The works

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHTFRANK LLOYD WRIGHTofof

Part 3Part 3

SPRING GREEN RESTAURANT(FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT VISITOR CENTER)

Located near Taliesin, this center was designed in 1953 by Wright; work began in 1957, although it was unfinished in Wright’s death in 1959. The restaurant now serves as the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center. The structure is very long – about 300 feet – along the side of a hill.

The building is raised up on masonry piers and has a row of windows along the length of the building on the river side. The other side faces the hill.

TALIESIN COMPLEXThe Taliesin Complex is 3 miles

south of Spring Green, Wisconsin, and today comprises of almost 600 acres. After leaving Oak Park in 1909, Wright came to Spring Green where he ha dspent summer as a child with the Lloyd Jones relatives. On a hill, he built his new home and studio Taliesin, meaning in Welsh “Shining Brow” for his new love Mamah Cheney.

Wright damned Jones Creek to create a pond and in 1945 added a second dam to provide a pond for the Midway Farm. Wright felt the house should be “of” the hill and not on it and should suggest the lines and slopes of the hills. Natural materials complement the hillside.

A.D. GERMAN WAREHOUSEWright’s A.D. German Warehouse is his only building in Richland Center, his birthplace, and his only warehouse. In 1915, Wright designed the building for Alfred Dell German, a wholesale distributor of cement, coal, and grain. The 4 storey building is constructed of red brick and concrete. Because of its massive impression, heavy walls, decorated top and

minimal fenestration, this warehouse is often seen as an example of his “Mayan” buildings, a style he would practice later in the West.

The bricks are laid in an unusual bond with 3 stretchers and 1 header. Narrow slit windows below are even echoed by narrower windows echoed in the decorative frieze above.

Arthur L. Richards HousesThe Milwaukee block has six

low-cost homes designed by Wright. The American System Built Homes are examples of Prairie style homes made of pre-fabricated units. Originally, all six units were surfaced in stucco with wood trim, although some have been remodeled or sided; one duplex has been transformed into a single family dwelling unit.

The four westernmost units were identical two story duplexes whereas the two easternmost units were one-story bungalows.

One-story bungalow. The other bungalow is not pictured.

A duplex which has been sided.

Frederick C. Bogk HouseThis house has some

characteristic of the Prairie style – horizontality, a low-pitched roof with wide eaves and rows of leaded glass windows. Like many of Wright’s houses, this residence does not have an entrance in the front façade; the main entrance is from the driveway on the north side.

Still it has a massive, heavy feel with ornamental cast concrete and narrow windows, thus anticipating some of his California houses in the 1920s.

UNITARIAN MEETING HOUSEUntil the mid1940s the First

Unitarian Society of Madison met in a 19th century church near Capitol Square but the growth of their congregation necessitated a larger building. Wright’s father had been a founding member and Wright, a member, was the obvious, though not unanimous choice as the architect for the new meeting house.

This new structure was built in a scarcely populated hilly area West of Downtown Madison, allowing Wright to design a building coordinated with the site. Because of various cost overruns, the congregation helped with the actual work, in particular, hauling limestone from a nearby quarry. The economic problems this building created were probably worth it since the AIA has designated it as one of Wright’s most important buildings and it is on the

National Register of Historic Places.The one-floor meeting house is

constructed of native limestone, copper and glass. It is roofed in copper. The original plan is a one long wing (running east-west) with an entrance at one short end and a “prow” protruding northward on the long side, which is the main feature of the auditorium. The meeting house includes a social area, kitchen, classrooms and offices.

WRIGHT HOUSE AND STUDIOWright lived and worked here

from 1899-1909. The house was remodeled in 1898 with a large studio section added to the north (left) of the house. At that point, Wright moved his architectural practice to his studio. The house, essentially in the Shingle style, has brown shingles with green trim, a large sheltering and over-scaled roof, a lunette window under the peak of the gable and a clear entrance.

A large verandah, with a tall masonry wall, circles the front. In 1895, with an expanding family, Wright added an east wing at the rear of the house. This side entrance was added as a playroom on the second floor. A bay of which is cantilevered at the entrance.

In 1898, Wright added the studio section to his house in the North side. This section has three units asymmetrically arranged—a library/conference room at the front, a connecting reception area, and a large drafting room for as many as eight apprentices. Wright’s private office was behind the reception room. Both the library and drafting room have octagonal drums, similar solid lower walls, high windows and light coming from a roof skylight.

The North Side—the studio business entrance and connecting reception area.

A small loggia with entrances at both ends fronts the reception area. A terrace wall with limestone urns protect this entrance. The loggia columns are topped with a symbolic design. “The book of knowledge issues from the tree of Life, a symbol of natural growth. A scroll of architectural plans unrolls from it. On either sides are sentry storks, perhaps symbols of wisdom and fertility” (Ann Abernathy, from the official guidebook to the House and Studio).

WYOMING VALLEY SCHOOLWright donated his design for this

school in a town in Wyoming – a school consolidating of several one-classroom schools. It is located a few miles from Wright’s summer residence and the Taliesin fellowship. The simple structure is made of concrete blocks, with concrete floors and wood trim. An elongated hexagon in plan, it has a raised roof with clerestory windows.

Like Wright’s domestic architecture where the hearth represents home, here as well two fireplaces dominate the center.