Issue 332 November 16th 2022

The Headlines

After Years Of Financial Woes, Price Tower Turns A Corner

Bartlesville, Oklahoma's iconic Price Tower has languished for years amid financial woes and management difficulties, but in recent months seems to be turning the corner.

In July, Donna Keffer took over as executive director of Price Tower Arts Center with the goal of paying off debt and helping the organization recover from its struggles.

"We just now have got ourselves in a good spot," said Keffer. "The board members really stepped up and believed in the mission."

As the only skyscraper realized by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Price Tower is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. The Tower houses an art gallery, restaurant, bar, hotel and office space rented by outside businesses.

Keffer praises the board's involvement and renewed interest in leaving no stone unturned to save the Tower. She believes that with community involvement, generations to come will be able to enjoy the Price Tower. More here.

Frank Lloyd Wright — The Architecture Of Defiance

Frank Lloyd Wright’s fascinating life story is fully in keeping with the extraordinary buildings he imagined into being, a one-man display of American exceptionalism. He coupled an eclectic imagination to the building materials of the modern age along with a magpie disposition to absorb influences from all over – from Turkey, Mayan buildings, his beloved Japan, and more.

These syntheses allowed him to become the person who "probably deserves more credit, and more blame, for what modern America looks like than in any other single figure in American history."

By dint of this he has been the subject of many books and documentaries, a figure of genius with a controversial personal life and thus a gift to scandal hungry newspapers not to mention that here was someone who was happy to cultivate his own myths.

But in this handsome, deeply considered book Jonathan Adams – arguably the best-known architect in Wales – suggests that by examining Wright’s Welsh roots you can locate the source of his driving work ethic, his radicalism and his philosophy. He makes that case most plausibly well.

Read Jon Gower's entire review by clicking here.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wooden Taliesin Lamps Reproduced By Yamagiwa

Late architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed beautiful wooden lamps for his 1911 Taliesin house in Wisconsin. The Japanese brand Yamagiwa was completely enamored by these minimalistic lamps, and decided to reproduce and make them available to the people.

Yamagiwa took permission from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and created three stunning versions of Wright’s Taliesin lamp. They produced a floor lamp and two table lamps. The Taliesin lamp is really quite intriguing because it is stacked. The reproduced lamps are crafted from a series of rectangular solid wood boxes which are stacked one on top of the other, creating a tower-like formation. Shafts of light stream down this tower, and bounce off the wooden reflectors, creating a warm and subtle glow, which mimics the appearance of sunlight in nature. See these beautiful lamps here.

Barrington Family Plans To Wake The Catlow From Hibernation

Opened in 1927, the Catlow Theater in downtown Barrington has faced some lean times in recent years. But new owners hope to revive the historic movie house as a multipurpose venue.

Brian Long and his wife, Julianne, bought the theater Oct. 20 from longtime owner Tim O'Connor. They're enchanted by the 1927-vintage movie house's history and are brimming with enthusiasm about its possibilities.

"Most people have never seen the real Catlow," said Long, who also owns Long & Co. Jewelers a short walk away in downtown Barrington. "So our goal is to bring it back to the original, which will actually improve it, and people will have a new experience here."

Long harbors a special interest in the theater's architect, Alfonso Iannelli. His work can be seen not only in the building itself but in the sculptures inside.

"We liked the architecture long before we ever knew we would own it," said Long, who received a bachelor of fine arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "I studied Frank Lloyd Wright and the history of Prairie School. Iannelli worked under Frank Lloyd Wright."

Hidden behind a curtain that he estimates has been in place since the 1950s, Long said he discovered "the most beautiful arch you've ever seen." He intends not only to preserve the theater's history but also restore elements, like niches along the walls flanking the movie screen, to their original splendor.

The rehab is likely to involve a substantial investment of money -- well over six figures -- and time. The hope is to have it ready for a grand reopening within two years. More here.

Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fawcett Farm" Hits The Market For $4.25M

Sited amid acres of agricultural land in Los Banos, California, Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1961 Fawcett Farm hits the market at $4.24 million. Spanning 375 sqm, the gated residence originally belonged to renowned Chicago Bears player Buck Fawcett before Ken & Carrie Cox, its current owners, came into the picture. Upon their request, Fawcett Farm underwent a multi-award-winning and extensive restoration consulted by the architect’s grandson, Eric Lloyd Wright. Today, tucked within a peaceful island of greenery, the refreshed property stands ready to become someone else’s dream home.

For many, Fawcett Farm perfectly exemplifies the Usonian home, a term first dubbed by Frank Lloyd Wright when designing for the archetypal American middle-class family: L-shaped, one-story, hugging a garden or a terrace, large cantilevered overhangs, local materials, clerestory windows and, most importantly, a strong indoor-outdoor visual flow. "We have no longer an outside and an inside as two separate things. Now the outside may come inside, and the inside may and does go outside. They are of each other. Form and function thus become one in design and execution if the nature of materials and method and purpose are all in unison," the architect once wrote.

Warm-toned and spacious, with natural daylight pouring in generously, the main residential spaces echo a timeless character thanks to an intricate material composition. Completed initially by Taliesin Fellow Cornelia Brierly (1913-2021), the Fawcett Farm interiors feature a main open-plan living area, seven bedrooms, six baths, a kitchen and dining room, and a service/laundry area. Complementing the living interiors is a small, semi-attached museum, a large detached workshop, a swimming pool, a Koi pond, and a lush Japanese garden.

Fawcett Farm is the winner of a 2019 Preservation Design Award for Restoration. The rehabilitation process was led by Arthur Dyson. Eric Lloyd Wright joined as a historic preservation consultant, while Roberto Boro extensively improved the landscape design. See the photos and more info here.

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