20 Of America’s Greatest Frank Lloyd Wright Creations
huffingtonpost.com/entry/frank-lloyd-wright-150-birthday_us_59386c52e4b0b13f2c66a5f7
By Katherine 6/8/2017 Brooks
After Frank Lloyd Wright died in 1959, an obituary described him as “ the great radical of American architecture.”
During his lifetime, Wright condemned the “lust for ugliness” he saw in the sky-scraping landscapes and boxed suburban sprawls of the United States. “Mr. Wright scathingly condemned the topless towers of New York,” the obituary reads. “He had no use for the great steel and stone cities.” He didn’t care for American “box” houses, either, declaring them “more of a coffin for the human spirit than an inspiration.”
Instead, Wright preferred the low, integrated structures of a style dubbed “prairie architecture,” a term the famously arrogant artist would later reject. His organic, functional and mostly modest aesthetic would come to define the concrete office buildings and family homes he’s left scattered across the country. One-hundred and fifty years after Wright’s birth in Wisconsin, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is paying tribute to this Midwestern brand of radical art by showcasing more than 400 of Wright’s designs.
According to estimates, Wright produced over 1,171 architectural works during the course of his tumultuous career, of which 511 were built ― an astounding feat for an architect whose life was upended at various points by death, destruction, financial ruin and his own reckless behavior. Today, the man who began his career as a draftsman in Chicago, Illinois, is well associated with homes like Fallingwater and behemoth spaces like New York’s Guggenheim Museum. But MoMA’s scope is bigger, drawing attention to seven decades worth of his architectural drawings, models and building fragments, as well as his furniture, tableware, textiles, paintings, photos and scrapbooks, some never seen before.
In honor of Wright’s 150th birthday, we’ve put together a digital tour of 20 of his greatest American works, filled with sketches and archival images of some of his most revered designs. If you can’t make it to MoMA’s exhibition, you can celebrate one of America’s greatest architects here.
Winslow House (River Forest, Illinois)
The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Winslow House in River Forest, Illinois (1893–94).
1/29 Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
Darwin Martin House (Buffalo, New York)
2/29 The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, New York (1903–06).
3/29 Photo 12 via Getty Images
Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois)
The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois (1905–08).
4/29 Chicago History Museum via Getty Images
Fallingwater/Kaufmann House (Mill Run, Pennsylvania)
5/29 The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (Kaufmann House) in Mill Run, Pennsylvania (1934–37).
Richard A. Cooke III via Getty Images
Ennis House (Los Angeles, California)
6/29 The Museum of Modern Art Avery Architectural Fine Arts Library Columbia University New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House in Los Angeles, California (1924–25).
Jim Steinfeldt via Getty Images
Jacobs House (Madison, Wisconsin)
7/29 The Museum of Modern Art Avery Architectural Fine Arts Library Columbia University New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Jacobs House in Madison, Wisconsin (1936–37).
8/29 Chicago History Museum via Getty Images
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (Wauwatosa, Wisconsin)
The Museum of Modern Art Avery Architectural Fine Arts Library Columbia University New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (1955–61).
9/29 Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, New York)
The Museum of Modern Art Avery Architectural Fine Arts Library Columbia University New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, New York (1943–59).
10/29 Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
Robie House (Chicago, Illinois)
Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust via Getty Images
11/29 Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
Hollyhock House (Los Angeles, California)
12/29 Lawrence K. Ho via Getty Images
Ted Soqui via Getty Images
Arthur Heurtley House (Oak Park, Illinois)
13/29 Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust via Getty Images
John Gress via Getty Images
14/29 Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio (Oak Park, Illinois)
Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust via Getty Images
15/29 UniversalImagesGroup via Getty Images
F. F. Tomek House (Riverside, Illinois)
16/29 Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
Taliesin East (Spring Green, Wisconsin)
17/29 Chicago History Museum via Getty Images
18/29 Buyenlarge via Getty Images
Taliesin West (Scottsdale, Arizona)
19/29 Chicago History Museum via Getty Images
20/29 DEA / L. ROMANO via Getty Images
Pope-Leighey House (Alexandria, Virginia)
The Washington Post via Getty Images
21/29 The Washington Post via Getty Images
Price Tower (Bartlesville, Oklahoma)
22/29 Bettmann via Getty Images
23/29 The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s model for the unfinished St. Mark’s Tower, similar to the final design of the Price Tower.
Dana-Thomas House (Springfield, Illinois)
24/29 Raymond Boyd via Getty Images
25/29 Buyenlarge via Getty Images
Wingspread (Wind Point, Wisconsin)
Buyenlarge via Getty Images
26/29 Patrick Grehan via Getty Images
Rosenbaum House (Florence, Alabama)
27/29 Buyenlarge via Getty Images
28/29 Buyenlarge via Getty Images
”Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive” is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from June 12 to October 1.
29/29