# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/41 "2017-06-10T19:51:48Z")
One of my favorites is the [Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church](https://steppingoutsidetoobserve.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/2337621.jpg) in the Milwaukee suburbs. It looks like the mothership from _Close Encounters_ landed in the neighborhood. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > 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 pleased to see that! When I toured the building, about 12 years ago, there were buckets and water stains everywhere. Leaky roofs are the dirty little secret of the FLW legacy (well, not much of a secret). > [@Chronos](#): > > OK, the Illinois is just shear lunacy (and probably also sheer lunacy, given the stresses wind would put on it). Here’s a [photo illustration](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--iy3ZEH1H--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/18kq13nf1ahhcjpg.jpg) of what the Chicago skyline would look like if the Illinois had been built (I don’t think this image has been posted already). It does seem completely bonkers, but I have to admire FLW’s boldness for coming up with this. ---
**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 10, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/42 "2017-06-10T20:22:43Z")
Someone must have commissioned him to draw it up, because that goes against the Wright paradigm of making a building looks like it belongs in its place. ---
**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 11, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/43 "2017-06-11T02:19:31Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > …Here’s a [photo illustration](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--iy3ZEH1H--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/18kq13nf1ahhcjpg.jpg) of what the Chicago skyline would look like if the Illinois had been built (I don’t think this image has been posted already). It does seem completely bonkers, but I have to admire FLW’s boldness for coming up with this. Very cool. Another favorite - the Marin County (Calif.) Civic Center: [![](https://www.marincounty.org/~/media/images/departments/cu/carousel-images/tour7.jpg?h=392&la=en&w=600) ](https://www.marincounty.org/~/media/images/departments/cu/carousel-images/tour7.jpg?h=392&la=en&w=600) > **[Marin County Civic Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_County_Civic_Center)** > > The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, California, the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wright's protégé, Aaron Green; it was completed in 1962. The Hall of Justice was begun in 1966 and completed in 1969. Veterans Memorial Auditorium opened in 1971, and the Exhibit Hall opened in 1976. > Located away ... ---
**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 11, 2017, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/44 "2017-06-11T07:46:30Z")
There’s an [FLW exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/08/arts/frank-lloyd-wright-at-150-moma.html?emc=eta1) in New York now. (NY Times review is headlined “Frank Lloyd Wright Hated New York, Thought About Making the Guggenheim Pink, and Still Dreamed of Mile-High Skyscrapers.”) **Elendil’s Heir:** The most famous picture “of” the Marin County Civic Center is [probably this one](https://i2.wp.com/voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Sup-Ct-Judge-Harold-Haley-w-shotgun-taped-around-his-neck-during-Jonathan-Jacksons-Marin-Courthouse-Rebellion-080770-by-Jim-Kean-Marin-Independent-Journal.jpg)(I remember being a kid, reading through my grandparents’ \*Best of Life \*book, and wondering what was going on in this tragic photo). ---
**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 11, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/45 "2017-06-11T15:34:00Z")
Thanks for both of those. Wright’s plans for Baghdad, as shown in the NYT article, were interesting and ambitious but his buildings would, I’m afraid, have been badly damaged or destroyed in the First Gulf War, if built: [Baghdad Could Have Been a Mega-City by Frank Lloyd Wright - Curbed](https://www.curbed.com/2015/3/5/9985504/greater-baghdad-frank-lloyd-wright-corbusier) Here’s more on the 1970 Marin County hostage incident: [Marin County Civic Center attacks - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_County_courthouse_incident) ---
**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 12, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/46 "2017-06-12T00:01:31Z")
Is there a biography of FLW or some documentary about him? How about video tours of any of his buildiings? ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/47 "2017-06-12T01:34:23Z")
I am going to go with [Graycliff,](http://graycliffestate.org/img/ban-explore.jpg) because it’s nearly in my own backyard. This is a summer house built on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie, just south of Buffalo, NY. One of its most unique features, for a FLW house, is that nearly all the glass is clear. The wife of the family (who was the client for the house) was visually impaired. They already owned a FLW residence in the city, and all the cantilevers and the colored art glass made the house very dark, which was difficult for her, so the whole point of the summer house was to make it light. The first floor especially has huge clear glass windows, so you can see right through the house to the lake. You feel like you’re outdoors when you’re indoors. It was in private ownership for years and years, and not maintained as an historic home. The first tour I took around 12 years ago, all you saw was this shell of a house. The non-profit that runs it has done an AMAZING job with the property – there’s been so much restoration and it’s really remarkable now. If you are a real FLW fan, Buffalo is a great destination – you can tour Graycliff, the [Martin House Complex](http://www.darwinmartinhouse.org/learn.cfm) (the same family’s main residence), and a working [boathouse](http://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/business-type/rowing-boathouse/) which is a recent construction of FLW original plans. There is also a [gas station](http://www.pierce-arrow.com/frank-lloyd-wright-filling-station), again designed by FLW and built recently, that is part of a classic automobile museum. ---
**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 12, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/48 "2017-06-12T13:26:16Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Is there a biography of FLW or some documentary about him? How about video tours of any of his buildiings? _Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography_ by Meryle Secrest is, I think, the most recent well-regarded bio of him. I haven’t read it myself. PBS had a documentary about him a few years ago. Check YouTube or the gift shops of your favorite house or building of his for video tours - I’ve seen them for sale. ---
**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 12, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/49 "2017-06-12T16:47:59Z")
I see that [Ken Burns](https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Wright-Philip-Edward-Herrmann/dp/B000BITUH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1497285662&sr=1-1&keywords=frank+lloyd+wright+ken+burns) has a FLW film. I just bought it, hopefully it will be good. ---
**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 12, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/50 "2017-06-12T17:14:58Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I see that [Ken Burns](https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Wright-Philip-Edward-Herrmann/dp/B000BITUH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1497285662&sr=1-1&keywords=frank+lloyd+wright+ken+burns) has a FLW film. I just bought it, hopefully it will be good. I remember it, and yes, it is. ---
**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 12, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/51 "2017-06-12T17:43:30Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > …snip… Thought About Making the Guggenheim Pink Oh, hell no :eek: ---
**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 12, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/52 "2017-06-12T18:20:38Z")
The unfortunately since-razed Imperial Hotel in Tokyo: [http://www.midcenturyhome.com/frank-lloyd-wright-imperial-hotel-tokyo/](http://www.midcenturyhome.com/frank-lloyd-wright-imperial-hotel-tokyo/) ---
**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:** [July 18, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/53 "2017-07-18T19:00:43Z")
Recent flooding at Fallingwater, alas: ['Mother and Child' statue saved by chain at Fallingwater | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette](http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/art-architecture/2017/07/16/Fallingwater-flood-statue-national-historic-landmark-perilous-Pennsylvania-Frank-Lloyd-Wright/stories/201707170032) ---
**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:** [December 23, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/54 "2018-12-23T20:46:22Z")
Bumped. A house by an FLW student is saved near Columbus, Ohio: [https://www.columbusunderground.com/home-tour-historic-glenbrow-home-revived](https://www.columbusunderground.com/home-tour-historic-glenbrow-home-revived) [https://aiaohio.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/33/details/7562](https://aiaohio.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/33/details/7562) [https://www.columbuslandmarks.org/ohio-preservation-award-for-dorri-and-joe/](https://www.columbuslandmarks.org/ohio-preservation-award-for-dorri-and-joe/) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/55 "2018-12-23T21:09:26Z")
I saw this house listing on Sotheby’s and thought “Who the hell would design a house in Minnesota with a three-car carport rather than a garage? Oh…” [https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-722-zpbg3n/2801-burnham-boulevard-minneapolis-mn-55416](https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-722-zpbg3n/2801-burnham-boulevard-minneapolis-mn-55416) > **[Landmarks and historic districts](https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/resident-services/property-housing/property-info/landmarks/)** > > You can explore more that 175 landmarks and 18 historic districts in Minneapolis. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/56 "2018-12-24T01:33:17Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I saw this house listing on Sotheby’s and thought “Who the hell would design a house in Minnesota with a three-car carport rather than a garage? Oh…” > > [Human Verification](https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-722-zpbg3n/2801-burnham-boulevard-minneapolis-mn-55416) > > [http://www.minneapolismn.gov/hpc/landmarks/hpc\_landmarks\_burnham\_blvd\_2801\_henry\_neils\_house](http://www.minneapolismn.gov/hpc/landmarks/hpc_landmarks_burnham_blvd_2801_henry_neils_house) The same guy who designed a house for Rochester, NY with no gutters? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/57 "2018-12-24T20:49:48Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > 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!” 🆒 The thing I most love about the Western Suburbs of Chicago is how common such stories are, especially for people of a certain age. Growing up in Arlington Heights didn’t provide me the same stories as growing up in Lombard gave my wife. > [@jtur88](#): > > The wonderful thing about old age is that I remember Wright, one of my heroes, during his lifetime, speaking on live TV interviews… [Here’s an interview with Wright and Carl Sandburg, each trying to look more feeble.](https://www.pbs.org/video/chicago-tonight-june-24-2015-web-extra-alistair-interview/) > [@Dinsdale](#): > > 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!) > [@erysichthon](#): > > I’m pleased to see that! When I toured the building, about 12 years ago, there were buckets and water stains everywhere. Leaky roofs are the dirty little secret of the FLW legacy (well, not much of a secret). > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The same guy who designed a house for Rochester, NY with no gutters? Worked with a guy whose mom’s Wright needed new gutters except they would cost more than a West Suburban tract house. At least she was short enough that she didn’t bang her head on doorways. Being new to these parts I suggested she get regular gutters and paint them copper. Things at me were thrown. Had a chance to pull one of Wright’s prefabs out of foreclosure. What I could get for my generic split-level would make the purchase a wash, then I’d have an office over the porte-cochère. Then I thought about how drafty that room would be and how bad that dump needed work that was beyond my ken and abilities and while I waffled someone else grabbed it. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/58 "2020-01-29T14:27:44Z")
Bumped. FLW’s architectural school is closing after almost 90 years: [Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture school to close after 88 years - CNN Style](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/frank-lloyd-wright-architecture-school-close/index.html) ---
**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:** [July 3, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/59 "2025-07-03T18:49:26Z")
Bumped. Envisioning unbuilt FLW works in color - very cool!: > **[Unbuilt Masterpiece: The Call Building - Hooked On The Past](http://www.hookedonthepast.com/unbuilt-masterpiece-the-call-building/)** > > Recreation of the Call Building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in San Francisco. California. 1912. Recreated by 3d modeling by David Romero and Theodore Zheng > **[Arizona Capitol - Hooked On The Past](http://www.hookedonthepast.com/arizona-capitol/)** > > I made this model for the quarterly magazine of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and is about a large government complex designed by Wright for the city of Phoenix. Wright designed an unsolicited project with the intention of creating debate around... > **[Mile High Illinois - Hooked On The Past](http://www.hookedonthepast.com/mile-high-illinois/)** > > This is probably Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous unbuilt project and, from a more personal point of view, the second-largest model I have ever made. The construction of this model was long and complex, all the floors are different, so for each of... ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyEcks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnyecks/32/18197_2.png) [@JohnnyEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyEcks)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434/60 "2025-07-03T20:11:48Z")
Interesting bit of trivia- Ayn Rand supposedly spent time with him while she was writing The Fountainhead, and they did not get along. She disapproved of the sycophants he surrounded himself with and the cult of personality he encouraged. Time proved her a hypocrite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-lloyd-wright-sesquicentennial/788434.md?page=4)