Mewes Mumblings: Frank Lloyd Wright

One of the greatest names in architecture is the name Frank Lloyd Wright. Among some of his greatest achievements in architecture are the Kauffman house known as The Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, the Guggenheim Museum in New York city, the Robie House in Chicago. When you hired Mr. Wright to design your home you hired the entire package; all the way down to the clothes you would wear for the house warming party. An extrodinary man with a fantasticly creative mind.

What most people don't know about (because quite frankly I had no idea until I saw it) is the school of architecture he founded in 1932 known as the Taliesin Fellowship. Taliesin West is a self-sustaining community of apprentices and architects who would learn and practice the philosophy of organic architecture by sharing in architectural work, building construction, and the related arts. The fellowship still exists today with a few of the original members still living on the property located just outside Scottsdale, AZ. If you find yourself in the area, you would find the tour of the grounds (and the Wright home) to be well worth the money spent. Here is the story of my visit to Taliesin West:

Geocaching can take you some very interesting places. Along the road, I see a sign for Taliesin West; mentioned earlier in the week by a coworker as a must-see. "What the heck!". So I begin to drive up the mountain road to what I expected to be a small place in the side of the mountain. After all, it was built in the early 30's, right?

As I approach the gate and the home, I begin to realize this is going to be much more than I had anticipated. I pull in and go into the book store/gift shop to check out the tours and prices. I approach the counter and nice gentleman asks if I am there for the tour. I ask when the next one starts. As it turns out, it was my lucky day; the final tour started in 10 minutes. For $20, I would be treated to 90 minutes. 90 minutes for this small little house? Okay...

The tour begins just outside of Mr. Wright's office. The young lady giving us our tour was fantastic! She was extremely knowledgeable about the property and the lives of everyone that lived and/or lives there. Any question that you would ask, she would shoot back with an answer. You began to trust she knew what she was talking about. I don't want to give you all of the details here simply because it will ruin your trip there; plan on it before you die!

We were taken through Mr. Wright's office then to the front of the property. Oddly enough, shaped like the bow of a ship. We were taken through his living room and to his wife's sitting room (pictured below).

We were taken through his bedroom and his state-of-the-art (for the time) meeting room. We were taken through his theater and cabare room. We saw beautiful sculpture gardens full of works of art of one of the current residents (example below)

One of the best features of the property is that everything is built using materials from the area. The members of the fellowship learned to work very hard; which included collecting rocks from the landscape to use in the buildings. The fountain below is just one example:

At the end of the tour, I had the opportunity to speak with an architect who volunteers at the property every Sunday. He is not part of the fellowship but feels that being at the property gives him the opportunity to learn so much more about what he could be doing with his trade. As I spoke with him, I began to feel like I was placed here to hear what he had to say for a reason. He told me that one thing Mr. Wright always said was this (phrased how I remember, not quoted):"If someone calls you a radical, thank them. It means you are throwing out the old way of doing things and creating new ideas." This gentleman went on to say how Mr. Wright believed you needed to go for what you wanted. Live every day to the fullest and take time to watch the sunset. So on my way out, I was able to watch the sunset through the Taliesin West moniquer (pictured below):

It was a fantastic end to one of the best pieces of architect I have ever seen. Again, I won't go into any further details in my blog about the tour; you MUST experience it for yourself. If you can, don't do the 90-minute tour; do the 3-4 hour tour. It may cost more but I have a feeling it would be even better. There is even an evening tour that allows you to see the entire property in the evening lights...

I now have the desire to drive to Wisconsin and see Taliesin East, the summer school for the fellowship. If you want to see additional information on either of these sites or on Frank Lloyd Wright, go to http://www.franklloydwright.org/index.cfm?section=home&action=home.

I'm now very motivated to find somewhere for my pottery wheel and kiln...

C'ya!