Issue 56 August 2nd 2017

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The Headlines

Wright's 150th Birthday Celebrated in Brazil

Professor Paulo Yassuhide Fujioka of the University of San Paulo and Marcelo Suzuki, professor at USP São Carlos, were invited by architects and professors at the State University of Maringá City in the northern area of Paraná State in Brazil, for a conference on heritage preservation. At Professor Fujioka’s recommendation, and in honor of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150 birthday, they proposed a design workshop proposing to turn the Emil Bach house in Chicago into another open Wright-designed house, with a visitor center and preservation lab in the backyard inspired, in part, by Toshiko Mori’s visitor building for Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York. Professor Fujioka reports that, “It was a very successful event, thrilling and exhilarating for all of us, students and USP and UEM professors. The conferences were held to a full packed house. The students became enthusiastic about the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and 33 of them joined the workshop.” Professor Paulo is shown above in front of a projected Fallingwater image. Read more.

Midland Documenting Its Mid-Century Modern Architecture

Members of Mid-Century Modern Midland in Midland, Michigan are working on a project that will document hundreds of Mid-Century Modern structures throughout their area. They've been scouting buildings that were designed and built in this style. According to Craig McDonald, director of the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, Midland has one of the largest collections of Mid-Century Modern structures of any city in the nation. Alden B. Dow is known to have designed more than 130 structures in Midland alone. Read more.

Listing Frank Lloyd Wright's Best Works

Business Insider has a list of the best works of Frank Lloyd Wright (in their estimation of course). As always, let us know what you think! Read more.

Tan-y-Deri Porch Restoration Complete

If you have not visited Taliesin near Spring Green, Wisconsin in awhile than you're in luck! The preservation crew has fully completed the reconstruction of the porch at Tan-y-Deri, which now stands as it existed from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Welsh for “Under the Oaks,” Frank Lloyd Wright designed Tan-y-Deri for his sister, Jane Porter, and her family. Wright eventually acquired Tan-y-Deri in the early 1950s and incorporated the home into the Taliesin estate. Read more.

Getting Personal with Frank Lloyd Wright: Taliesin and Taliesin West

It is hard not to agree the best way understand who Frank Lloyd Wright truly was as an architect is to look at the spaces he designed for himself: Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin and Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Frank Wright Foundation CEO Stuart Graff points out that some of the innovations in these homes are so ubiquitous today that it may seem as though they’ve always existed. “Thanks to Wright’s forward thinking, many of us have grown up with open floor plans, wide expanses of windows, and many other innovations that seemed radical at the time.” Read more.

Buffalo Builds on Architecture Tourism

Buffalo, New York invites you to take a walking tour of downtown where you can see more than 50 notable buildings from the 1830s to the 1980s. There are commercial, residential and institutional buildings by America’s most revered architects, including Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. If you visit, be sure to see Buffalo's classic downtown, loaded with more fabulous survived/revived structures saved from the wrecking ball. Read more.

New Mobile Tour App Features Wright's Blue Sky Mausoleum

The historic Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, NY has launched a new virtual reality-style tour app that makes it easy to self-tour the historic grounds -no matter a person’s location- and includes the Blue Sky Mausoleum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Darwin D. Martin championed and funded Frank Lloyd Wright for many decades. Wright, in turn, produced several legendary buildings for Martin and his family. The men’s thirty-year friendship was deeply important to both of them. Correspondence reveals that the two men discussed Blue Sky Mausoleum between 1925 and 1928, reflecting Martin’s desire to bring his family together for all eternity at Forest Lawn. Alas, it was never built. When Martin passed away in 1935, Wright said, “Today my best friend has died.”

In 2004, Forest Lawn Cemetery faithfully rendered Blue Sky based on extensive research into Wright's drawings, notes, and correspondence, in conjunction with an architect trained by Wright himself, Anthony Puttnam. Today, its broad stairs and soaring monolith rise toward the heavens, as Wright had envisioned and Martin had desired.

The app is now available for download on iOS and Android devices. Read more.

Massaro House and Charoudi Cottage For Sale On Petra Island

The Wright-designed Charoudi Cottage and the not-quite Wright-designed Massaro House on Petra Island—centerpiece for much architectural controversy—is on the market again for $14.92 million. Read more.

Buildings For The Prairie

Mark Hertzberg recently shared photos from his visit to see the new exhibit, "Frank Lloyd Wright: Buildings for the Prairie" on display at The Milwaukee Art Museum. You can get a sneak peek at his Wright in Racine blog before planning your visit to see the exhibit in person! Read more.

TAWANI Foundation's Gift to Unity Temple

TAWANI Foundation has made a $1 million major gift and a $1 million challenge grant to support the $25 million comprehensive restorations of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park. “The Unity Temple has been an important part of Oak Park for decades, and we’re thrilled that our gift has succeeded in returning one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic buildings in history to its original beauty and grandeur,” said Colonel Pritzker, TAWANI Foundation’s president and founder. “TAWANI Foundation takes seriously its responsibility to preserve and restore unique, historic sites that reclaim celebrated landmarks in our communities. This project underscores that commitment.”

Unity Temple Restoration Foundation is responsible for the campaign. Read more.

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