Frank Lloyd Wright: Why we're talking about America's most famous architect

Plus the week's best takes

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Good morning. It's Saturday, Aug. 16, and we're bringing you the latest Society & Culture newsletter. Every week, we provide fascinating deep dives into the worlds of art, music, literature, film, food, sports, entertainment, and more.

This week, we're covering Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect whose iconic Robie House in Chicago was completed 115 years ago. We're using that anniversary as an opportunity to look back at the work of the influential American who rearranged the way we look at buildings.

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—Kevin Kearney, 1440 Society & Culture Section Editor

The Organic Architect

Background

Commonly recognized as the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright challenged existing conventions of creating a building while championing beauty, nature, and livability throughout his seven-decade career. In addition to being regarded as a genius, Wright was also known for being temperamental and egocentric.

Wright designed over a thousand structures and realized 532, including houses, religious spaces, commercial spaces, and even a gas station. (See every building he designed.)

Finding the Wright Style

Born in 1867 in Wisconsin to a devout Unitarian family of Welsh descent, Wright grew up surrounded by rolling hills and fertile valleys, which helped foster his reverence for landscapes. Motivated to construct buildings and support his family, Wright studied engineering at a local college and eventually moved to Chicago for an architecture apprenticeship.

Soon after starting a family, Wright built a sharp and symmetric home for himself in 1889, which was the first example of his distinct artistic vision. Once Wright’s own practice took off, his creations got bolder, with structures like the huge concrete Unitarian sanctuary known as Unity Temple. The house of worship employed horizontal lines, open floor plans, and simplicity, key features of what’s now known as his iconic Prairie style.

Later Career

As his success grew, his personal life also caused a stir with an affair that led Wright to leave his family and build his beloved hideaway, Taliesin—Welsh for “shining brow”—in Wisconsin for his new life. A few years later, a servant set the residence on fire and killed Wright’s mistress and six others. Wright immediately pledged to rebuild the house and called the new project Taliesin II.

The financial woes of the Great Depression caused a significant drop in Wright’s commissions. In 1932, Wright started offering apprenticeships called the Taliesin Fellowship, partly as a financial solution, and invited apprentices to live, work, and learn on site. Two years later, Wright was commissioned to make a country home for an apprentice’s father, leading to the creation of the world-renowned Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania, situated atop a waterfall. The project reinvigorated his career both creatively and commercially.

After a fruitful late-in-life career that featured experimentation with new styles, Wright died at age 91 in 1959, just six months before the opening of his final project—the spiraling Guggenheim Museum.

An Organic Approach

Wright was motivated by the belief that architecture could better society and promoted ideals like community, functionality, and beauty.

In response to the economic difficulties of the 1920s and 1930s, Wright coined the term “Usonian” to describe an organic, simple, open style of house he envisioned as uniquely American, and pioneered a democratic model of smaller, stylish, and efficient homes. (Take a virtual tour of a Usonian home.)

A testament to his reverence for the natural world, one of Wright’s most notable philosophies was “organic architecture,” which emphasized a harmony between human-made structures and the land they stand on. Wright’s designs sought to form a coherent union between the two by spotlighting natural light, materials, and color schemes in his work.

Legacy

Wright’s inspired style introduced techniques and ideologies that revolutionized modern architecture and remain influential today.

Eight of Wright’s buildings have been listed as UNESCO Heritage sites (see them here), and a number of his historic homes are listed on the market, but are oddly hard to sell due to their difficult maintenance and upkeep.

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Explore Frank Lloyd Wright

What it’s like to work in an office constructed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright’s SC Johnson Global Headquarters is an administrative building in Wisconsin that radically challenged common practices for creating a corporate office space. Built in 1939, the office remains functional today with a spacious central room for exchanging ideas. Take a tour here.

Why Wright made a gas station in Minnesota

Located in Cloquet, Minnesota, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed full-service gas station and repair shop is still in operation today, attracting visitors from all over the world. The station exists thanks to a local oil businessman who tapped Wright for the job. Explore it here.

See renderings of Frank Lloyd Wright’s unmade buildings

Only about half of Frank Lloyd Wright’s over 1,000 designs were actually built. In 2018, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation commissioned Spanish architect and 3D designer David Romero to make digital models to see what Wright’s unrealized structures would look like. See them here.

Frank Lloyd Wright and the ingenious use of radiant heating

Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings weren’t just radical because of how they looked, but many of them also incorporated stunning technological innovations. Radiant heating is one of Wright’s most popular heating systems, offering the comfort of walking on warm floors on a cold day. Read about it here.

Explore the Frank Lloyd Wright properties on the market

Several of Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes are currently for sale, offering buyers the opportunity to own a historic building. Some of these homes could stay on the market for years, as they’re famously a pain to maintain. Browse the listings here.

What it’s like to be an apprentice at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin

Architect James Walter Schildroth became an apprentice in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship program in 1959, just months after Wright's passing. The invaluable experience taught him how to build as he worked and confronted him with the struggles of living in the space. Read about it here.

Cultural Context

Beyond our weekly deep dives, we love finding great takes on the culture currently shaping our lives. Here are some of the best reactions, profiles, and think pieces we encountered this week.

> The Agony and Ecstasy of Being a Viral Trickshot Video Star

The Guardian | Richard Godwin. They're everywhere online—launching basketballs, flipping nickels, tossing knives. Who are all these people? And why are so many people tuning in? Godwin interviews the top trickshot stars in an attempt to understand their motivations and their videos' massive appeal. (Read)

> America's Great Pickle Divide

WSJ | Natalie Weger. Pickle-themed snacks line grocery aisles, and pickle festivals are popping up across the US, but not everyone's happy about the culinary trend. Weger speaks with the haters to see why they're so appalled by pickle mania, along with the fanatics who have spearheaded the food's recent rise. (Read)

> How Fleetwood Mac Won the Classic Rock Wars

Hearing Things | Jillian Mapes. Fleetwood Mac is still attracting young listeners, due in no small part to the lore around band members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's romantic entanglement. Mapes digs into their ongoing relevance and how two recent dramatizations about the band attempt to capitalize on it. (Read)

> What It's Like to Sell Food at a Music Festival

Eater | Dianne de Guzman. This interview with bagel shop owner Evan Bloom, a vendor for three days of Dead and Company in San Francisco, details the thin margins and high stress that come with running food service for a festival. It's a fascinating window into a highly specific culinary art. (Read)

> How Literary Tourism Became the Hottest Vacation Trend

Thrillist | Rachel Chang. It may sound quaint—with voyages inspired by "Bridgerton" and Jane Austen—but literary tourism racks in billions every year. Chang explores the reason behind the industry's growth and breaks down the many ways book-lovers are pursuing their interests around the globe. (Read)

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