Issue 187 February 5th 2020

The Headlines

In Memoriam: Kamal Amin

News reached us that Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Kamal Amin passed away peacefully in his sleep last Sunday morning at age 91 at his home in Phoenix. Kamal, who was born in Cairo, Egypt, joined the Taliesin Fellowship in 1951. After Wright's passing in 1959, Kamal worked as an architect and structural engineer for the Taliesin Associated Architects from 1960-1977. Following his time at Taliesin, he worked in his own private practice. Aside from the books he wrote about his time at Taliesin, he will be fondly remembered for his desert shelter named "Lotus." Learn more about Kamal's life and work here.

The Best Buildings Frank Lloyd Wright Designed

Over the course of his seven-decade career, Frank Lloyd Wright designed more than 1,000 structures and 532 were actually built. He created private homes, public buildings, museums, and office spaces. Insider has a list of 13 of what they consider Wright's best buildings. Read the article and see if you agree with their choices here.

An Afternoon At Hollyhock House

Hollyhock House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1919-1921, crowns a knoll called Olive Hill in East Hollywood. The commission for the house came from Aline Barnsdall, an oil heiress, who wanted Wright to build a complex of buildings on the site–a theater, art gallery, concert hall, cinema–to enrich the cultural life of Los Angeles. Jeffrey St. Clair of counterpunch.org spent an afternoon at Hollyhock House and shares the photographs with us here.

Wright's Marden House Sells...Along with Adjacent Virginia Mega Mansion

AOL's co-founder just sold his enormous Virginia estate — now the most expensive DC-area home ever ever sold in the DC area at $45 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The estate actually consists of two buildings, a larger main residence, and of interest to us the smaller "guest house" (which was originally designed for Luis Marden in 1953 by Frank Lloyd Wright.) See some photos here.

Winifred Haun & Dancers At Unity Temple

On February 21 and 22, Unity Temple Restoration Foundation will host the Winifred Haun & Dancers for a one-of-a-kind event at Unity Temple. The Winifred Haun & Dancers are a professional modern dance company led by award winning choreographer and dancer, Winifred Haun. These custom choreographed performances are inspired by Unity Temple and should be compelling to see performed in Wright's iconic space. Tickets are $29 for general admission, $24 for UTRF members and $19 for students/children. Click here to get yours.

About

This weekly Wright Society update is brought to you by Eric O'Malley with Bryan and Lisa Kelly from PrairieMod. If you enjoy these free, curated updates—please forward our sign-up page and/or share on Social Media.

If you’d like to submit content to be featured here, please reach out by emailing us at mail[at]wrightsociety.com.