Frank Lloyd Wright and the Poetry of Space

Wisconsin and Taliesin

andrewanddave — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:45:36 +0000

Sorry about not updating the previous day- we had to get up and out from Oak Park quite early. Anyway, yesterday we took a bus from Chicago to Madison, WI and visited Monona Terrace on the shores of Lake Monona. Despite being designed by Wright over 70 years ago, Monona Terrace was only built in the last 10 years and was controversial because it was built into the lake instead of on the shores. The design for the Terrace is typical of Wright’s later designs in that it is futuristic, incoporating large circular open air public spaces and taking into account the automobile culture of the 1950s. It is very similar to Marin County Court House in California. (We finished up the day in Madison taking in the shops on State St.)

Today, we visited Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. This was far and away the highlight of the trip. To begin with the tour was incredibly comprehensive covering all 5 structures on the 600-acre estate. We spent almost half of the tour walking down dusty country lanes from one building to the other, taking in the surrounding rolling hills of the river valley. Particularly impressive were the theater in the school house (the famous curtain, unfortunately is on display at the Guggenheim), the Romeo and Juliet tower (a wooden structure which survived 91 years exposed to the elements), and the magnificent view from the main building. Although the tour lasted over 4 hours, it was definitely worth it and a must for all serious Wright fans.

We finished the afternoon with a little backcountry exploring, including wading in the Wisconsin river and walking through the woods near the Taliesin estate.

Unfortunately, for some reason I can’t upload any pictures this time. It says “IO Error” whenever I try to do it. Oh well…

A Visit to the Robie House

andrewanddave — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:35:58 +0000

So yesterday we finished seeing the last of FLW’s houses in Oak Park (Furbeck and Cheney houses) and took the Metra down to Hyde Park to visit Robie House. Although the house was under significant renovation for restoration (which is expected to last 5 more year and cost a further 5-6 million dollars), the tour was quite comprehensive and the guide was very knowledgable. We’re a day behind on uploading photos, so we’ll try to have some of those pics for you by tomorrow.

With our only significant Wright project of the day completed, we decided to hit the city, specifically the Art Institute and Millenium Park. We had a great time wandering around the museum and seeing the Impressionists and Modern galleries.

Anyway, here are two pics from Wright Plus on Saturday… off to Wisconsin today!

Wright Plus

andrewanddave — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:15:38 +0000

Yesterday, Wright fanatics (and us) from all over the country (and world probably) gathered for Wright Plus 2009. This year, there were three Wright houses on display, the Furbeck House, the Hills-DeCaro House, and the Gale House, as well as the Home and Studio and Unity Temple.

After visiting the three houses, we collectively decided our favorite was the Hills-Decaro. Despite having perhaps the most unappealing facade of the three, the interior was impeccable and well restored by the former owners (pictures of these house to come later). We also noted on our travels that Unity Temple was quite run-down: in fact, it is one of the 11 most endangered historical sites in the US because the Unity Temple Preservation Fund constantly has trouble raising funds.

After Wright Plus, we wandered around Oak Park and River Forest for the afternoon trying to find a few Wright houses that were not on the tour. We were not disappointed when we found the Winslow house and the Isabel Roberts house in River Forest.

Today we’ll be finishing up the few remaining Wright houses in Oak Park before taking the Metra to University of Chicago to see Robie house. And yes, the weather was much better yesterday!

Finally, a nice shot of Chicago at night for you all.

Chicago!

andrewanddave — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:40:02 +0000

So we finally made it to Chicago last night after a ridiculous number of delays on the flight. Last night we took the train in from Oak Park, wandered around the city, and went to the top of the Hancock Tower- the view was absolutely amazing and I’ll hopefully post pics later. The weather is pretty terrible but we’ll manage…

Anyway, we’re off to Wright Plus today but we’ll probably be back tonight laden with photos!

Hello world!

andrewanddave — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:51:56 +0000

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