Issue 318 August 10th 2022

The Headlines

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House Unites Fire, Earth, Air, Water

Starting August 18, the public will once again be able to tour the first residence that renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed in LA: the 5,000-square-foot Hollyhock House. Located at Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood, the residence shut down during the COVID pandemic and underwent restorations to the cast stone work, art glass, wood finishes, and exterior finishes. The whole house was strengthened against earthquakes, and leaky roofs were fixed.

The house was commissioned by oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, who was planning to make it part of an arts complex. Wright completed it in 1921. Six years later, Barnsdall gave it to the City of LA, which has been running it ever since.

Hollyhock House is LA’s one and only UNESCO World Heritage Site, meaning its significance goes beyond national boundaries, influencing the development of architecture and culture at large. That’s according to curator Abbey Chamberlain Brach.

Aline Barnsdall’s favorite flower was the hollyhock, so Wright incorporated abstractions of it when creating bands of cast concrete stonework that run around the whole building, Brach explains. The stonework is influenced by Maya architecture. Listen to the story by clicking here.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Offers Discounted Tours For August At Taliesin West

Taliesin West, the home and studio of American master architect Frank Lloyd Wright, announced that it would be offering discounted tour prices in August, plus a robust schedule of new daily tours, youth and family programming as well as cultural and wellness experiences taking place at this national historic landmark and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“We want people to look at Taliesin West differently,” Alexandra Freyermuth, the manager of cultural programs at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, stated in the release. “We go beyond only offering tours to curate experiences that expand people’s engagement with the ethos here. This fall, we’re presenting happy hours, a book club, wellness programs and more.”

Visitors can explore Taliesin West through guided and audio tours. For the month of August and for the first time ever, visitors will also enjoy a $4 discount on the price of admission. Advance purchase of tour tickets is recommended.

Some of the tours offered include a home & studio tour, a highlights audio tour, an in-depth guided tour and a sacred spaces exhibition, which is a traveling attraction that features 32 large-scale photographs of 13 examples of architecture designed by Wright that all share a masterful use of light and connection to the surrounding landscape. For more information click here.

Schindler's House's Fascinating Backstory

As the storied Schindler House celebrates its 100th birthday, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture has organized a summer’s worth of programming that delves into the Modernist classic’s fascinating backstory and enigmatic designer.

Rudolph Schindler is widely considered one of California’s most influential Modernists, but was excluded from the canon of great 20th-century architects throughout his life. Not only was the Austrian expat omitted from the Museum of Modern Art’s landmark modern architecture exhibition in 1932 and shrugged off by former mentor Frank Lloyd Wright, but he also wasn’t invited to design one of the famous Case Study Houses in his adopted hometown in the 1940s. Despite this, he designed one of the greatest examples of California Modernism: the Schindler House in West Hollywood, which he finished in 1922.

A century later, the story is much different. Schindler is widely revered, and his namesake residence is celebrating its centennial with a major exhibition and series of programming organized throughout the summer by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. “Schindler House: 100 Years in the Making” traces the home’s humble origins as a then-rural retreat for him and his wife, Pauline, who turned the residence into a bohemian oasis—salons, poetry recitals, and nude dances attracted freethinking creators like John Cage, Richard Neutra, Galka Scheyer, Aldous Huxley, and Upton Sinclair.

The show traces the history of Schindler House and delves into its perpetual state of flux. The house has undergone drastic transformations over the years—painted, carpeted, curtained, excavated—at the uncaring hands of some of its inhabitants. An installation by artist Stephen Prina nods to how Pauline once painted part of the house radiant pink after she and Schindler divorced, much to his chagrin.

In 1980, Friends of the Schindler House acquired the property and has made strides to both preserve its original appearance and transform it into a vitalizing force within L.A.’s design community. (The agency recently launched a million-dollar campaign to repair its cracked floors and decaying woodwork.) In the past decade, the house has played host to exhibitions by Carmen Argote, Atelier de Troupe, Brendan Ravenhill, and Pamela Shamshiri, all of whom cite Schindler as a key influence.

“I came to live and work in California,” Schindler wrote in 1952, the year before his death. “I camped under the open sky, in the redwoods, on the beach, the foothills, and the desert. I tested its adobe, its granite, and its sky. Out of a carefully built-up conception of how [we] could grow roots in the soil—unique and delightful—I built my house. Unless I failed, it should be as Californian as the Parthenon is Greek and the Forum Roman.” More here.

Taliesin West Book Club

Calling all bookworms, architecture enthusiasts, and those with a burning curiosity to know more! Join the Taliesin West Book Club as they explore a range of texts and topics. Join fellow literary and design enthusiasts as you dive into engaging conversations about each book and connect it to different architectural spaces found on Taliesin West’s expansive grounds. Each month they will announce a new book along with the special location where the conversation will be held.

The Taliesin West Book Club begins September 7 and runs until May 3. You will need to purchase a ticket for each book club meeting. For a full list of dates and which books are being featured click here to learn more. A reminder the book club meets from 6-7 p.m., the first Wednesday of each month.

Allentown Art Museum Will Soon Offer "Free Admission To All, Forever"

The Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania, announced in a letter this week to its members that it will make the switch to “Free Admission for All, Forever” at the end of the month.

“Becoming an admission-free Museum is the most important step yet in our years-long journey toward eliminating barriers to entry and ensuring that our entire community has access to the Museum and our programs,” Max Weintraub, museum president and CEO, said.

Renovations on several galleries, including: the Butz Gallery, the Goodman Gallery, the Trexler Gallery, as well as the Decorative Arts Corridor and the Frank Lloyd Wright Library prompted the museum to offer free admission since earlier this year.

The museum will host a two-day initiation of its new program on Aug. 27 and 28.

Both days will feature guided tours, artists in the galleries, self-guided Treasure Hunts, music and food. A complete schedule of activities can be found by clicking here.

Edgar Tafel’s Nelsen House For Sale For The First Time In 36 Years

A rare piece of American architectural history is on the market in the Village of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, the Southeastern Racine County location between Chicagoland to the south and greater Milwaukee to the north.

Edgar Tafel's "Henry and Gladys Nelsen House," a mid-century modern work sited on a green oasis of 1.5 wooded, park-like acres, embraces the Wrightian union of landscape and architecture. Organic materials and design elements seamlessly unite nature and structure, melding the grand Prairie style with the more human-scale Usonian style. The 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2,500 square foot one-story home, which is listed at $789,000, has been lovingly preserved with updates enhancing the architectural integrity and livable comfort that a one-of-a-kind masterpiece deserves. The open great room / dining room features a massive central brick fireplace wall, warm tones of vintage Weldtex combed striated wood panel walls and ceilings, and generous walls of glass bringing the indoors and outdoors together seamlessly. A beamed-ceiling generous owners suite features an office, private screened porch, and ensuite bath. Multiple outdoor areas include ‘secret garden’ patio on the north side and walk-out two-level deck on the south side.

Frank Lloyd Wright once observed that: “Buildings like people must first be sincere, must be true, and then withall as gracious and loveable as may be.” Edgar Tafel, took that to heart, and traveled by bus and train from New York City to the landscape of Spring Green, Wisconsin as a 20 year-old to join the first group of the Taliesin Fellowship in 1932. Tafel would go on to work at Wright’s side as a star disciple for nine years, including supervising construction of Wright’s S.C. Johnson Administration Building and Wingspread (the Herbert F. Johnson house) in Racine, WI, as well as Fallingwater (the Edgar J. Kaufmann house) in Bear Run, PA; Still Bend (the Bernard Schwarz house) in Two Rivers, WI, among many projects in which he worked closely w/ Wright.

Tafel received his first private design commission in 1938 for a Racine family, and ultimately was commissioned to create six other solo home designs in and around Racine in the mid to late 1940’s after departing Taliesin to serve in the war effort and then establishing his own firm in New York City. Henry Nelsen was a carpenter who worked with Edgar Tafel and Frank Lloyd Wright on the Johnson building in Racine. In 1947 Nelsen asked Tafel to design this house, which allowed Nelsen to do most of the carpentry himself. During his career, Tafel designed 80 houses, 35 churches and other religious buildings and three college campuses the majority of which are in the NY-Tri-State and Northeast. Of these, only 7 of his solo-designed homes are located in Wisconsin, in and around Racine.

In his autobiographical Apprentice to Genius: Years With Frank Lloyd Wright (McGraw-Hill 1979) Tafel credited his own independent spirit as the basis for his special relationship to Wright. “By the time I got to Taliesin, I had a well developed sense of fun. Mr. Wright soon came to think of me as a “Peck’s Bad Boy” type, and I think he had an affection for me because of that independence. In those first years of the Fellowship, I was a solid member of the small core who became truly serious about his architecture. We felt we were the heart of the Fellowship, the reason for its existence. Maybe it was to us that Mr. Wright looked to help fulfill his dream.”

Visit the listing here to see more photos. For more information, contact Faye Becker of Becker Stong Real Estate Group at (262) 989-4877 or Faye@fayebecker.com.

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