction, and thus maybe wasn’t responsible for some of the details. Maybe I should pick a different one! (I’ve never visited the house). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/17 "2017-06-08T19:52:12Z")
Okay, this is it, I promise: the [Armstrong House](https://goo.gl/images/5L72OY) in Indiana, a Usonian style (1939) house in the woods with less expensive materials and details than his Prairie period homes, but similar striking cantilevers, horizontal window bands, earthy tones, and innovations for automobile. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/18 "2017-06-08T20:01:50Z")
[Here’s one more photo of the Armstrong House](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/568dd8122399a316b969e8bb/56a21dc71a5203cff0c3f7bf/56a2221fdf40f37f5ea30a89/1453491346586/FLW+ARMSTRONG+HOUSE.jpg?format=2500w), showing how its sections follow the contours of the hill. The sections are rotated from each other at different angles; but nothing feels forced. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/19 "2017-06-08T20:19:28Z")
My wife grew up in Riverside (a neat suburb, designed by FL Olmstead), where there were some notable Wright homes. I asked her if she had ever been in any of them, and she said, “XXX lived in the Avery Coonley house. We smoked A LOT of pot in that house!” 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/20 "2017-06-08T20:21:27Z")
I read that he designed the Hause House, but, sadly, it was never built. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434.md?page=2)