Wright andWright Education Guest Editor: Dale Allen Gyure IN THIS ISSUE PRESERVATION | ADVOCACY ADVOCACY | EDUCATION EDUCATION

THE MAGAZINE OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT BUILDING CONSERVANCY SPRING 2017 / VOLUME 8 / ISSUE 1 is a biannual publication of the SaveWright Building Conservancy. Frank Lloyd Wright Guest Editor: Dale Allen Gyure Executive Editor: Susan Jacobs Lockhart Managing Editor: Joel Hoglund Copy Editor: Linda Botsford Designer: Debra Nemeth Building The mission of the Frank Lloyd Wright and Conservancy is to facilitate the preservation designed structures maintenance of the remaining education, advocacy through by Frank Lloyd Wright and technical services. tel: 312.663.5500 email: [email protected] web: savewright.org Building Conservancy © 2017, Frank Lloyd Wright Dale Allen Gyure Dale Allen Gyure Guest Editor

wright and education wright Cover photo: Esplanades at Florida Southern College, photo © Mark Hertzberg Cover photo: Esplanades at Florida Southern College,

“Our schoolhouses look like factories as one passes them going through American towns and American them going through as one passes look like factories “Our schoolhouses good factory; so many prison impotent spiritually than any they look more villages! Unimaginative, there.” abstractions still being taught the Greek Western mind are houses for the young 1958) (Frank Lloyd Wright, design of learning passion for education and the environ- Wright’s this reveal Quotations such as with education for by and involved since he was surrounded be surprising, ments. This shouldn’t well-documented, but his contact with are Fellowship activities with the Taliesin most of his life. His Jones, had been a teacher Anna Lloyd mother, Wright’s much earlier. education actually began important to the entire her marriage to Williamextremely and education was before Cary Wright, even while very young. passion “Education was Sister Anna’s that recalled Wright Lloyd Jones family. to Maginel Wright According with the idea of education as salvation.” All this family was imbued anyone who “Education obsessed [Anna], and she would teach younger sister, Wright’s Barney, foot- to learn.” His other sister Mary Jane followed in her mother’s showed even the vaguest desire Wisconsinsteps and taught elementary school in and Illinois. was formed the family’s through educational experience, however, foundation of Wright’s The real His aunts Jane and Ellen Lloyd Jones—nicknamed “Aunt connections with the Hillside Home School. and ran the school on the Jones lifelong teachers who organized Jenny” and “Aunt Nell”—were in Wisconsin. The sisters formed Home School in 1887 as an early the Hillside at Taliesin property ages 5 to 18. education for children experiment in progressive in educa- interested would be extremely All of these formative connections guaranteed that Wright as well-known as some of his other isn’t however, his life. This aspect of his career, tion throughout archi- Wright’s new avenues of interpreting explore endeavors. The essays in this issue of SaveWright the elementary school level to Florida for education, focusing on built work—from tectural projects comparisons with other educational communities and Southern and College—unbuilt proposals, how his educational history and philosophy manifested theorists in an attempt to better understand itself in his designs. right Usonian Executive Director’s Letter: Reflections on a Milestone Year Reflections on a Milestone Letter: Executive Director’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenwald School For Hampton Institute Rosenwald Frank Lloyd Wright’s on The Live Moment: John Dewey and Frank Lloyd Wright Continuity and Education Penetration in a Stopping Water Building Owner Resources: W President’s Message: A Progressive Philosophy Message: A Progressive President’s School Wyoming Valley For the Neighbors: A History of Wright’s Education Florida Southern College and Progressive of (Art) Education, ca.1930 and the Urgency Frank Lloyd Wright

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editor’s MESSAGE editor’s Dale Allen Gyure is professor is professor Dale Allen Gyure at Lawrence of architecture University and Technological a member of the Frank Lloyd Building Conservancy Wright His of directors. board published works include Frank Florida Southern Lloyd Wright’s College and The Chicago Schoolhouse, 1856-2006: and High School Architecture Educational Reform. ABOUT THE EDITOR CONTENTS

president’s MESSAGE

a progressive philosophy

As Jack Quinan notes in his article in this issue, Frank Lloyd Wright was, by his own admission, an indiffer- ent classroom student. Further, it is well known that Wright did not complete college, leaving the University of Wisconsin after less than two and one-half semes- ters of study, little if any of it devoted to engineering or the other technical aspects of architecture. But in Wright’s view, as expressed by author Eeva-Liisa Pel- konen, conventional education paled before the expe- riential; individual creativity was to be prized over the “system of so-called education” against which Wright railed. that have so far been mentioned. Yet, even Wright the visionary had to rely, on occasion, on the technical It would be tempting to conclude that Wright’s rebel- skills of his apprentices and associates such as Wes lion against educational norms had its genesis in Peters and Jack Howe. We thought a bracing dose of necessity, generated by his lack of formal educational reality would likewise be of benefit here, providing achievement and by his plans, regardless, first to cre- to homeowners and others with Wright-like houses ate the Hillside Home School of the Allied Arts and valuable practical teachings with respect to issues of then the Fellowship—both educational institutions. house maintenance. It is a part of the Conservancy’s Nonetheless, that conclusion appears facile. Whatever educational mission that we find of great importance, his underlying motivations, the articles in this issue by and for that reason, plan for the continuation of such Pelkonen, Quinan, Peter Rött, Dale Allen Gyure and articles in future issues of SaveWright. Michael Desmond reveal not only Wright’s rejection of conventional educational and allied architectural As a final matter, I wish to note, with great apprecia- principles, but his replacement of those principles with tion, the work of Joel Hoglund and the Conservancy an articulated progressive educational philosophy with staff that has led to the publication by Princeton roots in the works of Tolstoy, Whitman and Dewey Architectural Press of the latest and extensively revised that he incorporated into his theories of organic archi- edition of the Conservancy’s book Wright Sites: A tecture. Such a thought-out construct could hardly be Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright Public Places—a valu- characterized as a mere excuse for academic medi- able reference for each of us to treasure. Good reading ocrity. Nor could his built and unbuilt educational to you all. designs have sprung from less considered theoretical underpinnings. Edith Payne There is one article in this issue, Daniel Chrzanowski’s President Frank Lloyd Wright discussion of his successful efforts to stop water Building Conservancy penetration in his Wright-designed home, the Dobkins Former Owner, House, that does not fit with the theoretical themes Richardson House

Ron Scherubel Guest Editor

1 PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, MARCH 1958 PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, MARCH 1958 PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE The Wyoming Valley School opened in January 1958. For the Neighbors: A History of Wright’s Wyoming Valley School

BY PETER RÖTT

By 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright’s fame was worldwide and he had received every honor the architectural profession could bestow upon him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Construction was finally beginning on the Guggenheim Museum in New York, he was battling to see his Monona Terrace Civic Center move ahead in Madison, Wisconsin, Peter Rött is co-owner and and he was in the midst of publicizing his new Mile High “Illinois” skyscraper. Design principal of Isthmus Architec- for his Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, was just ture, Inc., a Madison-based ar- completed and there were another 34 active projects on the boards. Wright scholar chitectural firm specializing in Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer claimed, “At least nine […] projects would begin construction sustainable preservation. Rött in 1956 or soon thereafter.” One of these was the Wyoming Valley School in Spring joined the Taliesin Fellowship in 1978 at the age of 20 and Green, Wisconsin. in 1985 was the first recipient The Town of Wyoming’s school board was seeking to consolidate its six existing rural of a Master of Architecture de- gree granted at Taliesin. Rött school districts into one joint district. On January 17, 1956, the town held a public was a principal with Taliesin hearing on the proposal at the County Courthouse in nearby Dodgeville. The time Architects and director of op- had come to discontinue the traditional system of one-room rural elementary schools. erations for the Madison office Several factors conspired to prompt talk of consolidation. The cost of maintaining mul- responsible for the comple- tiple buildings, each with its own operating costs, and the difficulty in getting teachers tion of Monona Terrace. He is secretary for the Seth Peterson were the main factors. The fact was that in 1956 multiple schools in this family farm Cottage Conservancy and a community were serving only 67 children. 2013 recipient of the Wright Spirit Award. Creating a new single district would permit Wyoming to continue to provide qual- ity education more efficiently at a reasonable cost. If a new, larger school were to be considered, it would have indoor toilets and a common kitchen. These amenities would serve the community’s needs for a gathering place in addition to the school use. The 2 When asked about his gift, Wright said, “It was time we did some- thing for the county. It’s just one of the things I plan to do around here to make this a wonderful valley.” He said he had no direct connection with the school district. “I’m just a neighbor,” he said.

The caption to this photo in the March 1958 Milwau- kee Journal read: “Groups of pupils leave their school, which seems to grow out of the hillside.”

single school could have a hot lunch program and could take part in the (new at the time) milk program for schoolchildren. On April 3, 1956, a referendum passed in favor of consolidation. The residents of Wyoming were follow- ing a statewide trend that brought great change to the children of rural Wisconsin. This trend had a pro- PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, MARCH 1958 PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE found effect on public primary education in the state. One of the two classroom spaces in use With the referendum passed, efforts focused on build- ing a new school. This would require the selection of an architect to design the building. As it turned out, Frank Lloyd Wright was a resident of Wyoming. without cost and contribute a portion of the funds Herbert Fritz Jr., Cary Caraway and James Dresser necessary to secure a site sufficient for the new facil- also resided in the town and had apprenticed with ity. When asked about his gift, Wright was reported as Wright at Taliesin. Caraway and Dresser, both mem- saying, “It was time we did something for the county. bers of the school board, felt Wright should be asked It’s just one of the things I plan to do around here to to design the new school. Additionally, they all well make this a wonderful valley.” He said he had no di- knew the contribution and impact Wright’s family had rect connection with consolidated joint school district on education. Wright’s aunts were pioneering educa- 8. “I’m just a neighbor,” he said. tors for whom he designed school buildings in the The new school would be built on the site adjacent to township, and his uncles were founding members of the old Upper Wyoming school. It would contain two the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. Their classrooms, an auditorium, teachers’ room, restrooms influence contributed to Wright’s eventual founding of and a kitchen. Wright stipulated that the auditorium the Taliesin Fellowship, his apprenticeship endeavor to be dedicated to his mother Anna Lloyd Wright, a train architects. teacher. The design of the school sprang from a much School board minutes record Caraway’s motion to earlier Wright design that he named Kindersympho- contact Wright. Dresser seconded the motion and after nies. In 1926, Wright had designed four kindergartens some very lively discussion the motion passed. Shortly for the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. Of it Pfeiffer thereafter, members Lester Porter and Paul Buckner wrote: “No project more evidently portrays Wright’s met Wright in his studio at Taliesin to make inquiry. love of delighting small children than this one for a Fritz’s wife Eloise recalled that Wright was delighted. group of four playhouses in Oak Park, Illinois.” The local paper, The Weekly Home News, reported that Wright would graciously design the school 3 a floor plan drawing. The floor plan closely resembled the final school building; however exposed concrete block masonry was substituted for the exterior stone “All forms of religion have a basic desire to function in harmony masonry when the school was built. with their beliefs and I try to help them—to materialize their ideas It seems no accident that Wright gave this small school such serious consideration and promotion. After in something beautiful for all humanity,” said Wright. Wright’s founding of the Taliesin Fellowship he urged apprentices to settle around Taliesin in Wyoming. As his uncles’ and aunts’ neighboring farms came onto the market, some apprentices purchased the properties The Wyoming Valley School was larger than these and put down roots. More than once Wright alluded proposed buildings and specifically suited to its site. It to building his Broadacre City here, encircling Taliesin. might seem surprising that Wright would reach back In addition to helping Wright to realize his architec- to a 30-year-old unbuilt project for the new school, ture by staffing his studio, these apprentices and their but it was clearly still on his mind. Just a year prior, he families chose to become pioneers in Wright’s Broad- collaborated with Edgar Kaufmann Jr. on a book, An acre vision. American Architecture, and included an illustration of The school project was accomplished by a team of Kindersymphonies. Wright collaborators. Preparation of the construc- The evolution of the school design is documented tion drawings and specifications involved current and in Wright’s subsequent book, The Living City. It is former Taliesin apprentices. Documents confirm the interesting to note that Wright included this school in involvement of Fritz Jr., Wright’s neighbor and former the book to help illustrate his city planning vision. The apprentice, as the main draftsman and site supervisor. book was a companion to the Broadacre City model Taliesin apprentices E. Thomas Casey and Cornelia he assembled in the 1930s. It showed an exterior Brierly had roles as structural engineer and landscape rendering of the school with local stone masonry and architect, respectively. Casey made the structural calculations for the steel beams that support the roof system and Brierly prepared the landscape plan and planting specifications. Madison contractor and Wright associate Marshall Erdman won the contract to build the school. To complete the building on time PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, 1967 PHOTO FROM THE MILWAUKEE “There are two Wright schools in Wisconsin, one for his followers, the other a gift to neighbors,” began a 1967 Milwaukee Journal article on the school. IMAGE COURTESY OF PETER RÖTT Plan of the Wyoming Valley School building as built 4 and keep construction on budget, Erdman employed ing designed by his peers. The standard school model some details and components that were a standard of the time had classrooms that allowed natural light part of his prefabricated-home business on which and views on only one side. This conventional con- Wright was collaborating. figuration not only created glare issues resulting in eye strain, it also required constant daytime use of electric Wright signed and dated the construction drawings light to mitigate the glare. Wright’s classrooms bring on his birthday, June 8, 1957. Construction was well in more even natural light from two sides of the rooms along by October 10, when the school was featured and from the clerestory overhead. This is significant. in the local press. Helen Klebesadel, a local grade The classrooms have a noticeably better feeling upon schooler at the time, recalls the construction: “I re- entering because natural light is more evenly distribut- member going with my father and baby sister Debbie ed and the lights are turned on only on cloudy days or to see how the building of the new school was going. I at dusk. Neuroscience research confirms that natural was very excited because I was going to be in the first light is healthier light. grade class at the new school. While we were standing there watching the construction Frank Lloyd Wright The floor plan geometry of the school departed from stopped by to check out the construction too. He was neighboring contemporary examples as well. Wright actually very nice and sat with my little sister on his dispensed with the standard orthogonal plan and em- lap as he spoke to my father about the construction ployed a diamond grid. In addition, he articulated the and to me about attending the new school.” volume of interior space to create drama and interest. The result is invigorating, whether one is conscious of The school design satisfied the needs and program- it or not. Wright concentrated his mastery of spacial matic requirements and provides much more. Wright’s geometry on optimizing the classroom to maximize design created a significantly better interior environ- the students’ benefit. Testimony collected from many ment for students than other neighboring schools be- former students bears this out. The building became a PHOTO BY PETER RÖTT One of the two classroom spaces today Plan of the Wyoming Valley School building as built 5 PHOTO BY TIM BRISTOL Today, the building is owned and operated as a community center by the nonprofit Wyoming Valley Cultural Arts Center.

motivator for many students; part of their early joy of was a protracted decision. In fact, it was closed only learning clearly was attending this school. after all other options ran out. The Wyoming Valley School’s environment produced better outcomes than In January 1958, the school opened. On February 2, some of the district’s other facilities. This fact is borne the district held an open house for the community. out by the school’s student roster, which contains As luck would have it, during the festivities there was some very accomplished individuals, including success- a power outage. This was a common event in those ful lawyers, teachers, artists, farmers, a district court days. Neighbors and friends stayed, gathering around judge and several Olympic medalists. Many of these the central fireplaces for warmth and refreshments. students clearly remember the energetic atmosphere of After 32 years of service and part of a second district the school, the wonderful quality of its natural light consolidation, the school was ultimately closed for and the popularity of the school with their parents, the same reasons that necessitated it. For the time, who gathered there regularly for card parties and it served the needs of the district well and closing it many community events. Today, the building is owned and operated by a non- profit organization and is known as the Wyoming Val- ley Cultural Arts Center. It continues to be valued as a center for the community and as a learning environ- ment for all. n PHOTO COURTESY OF WYOMING VALLEY SCHOOL CULTURAL ARTS CENTER SCHOOL CULTURAL PHOTO COURTESY OF WYOMING VALLEY Camps and educational opportunities for kids of all ages are held at the Wyoming Valley School building.

6 The building hosts community cultural events. PHOTO © MARK HERTZBERG Esplanades at Florida Southern College

Florida Southern College and Progressive Education

BY DALE ALLEN GYURE

Frank Lloyd Wright’s most intimate and long-lasting relationship with education was the Taliesin Fellowship, but in terms of architectural production his most extensive educational design was for Florida PHOTO © MARK HERTZBERG Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Roux Library building

Between 1938 and his death in 1959, Wright maintained an ongoing relationship with ABOUT THE AUTHOR the college, serving as the de facto campus architect and designing more than 30 build- ings (10 of which would be constructed) along with more than a mile of covered walk- ways and a monumental water feature. Florida Southern’s curriculum was traditional, Dale Allen Gyure is professor of architecture at Lawrence but its leader, Ludd Myrl Spivey, was a reformer whose appreciation for progressive Technological University education made him a kindred spirit to Wright. Although scant evidence remains of and a member of the the two men’s discussions about the potential campus design, it can be surmised that Frank Lloyd Wright Building Wright and Spivey’s mutual fascination with progressive education played a role in Conservancy board of direc- shaping the environment they created for this small Methodist institution. tors. His published works include Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wright’s engagement with Florida Southern began on April 11, 1938, with an unex- Florida Southern College and pected telegram from a stranger. The message from Spivey, the dynamic president of a The Chicago Schoolhouse, 1856-2006: High School tiny college in Lakeland, Florida, bluntly stated: “Desire conference with you concern- Architecture and Educational ing plans for great education temple in Florida.” Ten days later the two men met at Reform. Taliesin and began to work out the details for a new college campus, initiating what would become one of Wright’s largest commissions. 7 Dewey, in addition to being a famous philosopher, was a monumental figure in American education who All believed students’ freedom to think dominated the field for almost 60 years. Rejecting systematic instruction or fixed methods of presenting knowledge, he argued instead for a flexible education- skeptically and ability to reason effectively, al process that cultivated individuality, stressed learn- ing through direct experience (“learning by doing”) rather than regurgitate memorized facts, was and advocated for students’ participation in selecting subjects and pursuits that matched their interests. He vital to the health of a democratic society. believed in continual personal growth in response to life’s ever-changing nature. Thus education for Dewey, like other progressivists, was a constant, informal Wright and Spivey would develop an enduring rela- process initiated by an active explorer rather than a tionship based on common backgrounds and interests. passive recipient. Wright seemed to be drawn to men of faith, perhaps Wright would have been intimately familiar with such due to familial connections, with a minister father and ideas from his aunts’ successful application of progres- the noted Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones as a maternal uncle. sive educational techniques at the famous Hillside His relations with clergyman clients were among the Home School, as well as his own design of the Coon- best of his career, and Spivey would be no exception. ley Playhouse (1912), commissioned by Queene Ferry Before becoming a college administrator, Spivey had Coonley, a noted progressive education advocate. established himself as a minister with provocative This shared philosophy, along with a mutual regard ideas who challenged the moderate Methodist estab- for Dewey, likely strengthened Wright and Spivey’s lishment whenever possible. He held multiple degrees bond. If any idealistic discussions took place between from the University of Chicago, where he became a the two men regarding how progressive notions might devoted follower and advocate of three intellectual play a role in the campus architecture, however, they stances that would shape his professional life: mod- would have been tempered by realistic constraints. ernist theology, and its focus on the reconciliation of Higher education was the most conservative level science and religion; pragmatic philosophy of the kind of the American education system at that time, and promoted by John Dewey [see p. 20], whereby dog- despite Spivey’s efforts over the previous 13 years the matic formulations like absolute truth are shunned in school remained largely rooted in traditional practices. favor of ongoing fact-testing and adjustment; and pro- gressive educational theory, with a special emphasis on But that wasn’t due to a lack of effort. In Spivey’s active learning and the interrelationship between free tenure at Florida Southern he shaped the institution as choice and education. much as possible to reflect Dewey’s progressive ideas. The college’s official language, as well as Spivey’s own writings and lectures, often alluded to Dewey’s IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARCHIVES #3805.001 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | AVERY LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARTS LIBRARY, Aerial view of Florida Southern College 8 PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE ARCHIVES Aerial view of the Florida Southern College campus

pragmatic approach, referencing the judging of ac- guided; its real goal should be to cultivate an under- tions by their results, focusing on practical applica- standing of and passion for the “truth” as revealed by tions instead of theoretical speculation, and learning nature. This could only be achieved through complete by doing. “Tested facts now pointed the way for man restructuring—including eliminating all professors and and knowledge, which came to man as the result of curricula! finding facts, gave him control over his environment,” Spivey announced in a speech describing the modern mind. “All of this means that the state, the church and business must trust social intelligence. Real authority is fluid. Education is ceasing to be an end in itself; it is becoming experience. It is teaching men knowledge about their world.” When he came to Southern College (as it was then named) Spivey first adopted Dewey’s experiential learning methods as a way to help students integrate religious values into their everyday lives. While serv- ing as president he taught courses in psychology and philosophy, and he regularly introduced Dewey’s concepts to students in lectures and sermons. At some point he led an informal study group of students who met on Sunday afternoons to read and discuss Dewey’s writings. Biographical bulletins of Spivey, prepared by the college in the 1950s, described him as “a disciple of John Dewey” and claimed that Spivey’s “greatest ambition is to make the teachings of Dewey plain to both faculty and students.” Wright shared Spivey’s educational leanings, although his personal vision of higher education was radical and provocative. Criticizing college as “the four-year loaf” and universities as “highly specialized trade-schools” conditioning students to be specialists, Wright consid- PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE ARCHIVES ered the entire higher education system to be mis- Frank Lloyd Wright with Florida Southern College president Dr. Ludd Spivey and Olgivanna Lloyd Wright 9 PHOTO © MARK HERTZBERG PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE ARCHIVES Annie Pfeiffer Chapel at Florida Southern College seen from a distance

ments with the experiential, Wright seemed to infuse the campus architecture with symbols of progressive education. For example, his campus plan can be regarded as an embodiment of active learning, a concept which lay at the heart of the progressive educational theory. In the same manner that progressivists encouraged action— learners in motion, engaged in activities rather than passively sitting—at Florida Southern Wright stimu- lated visitors to move through the esplanades (covered walkways), inviting visitors to explore the landscape in order to understand the buildings’ relationships PHOTO © MARK HERTZBERG A student walks the esplanades. to each other and to the site. Contrary to standard college designs featuring massed structures in physi- cally bounded, spatially coherent groupings, which Apart from this idiosyncratic take on higher education, could often be comprehended from a single viewpoint, correspondences among the educational philosophies Wright’s campus was intelligible only after one tra- of Dewey, Spivey and Wright are readily apparent. All versed the entire site to actually see the buildings (and three believed schools should be casual environments in their ideal state the buildings would be partially hid- located in natural settings surrounded by gardens, with den by trees). In other words, knowledge arose from little demarcation between building and landscape. All active experience gained through movement. Wright thought learning occurred when the learner was ac- acknowledged this aspect when he wrote to Spivey tively engaged in interesting tasks rather than passively regarding a 1944 plan revision, claiming the altera- exposed to lectures. And all believed students’ freedom tions “keep […] that rhythmic movement that makes to think skeptically and ability to reason effectively, everyone feel a part of a great living organism.” rather than regurgitate memorized facts, was vital to Further, Wright emphasized the campus plan’s “free the health of a democratic society. pattern” when he sent Spivey the first drawings in The search for a unique Florida form clearly drove 1938, a comment that connects both him and the plan Wright’s overall design for Florida Southern’s build- to another fundamental tenet of progressive education: ings, but it seems fair to assume that his deeply held freedom. Progressivists stressed the importance of let- beliefs about education found their way into the final ting students freely choose the course of their own ed- campus plan. It was, after all, the largest educational ucation and allowing them to explore the environment commission he would ever receive, providing him with as a means of gaining valuable experiences that enrich a limited but tangible opportunity to put into action educational development. Although this approach was the progressive education principles he had absorbed impractical within the bounds of the traditional higher since childhood. As a counterpart to Spivey’s experi- 10 education pedagogy employed by Florida Southern’s Wright emphasized the campus plan’s “free pattern” when he sent Spivey the first drawings in 1938, a comment that connects both him and the plan to another fundamental tenet of progressive education: freedom.

Covered esplanades invite visitors to explore the landscape in order to understand the buildings’ relationships to each other and to the site. PHOTO © MARK HERTZBERG Inside the Roux Library

teachers, Wright could at least reference it in the built environment. He appears to have imbued Florida Southern with a sense of freedom in the arrangement of the buildings and esplanades. Wright rejected the traditional orthogonal plan and the popular quad- rangles common at other colleges. Instead of following these academic prototypes with their dominant visual

symmetry and neat courtyards lined with nearly identi- PHOTO © MARK HERTZBERG cal buildings, Wright’s college plan spread variously Esplanades link the buildings of the campus. shaped buildings at 30- and 60-degree angles to each other across the landscape, linked by the esplanades. In this way he liberated the campus from the con- Spivey, in keeping with their mutual regard for pro- straints of orthodox design and expressed the freedom gressive architectural principles, infused the campus inherent in progressive education. plan as much as possible with symbolic representations of progressive freedom and activity, aligning the design Florida Southern College would be the best chance with their personal beliefs in an attempt to chart a new Wright ever had to craft a design that touched on the direction for American higher education. n progressive educational ideals that informed his early development. One could easily imagine that he and 11 PHOTO BY ABRAMS AERIAL SURVEY CORPORATION, 1938. COURTESY OF CRANBROOK ARCHIVES, E414 PHOTO BY ABRAMS AERIAL SURVEY CORPORATION, IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, ARCHITEC- ARCHIVES #2703.003 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | AVERY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, TURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, Aerial view of the Hillside Home School of the Allied Arts

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Urgency of (Art) Education BY EEVA-LIISA PELKONEN

When Frank Lloyd Wright set out to establish an art school in 1928, the effort that eventually took the form of the Taliesin Fellowship some six years later, his

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ambitions were high.

The plan was eventually to create a network of educational centers around the coun- Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen is an associate professor at Yale try that would help revive American education as well as industry. In a lecture given School of Architecture, where at Princeton University’s Department of Art and Archaeology in 1930, and published she teaches design, history the following year in Modern Architecture: Being the Kahn Lectures for 1930, Wright and theory of architecture. talked about “experiment centers” or “style stations,” each with about 100 students, She is the author of Ach- spread around the country. They were a key component of the educational program tung Architektur! Image and Phantasm in Contemporary in Broadacre City, his decentralized settlement pattern based on agrarian ideals, which Austrian Architecture, Alvar he began to work on around the same time. In his 1932 book The Disappearing City, Aalto: Architecture, Modernity Wright described how these “style stations or culture centers could be alcoves in con- and Geopolitics and Kevin nection with standard college courses in the history of art, architecture and archaeol- Roche: Architecture as Envi- ogy.” “These units,” he concluded, would be “directly dedicated to practical style ronment. She is also co-editor culture, would be essential to the organized growth of the organic Broadacre City.” with Donald Albrecht of Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future. The first concrete proposal was to establish a school on the site of the Hillside Home Her next book, an anthology School previously run by his two aunts in his native Wisconsin, called the Hillside of 20th-century architectural exhibitions, entitled Architec- Home School of the Allied Arts. A proposal sent out to prospective students and ture, Exhibited, will be pub- donors reveals an even more ambitious goal behind the project: to rescue humanity lished by Phaidon in 2018. compromised by traditional education and its institutions: We believe the time has come when Art should take the lead in Education, because we believe creative faculty is the birthright of Man—the quality in him that has enabled him to distinguish himself from the brute. […] The emphasis on intellect 12 has betrayed this inner core of humanity.” Aerial view of Cranbrook School and Cranbrook Academy of Art studios

Wright was certainly not the only one in America, or PHOTO BY RICHARD G. ASKEW, 1940. COURTESY OF CRANBROOK ARCHIVES, 5496-14 PHOTO BY RICHARD G. ASKEW, the world for that matter, interested in art education Cranbrook Academy of Art Design Department at the time. The “Sixth International Conference of Drawing, Art Education and Applied Arts” held in Prague from July to August 1928 was well attended by American educators and covered in American art jour- The names that Wright gave his two educational enterprises— nals. The Bauhaus was well represented there, among other schools. By the late 1920s arts education became “home school” and “fellowship”—both underline the idea considered an integral component of a well-rounded that his school was to shun a conventional academic setting. liberal arts education. Dean Everett V. Meeks of the Yale School of Fine Arts sang praises to the arts’ abil- ity to go about “awakening of the mind[s]” of students.

By the time Wright got on board, efforts to establish a artists, local craftsmen and visiting artists. Saarinen new art school were already underway in the De- called it “self-education under good leadership.” His troit area adjacent to a private preparatory school in “conviction [was] that any art education must grow Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Founded by Detroit News from personal experience with the life problems of to- publisher George Gough Booth and his wife, Ellen day, and under the good guidance of a creatively alert Scripps Booth, the school was designed and eventu- mind.” He even sounded like Wright in stating, in an ally led by the Finnish-born architect Eliel Saarinen on address at the American Institute of Architects conven- the family’s estate, Cranbrook, from which it took its tion in 1931, that “creative art cannot be taught by name. The idea was born in 1925; the school opened others. Each one has to be his own teacher. […] The in 1932. This was Booth’s second foray into art educa- Cranbrook Academy of Art is not an art school in the tion. The first, the Detroit School of Design, was affili- ordinary meaning. It is a working place for creative ated with what is now the Detroit Institute of Arts. art.” Wright, in his Hillside brochure, declared that Wright and Saarinen shared the same vision for arts “The soul must be wooed if it is to be won. It can- education. Both believed in teaching a wide range of not be taught. Nor can it ever be forced.” Both men artistic disciplines and skills. In the case of the Hillside emphasized imagination and creativity. Wright talked school, architecture, music, drama, painting, sculpture about how “imagination is the tool by which [the cre- and dance; in that of Cranbrook, architecture, art, ative] faculty of man works,” while Saarinen empha- metalwork, textiles, ceramics, sculpture and paint- sized that the main function of the school is to develop ing. Saarinen and Wright believed that the best results “artistic intuition” and “creative imagination.” could be achieved by hands-on training with in-house There were also major differences as well, starting with the origins of the two educational programs. 13 PHOTO COURTESY OF DOUGLAS M. STEINER, EDMONDS, WASHINGTON IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION ARCHIVES SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, #3301.001 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | AVERY Taliesin Fellowship Complex

The most striking difference from Cranbrook, howev- er, might be illustrated by the urgency of Wright’s tone in his school’s brochure: As a lifelong pacifist, Wright did not take […] We are working for constructive steps to be taken now, not sometime, to save this precious democracy for granted; art education repre- quality within the soul of Man himself from further atrophy and decay—from greater sented a way to create a new type of public. degradation at his own hands. Enough mischief has already been done in the name of misconceived and selfishly applied Democracy.

The Booths began their forays into art education when Fostering individual creativity gains a political subtext: visiting the American Academy in Rome; they loved “If Democracy means anything at all it means that the idea that artists’ work would be nurtured by an each man is entitled to the growth of a true individual- artistic and intellectual atmosphere. The very name of ity, his very own, that no man can take from him.” the institution, Cranbrook Art Academy, echoed these Since “true individuality” formed the core of Wright’s aspirations. Its sense of privilege was amplified by the educational mission it is worth considering its roots. fact that it shared the campus with a private, prepara- The brochure mentioned two of his spiritual fathers by tory boarding school for boys and girls. The look and name, Walt Whitman and Leo Tolstoy, indicating that feel of the academic enclave owe a lot to American Wright had inherited the transcendentalist worldview. campus planning and design of the period. Individual creativity was considered a manifestation of Saarinen came across as high-minded, while Wright, a world-spirit, as well as the conviction that conven- who lacked any formal education, seemed more of a tional institutions had corrupted this connection: renegade. Both the Hillside Home School of the Al- What we often thoughtlessly call God or the lied Arts and the Taliesin Fellowship program were Infinite or Divine Principle would then continually conceived as farm schools, where physical labor such be proved afresh by what the Man himself could as farming and food preparation, were considered an do and would do and alive in the Man—be integral part of the education. The names that Wright expressed by means of his own manhood in his gave to his two educational enterprises—“home own work in some true form as his own vision school” and “fellowship”—both underline the idea of Reality. that his school was to shun a conventional academic setting. Thus only do Men become a vital medium, through 14 which the Infinite may appear to Mankind. The farm at Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, circa 1934. Physical labor such as farming was considered part of the education.

Whitman, an avid advocate of public education, emphasized developing the potential in every child and the conviction that traditional institutions blocked this inherent goodness and creativity in man. The book that Wright knew well, Leaves of Grass, also made a connection between individuality and government in stating, “I swear nothing is good to me now that ig-

nores individuals. The only government is that which SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, ARCHIVES (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | AVERY makes minute of individuals.” American democracy, Taliesin Fellowship site plan for Whitman, thus relied on sound education: While the ambitious thought of my song is to help from 1894 to 1904. Dewey’s book Democracy and the forming of a great aggregate Nation, it is, Education (1916) laid out the educational principles perhaps, altogether through the forming of Wright came to adopt: learning by doing, connec- myriads of fully develop’d and enclosing individuals. tion between mind and body, emphasis on the innate Welcome as are equality’s and fraternity’s doctrines creativity of man that has been betrayed by informa- and popular education, a certain liability tion- and reason-based education, and the creative accompanies them all, as we see. That primal and individual as a basic unit of “organic democracy.” interior something in man, in his soul’s abysms, Wright felt a sense of urgency regarding his initiative. coloring all, and by exceptional fruiting, giving Writing just after the crash of 1929 he was clearly of the last majesty to him. the mind that the capitalist world’s order was about Whitman’s ideas about “aggregate nation” formed by to collapse. The Russian revolution, brought on by a “myriads” of individuals as a foundation for healthy mostly illiterate working class, was in fresh memory, democracy is echoed in Wright’s 1931 prospectus. as was World War I. As a lifelong pacifist, Wright did not take democracy for granted; art education repre- If Whitman gave the spiritual optimistic fervor and sented a way to create a new type of public. hope, the stubborn individualism comes from Tol- stoy, who preached self-reliance and self-discovery. Retracing both the intellectual legacy and historical Since, unlike Cranbrook, Wright’s school did not have context of Wright’s writings about education makes outside funds, Wright aimed his school to be self-sup- us realize that his world and concerns were not that porting. “The entire work for feeding and caring for dissimilar to ours. Instead of STEM (Science, Technol- the student body so far as possible should be done by ogy, Engineering, Mathematics) academics, maybe the itself,” he wrote. Tolstoy’s What to Do (1886) served future generation would also benefit from a dose of as a textbook in this connection. the arts. n We must also be reminded of the educational reformer John Dewey, who taught at the University of Chicago 15 IMAGES THIS PAGE COURTESY OF THE JULIUS ROSENWALD FUND, COMMUNITY COURTESY OF THE JULIUS ROSENWALD IMAGES THIS PAGE SCHOOL PLANS, NASHVILLE, TN, 1928 Frank J. Taylor, Plan 10A: A 10-Teacher school elevation and floor plan (right)

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenwald School For Hampton Institute BY JACK QUINAN

Although their quantity suggests that schools occupy a minor part (fewer than 18 buildings and projects) of Wright’s vast body of work, education loomed large in his thinking.

After all, Wright was raised among a large family of teachers and preachers; his first commission was the Hillside Home School in 1889; the Taliesin Fellowship was fun- ABOUT THE AUTHOR damentally a teaching institution; and academic buildings for Baghdad University and Arizona State University occupied him in the last years of his life. Jack Quinan, distinguished Although he was well schooled by his mother, Wright was, by his own admission, an service professor emeritus, University at Buffalo, is a indifferent classroom student who valued the direct experience of six summers work- scholar concerned with the ing on the Lloyd Jones farm in southern Wisconsin and his work in the offices of J. L. work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Silsbee and Adler & Sullivan over anything taught in school. Unfettered by any sort of modernism and American formal academic training in architecture, he was positioned to create architecture anew, architecture. He is a founding and the Rosenwald School for Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, was just such board member of the Frank a venture. Lloyd Wright Building Con- servancy and a member of Julius Rosenwald (born 1862) became president of the Sears Roebuck Company in the board of directors of the 1908 and turned it into the largest retailer in the country. Given his experience at Sears, Darwin D. Martin House. Rosenwald was commissioned by the United States government to oversee the materi- als and supplies operation for the United States armed forces based in Philadelphia during World War I. Darwin Martin, second in command of the Larkin Company’s nationally prominent mail order operation in Buffalo, New York, volunteered to as- sist Rosenwald. They became friends and discovered a shared concern. Rosenwald and Martin had both grown up during the post-Civil War reconstruction period and

16 IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION ARCHIVES #2904.001 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, ART | AVERY Elevation, the Rosenwald School at Hampton Institute (1928) in Hampton, Virginia

were deeply troubled about the fate of the hundreds of thousands of former slaves who lacked any access In 1912 Rosenwald befriended Booker T. Washington to formal education. In 1912 Rosenwald befriended Booker T. Washington (as had Martin, earlier) and (as had Martin, earlier) and became a board member of became a board member of Washington’s Tuskegee Washington’s Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Institute in Alabama. In 1917 he established the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which provided $40 million toward the construction of more than 5,000 rural schools for Black children across the South. This is where Wright enters the story.

During the design of the Larkin Administration Build- In 1928 Darwin Martin learned that the Hampton In- ing and the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo between stitute in Virginia was planning a new school building 1903 and 1906, Martin developed a close friendship for teacher training using a model from the Rosenwald with Wright that endured during the architect’s often Fund’s booklet of “Community School Plans.” The tumultuous career in the 1910s and 1920s. Mar- design by Frank J. Taylor—a single-story gabled brick tin provided financial support and advice following building with a U-shaped plan around a large audi- Wright’s return from his six-year sojourn in Japan in ence hall and bland, classical features—is representa- 1922, commissioned a summer home, Graycliff, in tive of the offerings in the booklet. Martin, who had Derby, New York, in 1926, and tried to assist him in strong ties to Hampton Institute, urged its president to finding new commissions even as the Great Depression consider a design by Wright and promised to fund the loomed. design work.

17 IMAGE REPRODUCED FROM THE DONALD D. WALKER COLLECTION, PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION, IMAGE REPRODUCED FROM THE DONALD D. WALKER AND THE MUSEUM OF CONGRESS WITH PERMISSION THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION LIBRARY NEW YORK COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, OF MODERN ART/AVERY Bird’s-eye view of the Rosenwald School at Hampton Institute

As a result, Wright created two similar bird’s-eye per- equipped with a shaft cantilevered from the valley spectives of the school (one for Hampton and another of the M-shaped roof of the auditorium (visible in for Martin) in June and July of 1928. In follow-up Wright’s west elevation drawing) from which the letters to Martin, Wright justifies the radical nature students could swing on ropes and drop into the pool. of his design and in so doing he reveals portions of a Safety consideration aside, Wright justified the pool seriously considered philosophy of education. In the in terms of “The good-time and physical culture ideal opening of the first letter, Wright declares, “I am much that can make classroom work and recitation a minor pleased with the School-building herewith—it is no matter… The pool would cost something also and stupid kill-joy. It is itself a factor in education!” be worth it. Physical culture should be 3/5 of educa- tion.” A comparison of Wright’s design to that of Frank Tay- lor’s “kill-joy” makes Wright’s ideas apparent. Taylor’s Having grown up in the company of teachers and principal entrance to the school is a small, extruded, preachers, participated in the traditional Welsh gabled foyer that leads into a narrow passage between Eisteddfod at family picnics, and designed numer- the office and a small recreation room that then opens ous theaters, and by 1928 knowing well the value directly into the school’s auditorium. The auditorium of a good verbal presentation, Wright gave special is flanked by twin one-story classroom enfilades that attention to the auditorium, reimagining it as a little are brought slightly forward of the front façade and theater. He writes to Martin, “Of course I have the extend far enough beyond the auditorium to form complete little theater [italics added] the most edu- an open-ended courtyard space behind the building. cational of ideas […] in order that the neighborhood Wright’s design shifts the position of the auditorium may possess a real little theater the best we have to the rear of an enclosed rectangular patio formed by educationally.” the flanking classrooms and a broad, tripartite covered Wright’s third concern represents a critique of the entrance. In contrast to the Rosenwald plan’s “extreme long window walls that illuminate the classrooms of timidity and sterility” (Wright’s characterization), of the typical 10-teacher Taylor plan, windows that Wright’s entrance opens into a courtyard with a large would admit direct sunlight on desks within the flat- swimming pool surrounded by lush plantings and ceilinged rectangular classrooms through significant

18 IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION ARCHIVES SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, #2904.002 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | AVERY Rosenwald School south and west elevations

periods of the day. As Wright’s classroom section sketch indicates, his classroom enfilades would have Wright’s design shifts the position of the unequal roof pitches (Wright referred to them as the “factory roof section”). Those on the patio side were auditorium to the rear of an enclosed rectan- gently sloped while those on the outside dropped sharply and carried three small dormers and one large dormer for each classroom so that light from the up- gular patio formed by the flanking classrooms per small dormers would carom off the inner ceiling slant onto the desks below as indirect lighting while and a broad, tripartite covered entrance. the larger dormers would provide views outside. In contrast to Taylor’s Community School, which could easily accommodate any number of suburban offices or institutions today, Wright’s design is not only innovative in its concern for mind, body and proper vision, but also in its dancing angles, textured desert masonry, water sounds and brightly painted wooden trim, which promised an experiential delight to any child. Unfortunately, Wright was misled in the belief that he was to conform to the approximate dimen- sions and cost of the Taylor design; he was subse- quently informed that the budget ($250,000) was for a

much larger building for which his design was unsuit- UNIVERSITY PAPERS, IMAGE FROM WRIGHT-MARTIN UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ARCHIVES, STATE BUFFALO able. Ten years later Wright undertook the design and Wright’s sketch of section of Rosenwald School classroom from a letter from construction of an entire campus for Florida Southern Wright to Darwin D. Martin, July 24, 1928 College in Lakeland, where he was able to give full expression to his educational ideals. n

19 PHOTO RESEARCHERS, INC. / ALAMY STOCK John Dewey (1859-1952)

The Live Moment: John Dewey and Frank Lloyd Wright on Continuity and Education BY MICHAEL DESMOND

In the early 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright began to use the term “continuity” as a kind of master trope for his concept of an organic architecture.

He explains the significance of the concept by referring first to the idea of the “plastic,” as “…a word Louis Sullivan was fond of using in reference to his scheme of ornamen- tation, as distinguished from all other or applied ornament.” In describing his own extension of the conception Wright goes on, “…why not a larger application of this ABOUT THE AUTHOR element of plasticity considered as continuity in the building itself?” For Wright the origin of this richly suggestive concept began when Sullivan “…elimi- Michael Desmond is a nated the background in his ornament in favor of an integral sense of the whole.” At licensed architect, holds a its heart the idea is a simple one; its implications, however, can be profound. Our con- Ph.D. in the history, theory and criticism of Architecture cept of a building is typically as a unique and internally structured thing placed upon a from MIT, and a Master of site, with the site seen as a setting, a background. Just as our concept of a window, or a Architecture in urban design door, is typically of an independently conceived thing placed in a wall, where the wall from Harvard University. He is seen as background. In each of these cases the thing is conceived according to its own has taught architectural his- rules before being placed in a setting. When Wright refers to the “elimination of the tory and design for more than background” he is suggesting that we see a window and the wall in which it sits as one 30 years. thing, the wall and the idea of the building as one thing, and eventually the building and the landscape as well. “Instead of many things one thing…,” he says of this idea in In the Realm of Ideas (1931), evoking a sense of richness and complexity brought into the present moment: “…ceilings and walls made one with floors and reinforcing each other by making them continue into one another.” 20 IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, SCOTTSDALE, AZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTE- IMAGE © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION, ARCHIVES #8703.000 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN SY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, ART | AVERY Original Hillside Home School building

Continuity thus conceived presents in architectural Key to the Hillside Home School had been the theory of terms a powerful way of seeing the interaction of forms and forces in the world around us that has strik- progressive, liberal education pioneered in the United ing parallels to the thought of Wright’s contemporary, States by Francis Parker and articulated by John Dewey. John Dewey (1859-1952), parallels to the philoso- pher’s interrelated concepts of experience, education and growth. Dewey’s greatest impact during his life- time may have resulted from his writings on education divisions hold one aspect as background so as to de- reform; two of his most influential books on this topic velop a contrast with the other. The body (the physical are Democracy and Education (1916) and Experience world) is described as background in relation to which and Education (1938). Over his final decades Dewey we can describe mind as something different. Theory is generalized many of the key concepts found in those conceived in relation to notions of practice held steady works to describe an approach to life based on the as an extension of traditional conceptions of thought concept of the continuity of experience and nature— vs. physical work so that one can be favored while the title of what may be his masterwork, Experience the other is seen as background. In contrast, Dewey’s and Nature (1925). philosophy is constantly releasing these two-sided con- Throughout, Dewey referred to continuity explicitly cepts so that we can see interacting forces in motion as an expression of the idea that we are not merely in together in continuous fields of activity. nature, we are of nature. His many works across years Very little is known of Wright’s involvement with of teaching and writing express a desire to overcome Dewey and his ideas, but there is at least one other sig- our age-old habits of conceiving ourselves otherwise. nificant overlap—Wright’s involvement with progres- “An organism does not live in an environment,” he sive education. This began when he was young with wrote in Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938), “it lives the occasional visit to the school run by his mother’s by means of an environment.” Its constant adapting sisters Jane and Ellen “Nell” Lloyd Jones, which was and adjusting to the environment, and to the other known as the Hillside Home School. Wright later creatures there, alters that environment. Because of called those visits “Some of the happiest days of my the scope of these relationships he suggests that our life.” One of the young architect’s first buildings was concepts of environment must therefore describe some- designed for this school, which operated until 1915. thing much more engaging than simply a place for Key to the Hillside Home School had been the theory an organism to be; they must “…denote the specific of progressive, liberal education pioneered in the continuity of the surroundings with [an organism’s] United States by Francis Parker and articulated by own active tendencies” (Democracy and Education, Dewey. Wright promised his aunts that he would one 1916). It is this richly dynamic interface that provides day “see the work they had begun in liberal education the medium for growth through experience. In other carried on in some fashion” (“The Taliesin Fellow- words, the environment is not merely the background, ship,” 1933). This began to take shape between 1928 it is the consistent and dramatic presence of all the and 1931 as he conceived and promoted an education- forces of life. Dewey uses this idea of continuity to al venture based on the legacy of his aunts’ progressive undermine the many dualisms in our traditional school that he originally named the Hillside Home conceptions, dualisms such as mind vs. body, theory School of the Allied Arts. vs. practice and even means vs. ends. Such conceptual 21 IMAGES © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF THE IMAGES © FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION. ARCHIVES #8703.0001 (THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART | FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION NEW YORK) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY, AVERY View of the original Hillside Home School building from the driveway Maypole dance at the Hillside Home School building, 1905

One aspect of this new educational endeavor was The goal across the board was to build upon what repurposing the buildings he had designed for the Dewey describes as the “organic connection between Hillside Home School located near Taliesin. “The old education and personal experience” so as to facilitate school neglected by me for many years is coming back growth. Dewey uses the word “organic” not simply as to young life again working along another line toward a metaphor, not merely in reference to physical bodies, the same end…,” he wrote. By 1932 his conception but as a way of pointing to the crucial organic conti- had evolved into the Taliesin Fellowship. Wright’s nuity between the physical and all of the dimensions 1933 Taliesin Fellowship description shares with of personal experience. “For the doctrine of organic Dewey’s approach an integration of various activi- development means that the living creature is a part ties directly related to life experience as the basis for of the world,” he wrote in Democracy and Education, education. “sharing its vicissitudes and fortunes, and making itself secure in its precarious dependence only as it in- Dewey’s work on educational methods and models tellectually identifies itself with the things about it, and pioneered the use of activities and situations that […] shapes its own activities accordingly.” There is no utilized everyday skills and personal traits, allowing background or foreground in this view—the organism these to become a basis for learning, development and is fully present and interactive with its environment so personal growth. This stood in contrast to traditional that its experiences can contribute to its own organic educational methods based on structured transmission growth, or, as Dewey writes, to its education. of predetermined packets of historically and authori- tatively ordained knowledge that were to be instilled It is common to assume that when Wright mentioned in the minds of students. The dichotomy here was an organic architecture, he was also speaking meta- between the ‘empty’ or receptive mind and the content phorically in some way, in line with the romantic of knowledge as two different orders of being. The organic tradition of literature and the arts, of Goethe student mind takes the place of the background into and Coleridge. Reading Dewey on the impact of Dar- which objects of knowledge are to be introduced. The win and on his own conception of “organic” conti- progressive educational methods described by Dewey nuity, however, presents another, broader view. This and used by Wright and his aunts brings these two view was suggested by Edgar Kaufmann Jr. in 1978, together into one active process by “eliminating the writing on Wright’s conception of continuity: “What background.” led Wright into this preoccupation with continuity? I believe he saw human life as one of the processes of nature, not as some exceptional form of creation. Within nature people are active, adapting nature to The student mind takes the place of suit their wants; they contribute feedback within the natural system. Similarly, he saw architecture as a the background into which objects of natural process of human life, in turn feeding back to its parent system. Thus to Wright architecture, man- knowledge are to be introduced. kind and nature were joined in a grand dynamic conti- nuity, and continuity within architecture indicated that people were aligning themselves—as he believed they should—with the natural forces of life.” n

22 building owner RESOURCES

Editor’s Note: This new recurring column addresses preservation and maintenance issues relevant to owners of Wright-designed buildings. Find more Building Owner Resources at the new savesright.org. PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL CHRZANOWSKI Black bandages on the chimney mass

Stopping Water Penetration BY DANIEL CHRZANOWSKI OWNER, JOHN AND SYD DOBKINS in a Wright Usonian HOUSE (1953)

When my wife Dianne and I purchased the Dobkins House After years of this treatment, all the chimney masses de- in Canton, Ohio, designed by Wright in 1953, we knew veloped black bandages. The roofers applied tar covering one of our main tasks was to stop all water penetrating the counter flashing along with a course or two of the brick the structure—not in the near future, but immediately. We above, and inches of the roof below. Besides being unat- understood that every material used in its construction tractive and unacceptable, this procedure did not solve the would need to be restored to some extent. The mahogany problem. We quickly learned that water had been an on- used in the construction of doors, fascias and casement going issue since the house was first built. The Dobkinses windows, the brick masonry, copper roof seams, and con- first occupied the house early in January of 1955. A letter crete terraces would need to be either cleaned, recoated, written by Dobkins to Wright in April of that year described re-soldered or rebuilt. the problem: “Moisture is coming through the ceiling at points around both masonry cores—the workspace, utility First we needed to address the roof. Upon contacting the core and around the fireplace core in the master bed- roofer that was maintaining the roof for years, I learned room.” This had to be an extremely aggravating problem. that his firm was given that responsibility by the original owner, Dr. John Dobkins, to solve the water penetration We suspected correctly that water was entering through problem. Twice a year, he boasted, his crew spent a day the cement wash of both chimneys and later entered patching the roof. Not opening a failing seam and properly cracked and/or spalling brick. Also the chimney cap was cleaning and soldering the joint, but their answer was to not originally coped; some time later the roofers attempt- smear tar onto suspect seams. Since the ceilings around ed to stop this point of entry by applying a sheet of EPDM the masonry masses were constantly damp the roofers rubber and tar. used tar to stop what they thought was the point of entry It was time for a simple test. We tarped the chimney for a of the water: the counter flashing. number of months and left the counter flashing exposed to the elements. This test proved definitively where the water was not entering. The ceilings surrounding the masonry masses were dry—just what we wanted to see. Water was not entering at the counter flashing, but most likely entering areas that were protected by the tarp. Cracked bricks, bed joints, head joints and the cement wash of the chimneys were the likely candidates.

The bricks were so deteriorated that cutting out the spall- ed and hairline cracked ones along with extensive tuck- pointing at this time was not an option. So the search for a masonry crew that understood our problems and could correct them was on. A few months later we had secured PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL CHRZANOWSKI 23 Cutting down the chimney PHOTO BY SCOTT BOULTMAN PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL CHRZANOWSKI John and Syd Dobkins House (1953) in Canton, Ohio Finished chimney

masons who understood what had to be done. They etrating the masonry, along with the three flat roofs that commuted to Canton from Cleveland, Ohio, a 65-mile consisted of tar paper, coal tar and gravel. The carport and drive each way. entry flat roofs, which are visible from the ground, are now clad in copper. They are parallelogram-shaped pans with Since Wright designed the Dobkins House on an equilat- all seams folded and soldered. eral triangle module we needed to have numerous specials molded and fired to match the original standards along After a complete tear-off of the original built-up flat roofs with rowlocks. Months later we had our 60- and 120-de- to the shiplapped sheathing we had the opportunity to ap- gree specials. Fortunately for us Belden Brick fired the ply tapered sleepers and new decking to pitch all the flat original brick and assured us they still had the same clay roofs to shed water properly to their respective scuppers. body that they previously used. They also assured us that We installed Sarnafil, a PVC roof membrane (polyvinyl they fire their kilns with gas as they did in the ’50s, guaran- chloride) for the flat roofs over the utility and workspace. teeing the same texture and color of the original bricks. When ceilings are wet one assumes that the roof is the After the original masonry mass of the master bedroom culprit. One would think that a professional roofer would was cut down and rebuilt we hired a very talented copper- be able to diagnose and solve the problem. Not always. In smith who properly installed new drip edges and counter our case we needed to employ masons, carpenters and a flashing and coped the rowlocks of all parapet masonry metal artisan. We had to be patient, and after completing walls of the utility room, workspace and chimneys. all the roof and masonry work we were able to remove the various small buckets and containers from the interior floor, The roof design of the Dobkins House is predominately along with the ubiquitous blue tarps. With water no longer the so-called Bermuda Style, with all seams folded and sol- entering the house it was time to patch the sand-finished dered (see the Hagan House (Kentuck Knob), for another sheet rock ceilings. Bermuda Style roof.) Three different roofs are protecting the house. Shed, over the main living space, an extended For the time being, the water issue at the Dobkins House hip over the private wing of the bedrooms and bathrooms, is under control—but I must add that we do knock on and flat roofs over the carport, entry, workspace and utility wood whenever we mention that our leaky roof has been room. Transitioning from one to another can be challenging. resolved. n

In actuality very little water entered the house by way of the copper roof. Most water entered the house by pen-

Please Note: Each restoration/maintenance/repair situation involving a Wright building requires analysis and research to identify the correct approach. The Conservancy shares information so it may be of use to others as they evaluate their own specific situation and may consider these and other approaches. The Conservancy strongly recommends that owners consult with a design professional and an experienced contractor to determine which method is best for their specific projects. The provision of this information or mention of a specific product or

products does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, prefer- PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL CHRZANOWSKI 24 ence or approval by the Conservancy. Scuppers and PVC roof membrane executive director’s LETTER

reflections on a milestone year

This sesquicentennial year of the birth of Frank Lloyd Wright celebrates the work of one of the most important architects of the modern age. Reaching such a significant milestone encourages taking the long view. What do we want the future to look like regarding Wright’s work and its protection, and how can we shape that future?

The Conservancy asked some of those same questions as part of our 25th anniversary in 2014, and when consider- ing a spectrum of 150 years, those questions seem even more important. What can we do to shape the future so that the extant work of this extraordinary architect will be ity of maintaining Wright buildings. We can enable young totally available for direct observation as the development architecture students and the public to experience Wright’s of modern architecture is analyzed and reanalyzed by buildings. We can increase the recognition of Wright within scholars? How can we ensure that these buildings will exist and outside of the U.S. And we can attract more members for the exploration of future generations of architects? and supporters to join with us in all these efforts. We are Or simply for the appreciation of people whose personal doing all of these things and can do more—with your help. sense of aesthetics draws them to these special spaces? Speaking of milestones, I reached a personal milestone in We can ensure that threats to the survival of these build- May when I retired as executive director. My eight years ings are identified before they evolve into crises. We can with the Conservancy have been both an education and an encourage local officials to value these structures as cul- inspiration. I have visited more than 170 Wright buildings, tural treasures. We can celebrate, applaud and support the interacted with scores of owners and worked with dozens stewardship of private owners who take on the responsibil- of experts, city officials and preservationists. Those experi- ences enriched my life and, I hope, contributed to our New SaveWright.org goals. It is with the greatest sincerity that I both thank our leaders, members, supporters and staff for fueling the col- One way we are serving our current members better and lective efforts that drive this organization in its fulfillment reaching out to potential new members is through our dynamic of the unique and important mission that we share, and all-new website. The latest news, guides to all of Wright’s work, detailed case studies of the Conservancy’s preservation and welcome new executive director Barbara Gordon. advocacy efforts, technical resources for the maintenance of Janet Halstead Wright structures, digital editions of back issues of SaveWright Executive Director magazine and much more await online at savewright.org. Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy board of directors and staff

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Larry Woodin Neil Levine Sandra Shane-DuBow PRESIDENT Executive Director and Founder, Emmet Blakeney Gleason Research Member, Board of Directors, Edith K. Payne EcoHome Foundation Professor of History of Art and Taliesin Preservation Inc. Owner, Richardson House President, Gold Standard Capital Architecture, Harvard University Member, Board of Governors, Frank Retired Judge, Superior Court of Group Lloyd Wright School of Architecture New Jersey Susan Jacobs Lockhart MEMBERS AT LARGE Member, Board of Trustees, Frank Marsha Shyer FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Diane Belden Lloyd Wright Foundation Owner, Brandes House Ron Scherubel Senior Sales Representative, Marketing and Communications Retired Vice President and General Tai Ping Carpets Americas Inc. Patrick J. Mahoney, AIA Professional Counsel, Sara Lee Foods Vice President, Graycliff Conservancy Retired Executive Director, Frank Lloyd John Blew Lauer-Manguso & Associates Architects HONORARY BOARD Wright Building Conservancy Retired Partner, K & L Gates LLP Vincent Scully George Meyer Eric Lloyd Wright SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Daniel Chrzanowski Vice President, Operations, Irvine Thomas Wright Richard Longstreth Owner, John J. and Syd Dobkins House Company Commercial Property Management Director, Graduate Program Visual Artist EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR in Historic Preservation, Executive Barbara Gordon George Washington University Ronald P. Duplack Partner, Rieck and Crotty, PC Vincent Michael STAFF SECRETARY Executive Director, San Antonio Dale Allen Gyure Conservation Society Joel Hoglund Lynda S. Waggoner Communications and Events Director Vice President, Western Pennsylvania Professor of Architecture, Scott W. Perkins Conservancy Lawrence Technological University Director of Preservation, Fallingwater Kristen Patzer Director, Fallingwater T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA General Manager Fred Prozzillo TREASURER Founder and Principal, John H. Waters Director of Preservation, Frank Lloyd Mary F. Roberts Harboe Architects, PC Preservation Programs Manager Wright Foundation Executive Director, Martin House Scott Jarson Restoration Corporation Co-founder and President, azarchite- Tim Quigley Principal, Quigley Architects Chuck Henderson ture/Jarson & Jarson Real Estate Scuppers and PVC roof membrane Owner, Mrs. Clinton Walker House 25 Non-profit Non-profit Postage U.S. PAID No. 3912 Permit IL Chicago, n

The Museum of Modern Art

Stuart Richardson House (1941) Stuart Richardson PHOTO © TARANTINOSTUDIO TARANTINOSTUDIO © PHOTO the 150th anniversary year of his birth. The conference The conference the 150th anniversary year of his birth. major new exhibi- is timed to coincide with MoMA’s . the Archive at 150: Unpacking tion, Frank Lloyd Wright tour curator-led Reserved seating at the symposium, a tour and a of the exhibition, an all-day architecture (designed by Pritzker at Grace Farms dinner reception in the general Prize winners SANAA), will be included , supported by at 150 Frank Lloyd Wright conference, sponsor Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. presenting Special events include a special benefit dinner at the is registration Conference Guggenheim and more! . available now at savewright.org

2017 ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND SYMPOSIUM 2017 ANNUAL CONFERENCE of Modern City | The Museum Art | Sept. 13–17, 2017 New York Frank Lloyd Wright at 150 at Frank Lloyd Wright , After our annual spring event, Out and About Wright sur- works in the region 10 spectacular Wright toured of April, and we hosted Chicago at the end rounding private tour director-led dinner and an unforgettable June, we’re at Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in early in New looking ahead to our annual fall conference an extended international which will feature City, York at 150, symposium, Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conser- by the Frank Lloyd Wright organized vancy in cooperation with The Museum of Modern Art, Stanley Morgan with major sponsorship support from Eighteen Stanley. at Morgan and the Maddalena Group will high- the United States and abroad speakers from during architecture light new thinking about Wright’s

Roland Reisley House (1951) in Usonia PHOTO BY ROLAND REISLEY ROLAND BY PHOTO BUILDING CONSERVANCY BUILDING FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT WRIGHT LLOYD FRANK Chicago, IL 60604 | savewright.org | Chicago, Blvd. Suite 1120 Jackson 53 W. Grace Farms (SANAA) in New Canaan, Connecticut events KAUFMAN DEAN © PHOTO