The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright

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The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright
UNESCO World Heritage Site
IncludesEight locations in the United States
Criteria Cultural: (ii)
Reference 1496
Inscription2019 (43rd Session)
Area26.369 ha (65.16 acres)
Buffer zone710.103 ha (1,754.70 acres)

The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a selection of eight buildings across the United States that were designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. These sites demonstrate his philosophy of organic architecture, designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment. Wright's work had an international influence on the development of architecture in the 20th century. [1]

Contents

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was raised in rural Wisconsin and studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin. He then apprenticed with noted architects in the Chicago school of architecture, particularly Louis Sullivan. Wright opened his own successful Chicago practice in 1893, and developed an influential home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois. In the 20th century, he became one of the most renowned architects in the world. [2] [3]

Nomination

Through efforts led by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, a non profit organization, the collection was originally put on the World Heritage Tentative List in 2008 with ten of Wright's buildings. It then grew to 11 sites in 2011, but the S. C. Johnson & Son Inc. Administration Building and Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin, was eventually removed. [4] [5] A 2015 bid for inscription was referred by UNESCO for revision in July 2016. The Conservancy led, Frank Lloyd Wright World Heritage Council, worked closely with the National Park Service and UNESCO to reconsider the original proposal and to make appropriate changes. [6]

In December 2018, a revised proposal [7] was submitted with eight buildings, excluding the Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, from the proposal. [6] In the following June, the International Council on Monuments and Sites gave a positive recommendation. [8] The site was inscribed on the World Heritage list in July 2019. [9]

World Heritage listing

The eight representative Wright buildings selected for the World Heritage Site were designed in the first half of the 20th century. The first building included, Unity Temple (001), was completed in 1908. The last, The Guggenheim (008), was completed in 1959—the year Wright died—although its design began in the 1940s.

PictureID [10] NameLocationDescriptionCoordinatesProperty Area [Buffer Zone]
Oak Park Il Unity Temple8.jpg 1496rev-001 Unity Temple Oak Park, Illinois Completed in 1908, this unprecedented church building used reinforced concrete in novel ways, creating a light-filled space with the "colors of nature." Its use of this single material has caused it to be thought of as the first "modern building" in the world. [11] 41°53′18″N87°47′48″W / 41.88833°N 87.79667°W / 41.88833; -87.79667 0.167 ha (0.41 acres) [10.067 ha (24.88 acres)]
Robie House Exterior 19.jpg 1496rev-002 Frederick C. Robie House Chicago, Illinois This 1910 single-family home is considered a masterpiece of the Prairie School of architecture. Its "broad, sweeping horizontal lines; low, cantilevered roofs with overhanging eaves; and an open interior floor plan, . . . epitomizes Wright’s aim to design structures in harmony with nature." [12] A significant contributor to the concept of bringing nature indoors is the 175 leaded glass windows and doors, which feature a design of "abstraction of organic shapes". [13] 41°47′23.4″N87°35′45.3″W / 41.789833°N 87.595917°W / 41.789833; -87.595917 0.130 ha (0.32 acres) [1.315 ha (3.25 acres)]
Looking at Taliesin from Hill Crown.jpg 1496rev-003 Taliesin Spring Green, Wisconsin Begun in 1911 and never really finished, [14] Taliesin (Welsh for 'shining brow') became Wright's home, studio, and school of architecture. He built the large estate on the brow of a ridge, to be "'of the hill' not on it" [15] It is perhaps his most expansive and longest exploration of the organic theory of architecture and the Prairie School. [15] 43°08′30″N90°04′15″W / 43.14153°N 90.07091°W / 43.14153; -90.07091 4.931 ha (12.18 acres) [200.899 ha (496.43 acres)]
Aline Barnsdall Complex (9736565582).jpg 1496rev-004 Hollyhock House Los Angeles, California Wright's first commission in Los Angeles, Hollyhock House (built 1918-1921) was intended to be part of an arts colony and live theater complex in East Hollywood, built near the time the Southern California movie business was taking off. The work of Wright and his young apprentices became a springboard to what became known as California Modernism. [16] The structure "seamlessly integrates the indoors with outdoor gardens and living spaces". [17] 34°05′59.85″N118°17′40.61″W / 34.0999583°N 118.2946139°W / 34.0999583; -118.2946139 4.608 ha (11.39 acres) [13.986 ha (34.56 acres)]
Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr., residence, Pennsylvania, by Carol M. Highsmith.jpg 1496rev-005 Fallingwater Mill Run, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Built as a summer home in 1935, Fallingwater epitomizes Wright's ideas of organic architecture. Placed as if "floating" over stream and waterfall, its cantilevered terraces of rock and geometric reinforced concrete spaces blend with the setting's natural rock formations. Wright wanted the couple that commissioned the work to not just look out at the stream on their summer property but "live with the waterfall . . . as an integral part of [their] lives". The American Institute of Architects has called Fallingwater "the best all-time work of American architecture". [18] 39°54′22″N79°28′5″W / 39.90611°N 79.46806°W / 39.90611; -79.46806 11.212 ha (27.71 acres) [282.299 ha (697.58 acres)]
Jacobs First House - back 02.jpg 1496rev-006 Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House Madison, Wisconsin Built during the Great Depression, ideas for the Jacobs House (1937) grew out of an urban planning idea of Wright's that would provide a community of well-built, single-family affordable housing. Wright initially called this aesthetic Usonian, a word coined in the early 1900s for "American." Working within a budget of less than $5000, Wright combined his open design plan, functional spaces, and the use of wood, brick, dyed concrete, and large windows, to match a small landscaped neighborhood lot. [19] [20] 43°3′31″N89°26′29″W / 43.05861°N 89.44139°W / 43.05861; -89.44139 0.139 ha (0.34 acres) [1.286 ha (3.18 acres)]
Taliesin West Complex DSCN2137.jpg 1496rev-007 Taliesin West Scottsdale, Arizona In 1937 Wright began building his winter home, studio, and architectural fellowship center in the foothills of the Arizona's McDowell Mountains. The property was designed by Wright and his students, and built using timber, locally sourced stone, and a mixed sand concrete. Taliesin West was set within the landscape with overlapping indoor and outdoor rooms, a triangular garden of native plants, and triangular pool. [21] 33°36′22.8″N111°50′45.5″W / 33.606333°N 111.845972°W / 33.606333; -111.845972 4.285 ha (10.59 acres) [198.087 ha (489.48 acres)]
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (48059131351).jpg 1496rev-008 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, New York Wright's work for the Guggenheim Foundation in the 1940s and 1950s re-conceived the modern museum building as a place in conversation with the art within. [22] Wright also thought it important to have the museum placed across from natural areas in Central Park, and he incorporated the sinuous forms of nature in the spiral structure. [2] [23] 40°46′59″N73°57′32″W / 40.782975°N 73.958992°W / 40.782975; -73.958992 0.251 ha (0.62 acres) [2.164 ha (5.35 acres)]
The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright – Locations in the United States

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Lloyd Wright</span> American architect (1867–1959)

Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wesley Peters</span> American architect and engineer (1912–1991)

William Wesley Peters was an American architect and engineer, apprentice to and protégé of his father-in-law Frank Lloyd Wright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fallingwater</span> House in Pennsylvania designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935. Situated in the Mill Run section of Stewart township, in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about 70 miles (110 km) southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States, it is built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run river. The house was designed to serve as a weekend retreat for Liliane and Edgar J. Kaufmann, the owner of Pittsburgh's Kaufmann's Department Store.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robie House</span> U.S. National Historic Landmark in Chicago

The Frederick C. Robie House is a U.S. National Historic Landmark now on the campus of the University of Chicago in the South Side community area of Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois. Built between 1909 and 1910, the building was designed as a single family home by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It is considered perhaps the finest example of Prairie School, the first architectural style considered uniquely American.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taliesin (studio)</span> Studio and home of Frank Lloyd Wright in Spring Green, Wisconsin

Taliesin, sometimes known as Taliesin East, Taliesin Spring Green, or Taliesin North after 1937, is a historic property located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of the village of Spring Green, Wisconsin, United States. It was the estate of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and an extended exemplar of the Prairie School of architecture. The expansive house-studio set on the brow of a ridge was begun in 1911; the 600-acre (240 ha) property was developed on land that previously belonged to Wright's maternal family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity Temple</span> Historic site in Oak Park, Illinois

Unity Temple is a Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Illinois, and the home of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It was designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built between 1905 and 1908. Unity Temple is considered to be one of Wright's most important structures dating from the first decade of the twentieth century. Because of its consolidation of aesthetic intent and structure through use of a single material, reinforced concrete, Unity Temple is considered by many architects to be the first modern building in the world. This idea became of central importance to the modern architects who followed Wright, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and even the post-modernists, such as Frank Gehry. In 2019, along with seven other buildings designed by Wright in the 20th century, Unity Temple was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taliesin West</span> Frank Lloyd Wrights winter home and school, Scottsdale, Arizona, US

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graycliff</span> Historic house in New York, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House</span> House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tan-y-Deri</span> United States historic place

Tan-y-Deri, is also known as the Andrew T. Porter Home and the Jane and Andrew Porter Home. Jane Porter (1869-1953) was the sister of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The home was commissioned from Wright in 1907, with Jane and Andrew Porter (1858-1948) moving in with their children James (1901-1912) and Anna (1905-1934) by late January 1908. The home stands in a valley in the town of Wyoming, Wisconsin. This valley was originally settled by the Lloyd Joneses, who were the family of Wright and his sister's mother. The Lloyd Joneses were originally from Wales and, as a result of this heritage, Wright chose a Welsh name for the Porter home: “Tan-y-deri” is Welsh for “Under the oaks”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David and Gladys Wright House</span> House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Phoenix, Arizona

The David and Gladys Wright House is a Frank Lloyd Wright residence built in 1952 in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona. It has historically been listed with an address of 5212 East Exeter Boulevard, but currently has an entrance on the 4500 block of North Rubicon Avenue. There currently is no public access to the house.

Fallingwater is a 2013 concerto for solo violin and string orchestra by the American composer Michael Daugherty, inspired by four of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings: Taliesin, Fallingwater, Unity Temple and the Guggenheim Museum. The work was commissioned by the director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who gave the premiere on November 20, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The School of Architecture</span> Private architecture school in Paradise Valley, Arizona, USA

The School of Architecture is a private architecture school in Paradise Valley, Arizona. It was founded in 1986 as an accredited school by surviving members of the Taliesin Fellowship. The school offers a Master of Architecture program that focuses on the organic architecture design philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright. The school is the smallest accredited graduate architecture program in the United States and emphasizes hands-on learning, architectural immersion, experimentation, and a design-build program that grew out of the Taliesin Fellowships’ tradition of building shelters in the Arizona desert. The school is not ranked by any ranking publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Pew House</span>

The John C. Pew House, also known as the Ruth and John C. Pew House, is located at 3650 Lake Mendota Drive, Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin. It was designed by American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938 for research chemist John Pew and his wife, Ruth. Built on a narrow lot, the two-story home steps down the sloping hill to the shore of Madison's Lake Mendota. A home in Wright's Usonian style, the building was meant to be economical: its cost was US$8,750. Construction was supervised by a member of Wright's Taliesin Fellowship, William Wesley "Wes" Peters. Peters said to Wright about the building that, "I guess you can call the Pew house a poor man's Fallingwater." To which Wright was to have replied, "No, Fallingwater is the rich man's Pew House."

References

  1. ↑ "The 20th-century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "The Architecture of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum". Guggenheim.org. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  3. ↑ Miller, Hugh C. (1973), Chicago School of Architecture (PDF), United States Department of the Interior, pp. 8–9
  4. ↑ Kamin, Blair (29 January 2015). "Wright buildings to be nominated to list of significant world sites". Chicago Tribune.
  5. ↑ "Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Nominated for UNESCO Heritage List". Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. 17 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Eight Buildings Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List". Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. 20 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "Eight Wright Sites Inscribed to UNESCO World Heritage List". Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. Retrieved 2019-07-13.
  8. ↑ "World Heritage Committee to meet in Baku (Azerbaijan) to examine inscription of new sites on World Heritage List". Mirage News. 20 June 2019.
  9. ↑ "Two cultural sites added to UNESCO's World Heritage List". UNESCO. July 7, 2019.
  10. ↑ "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright : Multiple locations". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  11. ↑ "Unity Temple". Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  12. ↑ Garcia, Evan (April 1, 2019). "Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House Reopens After Massive Renovation". WTTW. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  13. ↑ Desai, Sapna (April 22, 1019). "Robie House Reopens After Extensive Restoration". The Chicago Maroon. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  14. ↑ Waldek, Stefanie (May 11, 2018). "7 Things You Didn't Know About Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin". Architectural Digest.
  15. 1 2 "Taliesin". Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  16. ↑ "Hollyhock House". Barnsdall Art Park Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  17. ↑ "Hollyhock House". Los Angeles Conservancy. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  18. ↑ "Fallingwater". Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  19. ↑ "First Jacobs House". WTTW Chicago. 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  20. ↑ Wright, Amy Beth (2017-07-04). "Seven Hidden Gems from Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Period". Metropolis. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  21. ↑ "Taliesin West". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  22. ↑ Kamin, Blair (July 7, 2019). "Column: 8 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, including Chicago's Robie House and Oak Park's Unity Temple, named to World Heritage List". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  23. ↑ "Organic Architecture". Guggenheim.org. 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
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