Issue 215 August 19th 2020

The Headlines

The David and Gladys Wright House Sells For $7.25M

Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty Agent Bob Hassett announced the sale of the David and Gladys Wright House in the Arcadia area of Phoenix, AZ. The home was sold for $7.25 million. The historic home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his son David and daughter-in-law Gladys. The new owners plan on restoring and preserving the mid-century contemporary home which has iconic views of Camelback Mountain.

Hassett said the goal of the sale was to find a buyer who would preserve the Wright House, which was built in 1952 and was one of the later homes designed by the architect before his death in 1959.

“We had several offers over the past few years, but the buyers always wanted to only tear down the house and build all new ones. The sellers wanted nothing to do with those proposals as their intention from day one when they purchased it back in 2012 was to make sure the home and it’s integrity would de be preserved as such a historic Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece should and will be. These are the perfect buyers for this property, and we are all extremely happy that we were able to put this all together,” Hassett said.

The buyer is Benson Botsford LLC. The buyers include architects Bing Hu and Wenchin Shi. They served as architectural apprentices at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. They plan on personally restoring the Wright House including installing a new copper roof which was part of Frank Lloyd Wright’s original plan. See the photos here.

Whitefish Bay Usonian By Cary Caraway For Sale

A Mid-Century Modern home designed by Cary Caraway, apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, has come up for sale in Whitefish Bay, WI for $869,900. According to the listing, care has been taken to preserve original details and style of this home. Check out the listing with more images here.

Trio Of George W. Maher-Designed Mansions For Sale

Three Uptown Chicago mansions designed By Prairie School Architect and Frank Lloyd Wright contemporary, George W. Maher are currently for sale—on the same street!

Located in the Hutchinson Street Historic District in Buena Park, the 12,000-square-foot mansion at 817 W. Hutchinson St. joins two others — 839 W. Hutchinson St. and 750 W. Hutchinson St. — by the same architect that have been searching for new owners during recent months.

Buyers will have to have deep pockets: The three homes are the priciest properties for sale in the greater Uptown area at $2.6 million for 817 W. Hutchinson St., $2.89 million for 839 W. Hutchinson St. and $3.995 million for 750 W. Hutchinson St. Read more here.

#WrightVirtualVisits Gets Revamped With Live Weekly Facebook Video Series

A new version of the popular #WrightVirtualVisits is here after audiences requested a more interactive and in-depth experience. Launching August 20, 2020, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy (Chicago, IL), in partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (Scottsdale, AZ) and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation (Oak Park, IL), will debut the next evolution of the social media video series, #WrightVirtualVisits, which highlights Frank Lloyd Wright-designed public sites from around the country, many of which are currently closed due to COVID-19.

What’s new this time around? Every Thursday starting at 1:00 p.m. Eastern / 10:00 a.m. Pacific, two Frank Lloyd Wright sites will be paired up to go live – side by side – on Facebook Live video. The sites will focus on a particular theme, comparing and contrasting how that theme is expressed in Wright’s design at each. There will be live Q&A with questions taken via Facebook. Twenty other Wright sites will promote the live event each week by sharing their own photos or short videos responding to the theme, engaging the broader Wright community in a unique dialogue. The archive of videos, schedule of upcoming events, and list of sites participating in the project will be maintained and updated at savewright.org/wrightvirtualvisits. More here.

Bulova Marks 80th Anniversary Of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Bulova is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation with a trio of watches that adopt elements of his architectural designs. The Foundation is dedicated to preserving two homes that were designed and owned by Wright—Taliesin and Taliesin West—and inspiring society through an understanding and experience of his ideas, architecture, and design. The three Bulova tribute watches range from $275 to $475, with one style available in a limited edition of only 500. More information here.

Adler & Sullivan's Pilgrim Baptist Church Further Damaged By Windstorm

High winds that swept through the Chicago area left a tragic mark at the vacant shell of Pilgrim Baptist Church. Only two walls remain intact — the north and west walls, made of limestone and braced by metal beams.

The building has been a shell since January 2006, when it was gutted by fire. Built in 1890 and designed by famous architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, the building originally operated as a synagogue before the church purchased the property in 1922. Thomas A. Dorsey, considered the “father of gospel music” was a choir director at the church, which many consider to be the music style’s birthplace.

Since the fire, the church congregation, community groups and gospel performers have proposed myriad plans to preserve the building’s history, eventually landing on the National Museum of Gospel Music in 2017. The church has been fundraising for a plan to build the National Museum of Gospel Music. The project was to be completed this fall but already had been delayed to 2022. More here.

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