America's most famous architect was born this day in 1867. From the Prairie Style homes to what is arguably the most famous house in America, Fallingwater, to the Guggenheim Museum in New York, he designed buildings that dominated architecture for most of the first half of the 20th Century.
Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I always knew about Falling Water, the home Wright built for the Kaufmann family. Like most Western PA residents, I have driven past the landmark home many times yet have never visited. Each Summer, I resolve to make a pilgrimage and promptly forget it.
Wright is also famous for his huge ego and biting wit, yet he tended to recycle his best insults. His famous put-down of Philip Johnson has been attributed by some to a family member. The story I have heard in that Wright had designed a home for his brother, I believe, near Phoenix. During an unexpected and rare downpour, Wright's Irish sister-in-law stood amidst countless leaks and remarked, "Well, this is what you get for leaving a work of art out in the rain."
Wright had a scandalous affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney (I can't find if she's any ancestor of the Veep) the wife of a client and an early feminist and advocate of "Free Style" living. Cheney was the woman for whom Wright built Taliesin. Ironically, the home served as Wright's manifesto and the scene of his greatest tragedy. Wright had conceived an architecture in which one door served all purposes. A servant, said to have been driven mad by low pay, hard abuse and the sinful couple started a fire during lunch and barred the only exit, standing with a hatchet to kill seven people as they ran out, including Cheney and her two children.
Wright never really recovered. He built Taliesin Two, as a sort of homage to Cheney on the ashes of his home. This also burned. Neighbors looted the home of Wright's collection of Oriental Art as others helped put out the fire.
Wright married two more times and completed Fallingwater during this later period. His late life yielded few distinctive works. His growing fame was balanced by buildings that exhibited his huge ego yet were regarded mostly as kitsch.
Google today made their logo from famous FL Wright landmarks. It was pretty cool.
Posted by: thc | June 08, 2005 at 09:45 PM