Issue 73 November 29th 2017

The Headlines

Wright's “Crazy House”

In 1938, Leigh Stevens first approached Frank Lloyd Wright and asked him to design Auldbrass. Auldbrass Plantation, near the small town of Yemassee in Beaufort County, South Carolina, recently opened its doors for the highly anticipated public tours that it hosts every two years.

But Wright and his unique plantation were not always beloved around those parts. As construction on Auldbrass began in 1940, locals started to talk about “crazy house” and word spread quickly. Read more.

In Memoriam: Albert C. Ledner

Architect Albert C. Ledner, one-time Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice, recently passed away at the age of 93. Although he didn't study under Wright for long, he had an indelible impact on Modern architecture in New Orleans and beyond, designing over 40 residences and several innovative meeting halls for the National Maritime Union, including a folded and pleated pointed star of a building on Tchoupitoulas Street.

A documentary on Ledner's work was screened at the Architecture and Design Film Fest last summer in New Orleans and again in New York on November 4-5, 2017. Ledner traveled to Manhattan to attend the screening and to see the redevelopment of the former National Maritime Union buildings he had designed there. "He went out doing what exactly he loved to do," his daughter Catherine Ledner said. Read more.

Evening Teater's Knoll Exhibition Tour Offered

Enjoy a glass of wine and take a guided tour of a new visual arts exhibition, “Art into Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright, Archie Teater and Teater’s Knoll,” at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Ketchum, Idaho. Author and landscape architect Henry Whiting III, who is the current owner of the Archie Teater Studio in Bliss, Idaho, will speak about his experience restoring and living in a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structure over the last several decades.

Featuring architectural plans and photographs of the Archie Teater Studio (the only Wright-designed building in Idaho), the exhibition considers this special architectural landmark, also known as "Teater’s Knoll," within the larger context of Wright’s unique practice and philosophy. The exhibition includes furniture from the studio and a selection of paintings by Archie Teater (1901–1978).

The Sun Valley Center for the Arts will host the first of two free evening tours at 5:30pm December 7, 2017 at the center, 191 5th St. E., Ketchum. The exhibit will be on view through January 17, 2018. Additional events associated with the exhibition include a free gallery walk on December 29, 2017 and a second evening exhibition tour on January 11, 2018. Read more.

Prairie School Bar: A Toast To Frank Lloyd Wright

For anyone who’s ever daydreamed of attending a Prairie Style cocktail party (and hasn't read a previous story about this newly opened bar), your invitation has arrived. Prairie School, the new Fulton Market bar, proudly celebrates the architect’s well-known aesthetic. For mixologist and Oak Park native Jim Meehan, who used to pass Wright’s Home and Studio on the way to school, the guiding principle of Prairie School architecture — connecting design intrinsically to its environs — pertains to the drinks, too. “I want to look at what’s here and celebrate it,” he says. So there are locally distilled spirits, plus an upscale take on the traditional Brandy Old-Fashioned of Wisconsin, where Wright designed many structures.

Prairie School is located at 326 N Morgan St, Chicago, Illinois. Read more.

Taliesin Alumn Refreshes Hotel Valley Ho Interior To Complement Modernist Aesthetic

The renovation of mid-century hotels and motels has become a major trend across the US over the past few years. Hotel Valley Ho, an iconic mid-century hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been brought up-to-date while retaining its original modernist features by architect Edward L Varney. The interiors of the hotel's 241 rooms and suites were renovated by local designer Anissa Mendil — who spent part of her education at nearby Taliesin West, home to the architecture school founded by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Mendil, a director at architecture and interiors firm 3rd Story, aimed to retain the mid-century atmosphere but mix older styles with contemporary furniture. Read more.

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arizona Biltmore

Mike Berliner writes in the Los Angeles Times about the Arizona Biltmore architect of record controversy. "Although Albert MacArthur is the architect of record, the building is listed and described in books about Wright. In 1928 Wright wrote that MacArthur was the architect, but in the early 1950s, when answering a question about why he didn’t come right out and say that he designed the building, Wright replied only that “The building speaks for itself.” Read more.

If you want to read an in-depth discussion of this "Arizona Biltmore: Wright or Not" topic, be sure to pick up a copy of this issue of the Journal of Organic Architecture + Design. Get it here.

Sneak Peek: Zonta Homewalk Set for December 2-3, 2017

The Zonta Club of Midland, Michigan, in collaboration with the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, have selected five Midland area homes to showcase in their holiday splendor. Professional decorators and the homeowners have decked out each home with fun and unique holiday decorations. A variety of architectural styles are featured in this year's walk, including mid-century modern, prairie and craftsman.

The 37th annual Zonta Homewalk is scheduled for 1-5pm Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3, 2017, throughout Midland. Read more.

Curbed's Illustrated Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright

In case you missed it earlier this year during their "Wright Week" celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th birthday, Kelsey Keith of Curbed gave us the architect’s signature buildings in An illustrated guide to Frank Lloyd Wright. With the help of illustrator Julia Rothman, they have separated out Wright's building chronology into a few key themes from the Frank Lloyd Wright oeuvre, from the domestically-scaled to the heavily ornamented, from the corporate behemoth to the soaring geometric forms of his later years. A poster-sized PDF version is available for download. Read more.

Wright's Winter Home Draws Fans to Arizona Desert

From 1937 until his death in 1959 at age 91, the Scottsdale, Arizona desert site known as "Taliesin West" was the winter home and architectural laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright. Today, the 491-acre site in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains remains the winter home of the graduate school, which offers an accredited Master of Architecture degree. It's also year-round headquarters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which oversees the architect's works.

The property is also a magnet for fans of the man who designed some of the most innovative buildings in America, attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year to this National Historic Landmark. Although final numbers for 2017 aren't in, Wright Foundation officials say visits appear to be up significantly as the architect's admirers mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, June 8, 1867.

If You Go...

TALIESIN WEST: 12621 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, Scottsdale, Arizona; http://franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west or 480-860-2700. Open daily September-May except Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. In June, July and August, closed Tuesday-Wednesday. Insights tour offered throughout the day beginning at 9am, $36. Website lists various other tours, schedules and prices. Tours sell out so book ahead. Read more.

Support Wright Society

December 2017 Explore Wright Issue Coming Soon!

We're putting the final touches on our upcoming bi-monthly issue of Explore Wright and can't wait to share it with those of you who've opted into a subscription (or receive copies via the Silver Level of our supporter program)! This next issue will "explore" Wright's Oak Park Studio and those working for him during this "Golden Age"—specifically Charles E. White, Jr.

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