Issue 312  June 29th 2022

Wright’s Granddaughter Reflects On Her Famous Grandfather

Frank Lloyd Wright’s granddaughter, Nora Natof, reflects on her famous grandfather in this article by Lacey Sikora.

Nora Natof didn’t meet her famous grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright, until she was 12 or 13. Her mother, Frances Wright Caroe was one of Wright’s six children from his first marriage to wife Catherine. Caroe was estranged from her father for a period, and Natof remembers being first introduced to Wright in New York City, where he was living at the Plaza Hotel with his third wife, Olgivanna.

For several years when Natof was in her teens in the early 1950s, she was permitted to spend summers at Taliesin. Now 87, Natof says those summers “probably influenced me a lot.”

The community aspect of Taliesin is one she recalls in detail. At that point, she says, the home in Spring Green, Wisconsin was an “almost” sustainable community with vegetable gardens and farm animals. Wright’s apprentices served people during meals.

Most of all, she recalls the arts, which she thinks were Olgivanna’s influence at work. “On weekends, we had theater productions, and everyone dressed very formally,” Natof said. “We had a quartet, a chorus and actors. It was a very self-contained cultural community in that sense.” On Sundays, Wright addressed the 75 to 80 architects who were in residence each summer. Natof recalls that her grandfather was held in high regard.

For Natof, it has been a life with many acts and many satisfactions. She would co-found a Montessori school in New Jersey, worked as a nurse and as an activist, advocating for the environment and civil rights. Two years ago, she moved to Oak Park to be closer to her son, Lloyd.

Oak Park has been a good fit. After a lifetime of civic involvement, including the efforts in the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s March for Peace, she enjoys the diversity and progressive politics of her new hometown. She goes to Quaker meetings and just joined an organization called Compassion & Choices, which advocates for medical aid in dying. Read more about Nora Natof by clicking here.

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Marijuana Millionaire Sells The Historic Sowden House

Dirt reports about the recent sale of the historic Sowden House.

In early 2018, CBD entrepreneur Dan Goldfarb doled out nearly $4.7 million for a historic Lloyd Wright-designed residence in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. A former hedge-fund analyst from New York who founded Canna-Pet — a Seattle-based company that sells hemp CBD for pets — he planned to use the space as a hub for social and fund-raising events.

Now, a little over four years later, Goldfarb and his wife Jenny Landers have sold their unique home. The buyer, records indicate, is Nate Daneshgar — a member of a wealthy Beverly Hills family that made their money in commercial real estate and are perhaps best known for owning DTLA’s Grand Central Market. Daneshgar forked over just under $6.2 million for the place in an off-market deal, or almost $1.5 million more than Goldfarb and Landers paid for the property back in April 2018.

Originally designed and built in 1926 by Lloyd Wright (the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright) for painter and photographer John Sowden and his wife Ruth. The dwelling was designated by the city of L.A. in 2003 as a historic-cultural monument. Resting on a 0.3-acre parcel of land dotted with lush foliage, the rectangular-shaped home’s striking exterior boasts hand-casted concrete textile blocks. Four connected wings surround a central courtyard holding a pool and spa nestled alongside an al fresco lounging space marked by a clay fire-pit.

In its current iteration, four bedrooms and five baths are spread across 5,600 square feet of living space adorned throughout with soaring ceilings, oak and tile floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, built-in shelving and myriad ornamental details. Sculpted copper gates open into a cave-like entryway encompassing the entire lower level, with winding stairs leading up to the main living quarters.

From there, highlights include a spacious living room displaying a massive fireplace and bookcases that are said to conceal a “secret room,” as well as a formal dining room and gourmet kitchen outfitted with updated appliances — all of which spill out to the open-air courtyard via French doors separated by columns. Read more and see the photos here.

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The History Of Bok Tower Gardens In Lake Wales, FL

Connor Keith has the history of Bok Tower Gardens, from its inception as a wildlife sanctuary to its dedication by a president.

Edward W. Bok was born in the Netherlands in 1863 and immigrated to Brooklyn, NY at age six. With a love of education and writing, he worked in advertising + publishing, and was published 12 times in his lifetime. In 1889, he became the editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal — the first magazine in the world with one million subscribers. Edward was very interested in architecture, and was actually one of the first to promote house plans from architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his magazine.

Spending winters in Lake Wales, Edward fell in love with Florida’s natural beauty. He would look out across Polk County and marvel at the peaceful landscape from Iron Mountain, a spot on the Lake Wales Ridge that’s 295-ft above sea level. It was then that he decided to build a sanctuary for birds + wildlife and call it the “Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower.”

He reached out to landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. for help designing the 157-acre gardens. Of course, Frederick wasn’t just any architect — his father designed Central Park, and he himself had worked at the White House + the Biltmore Estate.

Over five years, Frederick worked to plant native and exotic plants that would thrive in Florida’s humid climate and welcome migrating birds. You can also see his touch in the Reflection Pool, which mirrors the image of the Bok Singing Tower.

The Bok Singing Tower was designed by another big name, president of the American Institute of Architects, Milton B. Medary. Milton was inspired by art deco and neo-Gothic design for the tower. The structure of the tower was built with steel, then covered by coquina stone from St. Augustine, FL and pink + gray marble from Georgia. Continue reading about this history by clickinghere.

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Frank Lloyd Wright: How Wales Shaped America’s Favourite Buildings

Daniel Villa, a designer who has moved to the US from Wales, suggests that it’s almost impossible to separate Frank Lloyd Wright's own Welsh ancestry and upbringing from the philosophies, ingenuity, and defiance for which he is so renowned.

Known for his radical organic designs that sometimes denied their urban context, often rooted in profound meaning, and always inspired by nature, Frank Lloyd Wright and his five-hundred-plus buildings undeniably shaped a better world for living. Remnants of Wales echo through the walls and names of his buildings today. In fact, his estate on the brow of a hill in Wisconsin – Taliesin – is named after the old Welsh bard whose name translates to “Shining Brow”.

It’s an inescapable reality that Welsh culture had impacted Wright’s flair and values, and during the current zeitgeist of galvanised Welsh identity and the resurgence of the Welsh language, it’s a difficult trait to overlook and understate. Read more here.

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A Spring Evening At Penwern

Mark Hertzberg recently shared some photos, insights, and history on Frank Lloyd Wright's Penwern—which was recently the site of a benefit evening for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. The estate's stewards restored a lost greenhouse (once part of the entrance gatehouse) that was worked on through the Pandemic and finally ready to be enjoyed in person by the benefit event guests. Read and see more at the Wright in Racine blog here.

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