© COPYRIGHT by Jennifer Lee Michael 2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED For my rock, Christopher Hart, who helped me no matter what. THE INFLUENCE OF THE AUTOMOBILE ON FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS AND WORKS BY Jennifer Lee Michael ABSTRACT This thesis aims to analyze the automobile's various significant influences on the architectural oeuvre of Frank Lloyd Wright. The first chapter discusses Wright's biography and early career in the American Midwest, establishing the sources of his enthusiasm for automobiles and their influence on his lifelong career. The second chapter discusses Wright's conceptual building projects on paper and through models for like-minded patrons, as well as Wright’s own automobile-influenced project Broadacre City. The third and final chapter discusses the influence of Wright’s mature automobile aesthetic on his realized designed structures, concluding with his last work, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Using a comparative research methodology, this thesis chronologically traces the evolution of particular motifs such as the spiral in Wright’s conceptual designs and built structures, ultimately substantiating the automobile’s significant influence on his architectural career and, in turn, on America’s visual landscape. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank my M.A. thesis advisor, Dr. Helen Langa along with the multiple teachers who have helped make this thesis come to fruition; Dr. Joanne Allen, Dr. Sarah Gordon, Dr. Juliet Bellow, Dr. Andrea Pearson, and Dr. Kim Butler. Without all of their encouragement and continued support, this thesis would not have been possible. I must also thank my graduating class. We were a small cohort, but a strong and loving one, in which I have learned and grown tremendously. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .......................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S AUTOMOBILE AFFILIATIONS: PRIVATE OBSESSION AND PUBLIC PATRONAGE ................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL WORKS: WRIGHT’S AUTOMOBILE AESTHETIC IN THREE PROJECTS .................................................. 23 CHAPTER 3: WRIGHT’S AUTOMOBILE-INFLUENCED DESIGN AESTHETIC: EXECUTED STRUCTURES ................................................................... 46 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 70 ILLUSTRATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 75 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FLLW FDN, and the following numbers, refer to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s catalog system of his works located at both Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, New York. Figure 1: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Automobile with Cantilevered Top,” 1920s, pencil on paper. FLLW FDN#2001.001. ..................................................................................................... 76 Figure 2: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Automobile Objective – Section Showing Planetarium,” 1924, pencil on tracing paper, 12x12 in. FLLW FDN #2505.034. ............................................. 76 Figure 3: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Automobile Objective – Elevation,” 1924, pencil on tracing paper, 20x14 in. FLLW FDN# 2505.031. ......................................................................... 77 Figure 4: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Frank Lloyd Wright: The Living City,” 1958, colored pencil on paper. FLLW FDN#5825.003. .......................................................................................... 77 Figure 5: Photographer unknown, “Wright and Apprentices, Broadacre City Project Model,” 1934, Black and white photograph. .................................................................................. 77 Figure 6: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Pittsburgh Point Park Civic Center – Perspective” (Scheme 1), 1947, Sepia ink and pencil on tracing paper, 38x32 in. FLLW FDN#4821.004. ............. 78 Figure 7: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Twin Bridges for Pittsburgh Point Park – Perspective” (Scheme 2), 1948, Pencil and color pencil on tracing paper, 44x29 in. FLLW FDN#4836.004. ... 78 Figure 8: Frank Lloyd Wright, “How to Live in the Southwest, David Wright House – Plan, Section, and Elevation,” 1950, Pencil and colored pencil on tracing paper, 46x30 in. FLLW FDN#5011.001. ..................................................................................................... 78 Figure 9: Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye. 1929-31. Photograph located in Alan Colquhoun, Oxford History of Art: Modern Architecture, (London: Oxford University Press, 2002), 150. ... 79 Figure 10: Pedro E. Guerrero, photographer. “David Wright House.” In House and Home (June 1953), black and white photograph, 8x10 in..................................................................... 79 Figure 11: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Tydol Filling Station – Sketch,” 1920s, pencil and colored pencil on paper. FLLW FND #3206. ................................................................................ 79 Figure 12: Frank Lloyd Wright, “The Standardized Service Station – Elevation,” 1932, pencil and colored pencil on paper. FLLW FND#3206.021. ...................................................... 80 Figure 13: Jet Lowe, photographer. “General view of North (front) and West side, looking Southeast - Lindholm Oil Company Service Station, 202 Cloquet Avenue, Cloquet, Carlton County, MN,” 1952. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number HABS MINN, 9-CLO, 1—1. ....................................................... 80 v Figure 14: Margaret Carson, photographer. “Frank Lloyd Wright, Baroness Hilla Rebay, and Solomon R. Guggenheim standing beside a model of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,” 1947. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-116657. ............................................................................................ 81 Figure 15: Ezra Stoller, photographer. “Hoffman Auto Showroom,”1955, Black and white photograph, 8x10 ft. .......................................................................................................... 81 Figure 16: Frank Lloyd Wright, “Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – Perspective,” 1943, Color pencil, pencil, and ink on tracing paper, 41x27 in. FLLW FDN#4305.017 ..................... 81 Figure 17: Unknown photographer, “Guggenheim Museum During Construction,” 1957, black and white photograph, 8.75x8 in. FLLW FDN#: 1205.61.1114....................................... 82 vi INTRODUCTION Art and architectural historians have focused on a wide range of issues related to Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural structures and interior designs. These issues range from Wright’s focus on modern materials and construction methods to an exploration of the varying natural environments within which he positioned his structures. Numerous books and articles delve into his personal life involving his many tumultuous relationships with patrons, friends, and family. Wright’s works and writings were, and continue to be, thoroughly scrutinized as well. In the context of these varied writings, personal relationships, and conceptual as well as executed structures, numerous authors have mentioned Wright’s infatuation with and influence by the automobile. A wealth of authors note the automobile as an important visual design element for Wright due to his extensive car ownership.1 A minority of these authors have expanded beyond minor mention to expose the automobile’s aesthetic and functional connection to singular built and unbuilt projects. However, the great breadth of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural oeuvre demands that research be conducted beyond mere studies of individual works. It is necessary to consider the overarching theme of the automobile’s influence on Frank Lloyd Wright’s design process, beginning with his biography and including the details of multiple works within his oeuvre. Wright emphasized the important influence of natural forms on his signature style of organic architecture, discussing this in his lectures and multiple books throughout his career.2 But he also celebrated “the machine,” introducing an opposing force that influenced his ideas arguably in equal measure. Wright spoke of the ambivalent power of the machine while 1 See for example Mary Jane Hamilton, “Frank Lloyd Wright and His Automobiles,” Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, 21, 1 (Winter 2010) and Ingrid Steffensen “The Auto as Architect’s Inspiration.” New York Times, August 6, 2009. Accessed April 17, 2015. 2 Frank Lloyd Wright. “Organic Architecture,” in Programs and Manifestos on 20th-Century Architecture, ed. Ulrich Conrads, trans. Michael Bullock (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2002), 25. 1 embracing its revolutionary and forward-thinking technology in conjunction to life.3 As Wright was living and working from the turn of the nineteenth