Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was one of the most prominent architects of the first half of the 20th century. To this day he is easily America's most famous architect (topping Philip Johnson, Paul Laszlo, Richard Neutra, Louis Kahn, and Frank Gehry) and still extremely well-known in the common public's eye.

Early Years

He was born in the agricultural town of Richland Center, Wisconsin, USA, and brought up with strong Unitarian and transcendental principles (eventually he would design the Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois). As a child he spent a great deal of time playing with the kindergarten educational blocks by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel (popularly known as Froebel's blocks) given by his mother. These consisted of various geometrically shaped blocks that could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions. Wright in his autobiography talks about the influence of these exercises on his approach to design. Many of his buildings are notable for the geometrical clarity they exhibit.

Related Topics:
Richland Center, Wisconsin - USA - Unitarian - Transcendental - Unity Temple - Oak Park - Illinois - Kindergarten - Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wright commenced his formal education in 1885 at the University of Wisconsin School for Engineering, where he was a member of a fraternity, Phi Delta Theta. He took classes part time for two years while apprenticing under Allen Conover, a local builder and professor of civil engineering. In 1887, Wright left the university without taking a degree (although he was granted an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the university in 1955) and moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he joined the architectural firm of Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Within the year, he had left Silsbee to work for the firm of Adler and Sullivan. Beginning in 1890, he was assigned all residential design work for the firm. In 1893, after a falling-out that probably concerned the work he had taken on outside the office, Wright left Adler and Sullivan to establish his own practice and home in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, IL. He had completed around fifty projects by 1901, including many houses in his hometown.http://www.wrightplus.org/wrightplus/wrightplus.html

Related Topics:
1885 - University of Wisconsin - Engineering - Fraternity - Phi Delta Theta - Allen Conover - 1887 - 1955 - Chicago, Illinois - Joseph Lyman Silsbee - Adler - Sullivan - 1890 - 1893 - Oak Park, IL - 1901

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Between 1900 and 1910, his residential designs were "Prairie Houses" (extended low buildings with shallow, sloping roofs, clean sky lines, suppressed chimneys, overhangs and terraces, using unfinished materials), so-called because the design is considered to complement the land around Chicago. These houses are credited with being the first examples of the "open plan."

Related Topics:
1900 - 1910 - Prairie Houses - Open plan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In fact, the manipulation of interior space in residential and public buildings, such as the Unitarian Unity Temple, in Oak Park, are hallmarks of his style.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He believed that humanity should be central to all design. Many examples of this work can be found in Buffalo, New York, resulting from a friendship between Wright and an executive from the Larkin Soap Company, Darwin D. Martin. In 1902 the Larkin Company decided to build a new administration building.

Related Topics:
Buffalo, New York - Larkin Soap Company - Darwin D. Martin - Larkin Company

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wright came to Buffalo and designed not only the first sketches for the Larkin Administration Building (demolished), but also three homes for the company's executives:

Related Topics:
Buffalo - Larkin Administration Building

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• George Barton House, Buffalo NY, 1903
• Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo NY, 1904
• William Heath House, Buffalo NY, 1905

The houses considered the masterpieces of the late Prairie period (1907–9) are the Frederick Robie House and the Avery and Queene Coonley House, both in Chicago. The Robie House with its soaring, cantilevered roof lines, supported by a 110-foot-long channel of steel, is the most dramatic. Its living and dining areas form virtually one uninterrupted space. This building had the most influence on young European architects after World War I and is called the "cornerstone of modernism." In 1910, the Wasmuth Portfolio was published, and created the first major exposure of Wright's work in Europe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~