Famous Welsh Americans - Frank Lloyd Wright

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Taliesin

Frank met Mamah Borthwick Cheney in 1903. Indeed it may have been his wife who introduced them since both she and Mamah were members of the Nineteenth Century Women's Club. Their friendship led to a commission from her husband, Edwin. The bond grew through the middle years of the decade until it became apparent to Frank that his future lay with Mamah. For particulars of their  clandestine relationship you will have to consult one of the many biographies of Wright, although admittedly details are scant. For a fictional reconstruction you might read Loving Frank (2007) by Nancy Moran.

In 1909 Frank went to Berlin to make arrangements for the publication of his forthcoming book Ausgefuhrte Bauten und Entwurfe , now a highly prized (and priced) collectors item. He had also arranged to meet Mamah in Europe and they lived together for nearly a year dividing their time between Berlin and Fiesole, Italy. Upon his return he lived with his wife Catherine for another year before leaving her, and their children, to live permanently with Mamah at the new home he was building for them at Taliesin near Spring Green.

Mamah was divorced in 1911 but Catherine continued to hope for a reconciliation and did not finally grant Frank a divorce until 1922.

The name Taliesin means shining brow in Welsh and the magnificent structure is indeed situated on the brow of a hill. The layout of the house has been described in the following terms ( Wikipedia ):

"The Taliesin house had three sections: two broad portions on either end and a narrow connecting loggia. Typical of a Prairie School design, the house was, as Wright described, "low, wide, and snug." As with most of his houses, Wright designed the furniture. One of these broad sections was used as Wright's studio and workroom. A small apartment wing juts out of this wing; the apartment may have originally been intended for Wright's mother, but was used by Wright's head draftsman. Wright and Borthwick lived in the other broad portion. The one-story complex was accessed by a road leading up the hill to the rear of the building."

Taliesin was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2019. 

Life went on in these idyllic surroundings even though commissions were suffering as a consequence of the abandonment scandal. Wright had only three in 1912 and 1913. Luckily one of them was a big job. Midway Gardens was an enormous 'pleasure garden' in Chicago which would provide a venue for concerts, dining, drinking and dancing. There was a crew of six working in the studio, some of whom had worked on Taliesin itself and who were now engaged in work on Midway and other projects. Mamah was busily publishing her translations of the writings of Swedish feminist Ellen Kay and may have been working on a book of her own. Her children, John and Martha, both came to stay for a month each summer. This had been agreed in the terms of her divorce from Edwin. 

And so life continued until one fateful day in August 1914 when tragedy struck.

Tragedy

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Julian Carlton was engaged as a general handyman. He lived at Taliesin together with his wife Gertrude. He had been recommended  by a  client, John Vogelsang, and at the time of his employment Frank had no reason to suspect him capable of the  appalling crimes he later committed. Friends and relatives, however, knew him to be possessed of a fierce temper. He had also revealed a violent and threatening demeanor upon occasion, although never to his employers.

For a full and detailed account of the murders at Taliesin one could do no better than to consult William Drennan's Death in A Prairie House . Drennan notes that Carltons' motives have never been fully understood and concludes that, regardless of the immediate cause, the most likely explanation is simply that he went 'mad' or 'berserk'.

Whatever his motives, on August 15th 1914, Julian Carlton murdered seven people with an axe. The carnage was horrific. Among the slain were Mamah Borthwick, her two children, John and Martha (who were visiting at the time) and four members of Wright's studio staff.

Two more, Herbert Fritz and William Weston, were severely injured. 

Wright was away working on Midway Gardens when he got the news. He rushed back to Taliesin and one can only imagine his state of mind during that journey and in the immediate aftermath. The press reports were harrowing and frequently judgmental in tone and there is some slender evidence that Frank flirted with the idea of suicide at one point. *

Mamah was buried in the grounds of the Unity Chapel, about a mile from the house at Taliesin.

Wright began rebuilding Taliesin a few months after his recovery. Work was , for Frank, both a way of life and a form of therapy. He named the new structure Taliesin II.

* It was alleged in a newspaper report of the period that Frank deliberately lingered on the banks of the artificial lake below Taliesin after its dam broke. He was temporarily swept away by the floodwaters but successfully fought his way back to the bank.

Later Years

Frank's recovery post 1914 was swift and energetic. He rebuilt Taliesin although it burned down for a second time in 1925. Commissions were less plentiful than they had been prior to the scandal and tragedy at Taliesin but two developments in particular helped re establish his career and reputation:

1932 The Taliesin Fellowship was founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932' In its early years, Wright's apprentices worked on his projects including   Fallingwater , and the  Guggenheim Museum. It survives today as The School of Architecture .

1936 In 1936 Frank got lucky. He scored three commissions, all of which were completed and all of which were hailed as masterpieces. They were:

1. Fallingwater

2. Johnson Wax Administration Building

3. Herbert & Katherine Jacobs House

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

One of Wright's most famous and striking designs in his later career, was for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Frank worked on the initial sketches between 1943 and 1944 and the museum first opened in 1959 a few years after his death.

From the Wikipedia :- " The spiral design recalled a nautilus shell, with continuous spaces flowing freely one into another. Even as it embraced nature, Wright's design also expresses his take on modernist architecture's rigid geometry. Wright ascribed a symbolic meaning to the building's shapes. He explained, "these geometric forms suggest certain human ideas, moods, sentiments – as for instance: the circle, infinity; the triangle, structural unity; the spiral, organic progress; the square, integrity." Forms echo one another throughout: oval-shaped columns, for example, reiterate the geometry of the fountain. Circularity is the leitmotif, from the rotunda to the inlaid design of the terrazzo floors. Several architecture professors have speculated that the helical ramp and glass dome of Giuseppe Momo's 1932 staircase at the Vatican Museums was an inspiration for Wright's ramp and atrium. Jaroslav Josef Polívka assisted Wright with the structural design and managed to design the gallery ramp without perimeter columns. "

Frank Lloyd Wright in Print

Frank Lloyd Wright wrote and published extensively on the subject of architecture throughout his career. Amongst his most important works are:

Autobiography 1932

An essential, though frequently inaccurate, source for the authors life.

The Living City

In this book Wright discusses his vision for Broadacre City. For a review go here .

In The Cause of Architecture

A fascinating series of articles published in the Architectural Record between 1908 and 1928. The articles give an insight into the development of Wright's thoughts on architecture in this period.

Second Marriage: Maude Miriam Noel

Maude Miriam Noel introduced herself by letter to Frank in late December 1914. Their relationship grew and Miriam was living at Taliesin, now rebuilt after the first fire, by the summer of 1915. Frank married Miriam in 1924 after his divorce from his first wife, Catherine, became final. Miriam was, among other things, a morphine addict and a spiritualist. Their time together was not a happy one and the marriage failed after less than a year. They separated and eventually divorced in 1928. The separation and divorce were bitter and acrimonious as Maude sought the best possible settlement. She harassed Frank with threats of legal proceedings throughout the process.

Third Marriage: Olgivanna Lloyd Wright

Wright met Olga (Olgivanna) Lazovich Hinzenburg at a ballet performance in Chicago in 1924 while still married to Miriam. Olgivanna moved in to Taliesin in 1925 and the couple's first daughter, Iovanna, was born in December of that year. They were married in 1928 after Frank's divorce from Miriam became final the previous year.

Olga Ivanovna Lazović was the daughter of Jovan Lazović (the first Chief Justice of Montenegro) and Milica Miljanov. Her mother was a soldier and Montenegrin war heroine in World War I. She became a follower of G. I. Gurdjieff and left her first husband and child to follow Gurdjieff to Paris where she spent seven years as a student and teacher of sacred dance. In 1924, Gurdjieff disbanded his group and advised Olgivanna to go to the United States.

They remained married until, at the age of 91, Frank died in 1959. Olgivanna, who was 30 years younger than Wright, survived until 1985.
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Death & Legacy

Frank Lloyd Wright died peacefully on April 6th 1959 at the age of 91. He was buried initially at Unity Chapel near Taliesin in Wisconsin. He was later exhumed, cremated and re-interred near Taliesin West at his third wife Oligvanna's instruction.

In recognition of his lifetime achievements he was awarded a Gold Medal by The Royal Institute of British Architects in 1941. In 1949 the American Institute of Architects followed suit awarding him an AIA Gold Medal.  He received an honorary degree from the University of Wales In 1956.

Wright had designs built in three centuries (19th, 20th and 21st). The Blue Sky Mausoleum in Buffalo was completed in 2004 from an original 1928 design. He designed more than 1100 architectural works in the course of his career of which a total of 532 were constructed.

His influence on subsequent generations of architects around the world has been undeniably massive. It can truly be said of him that he changed the way we build and live.

    Wright Sites on AmeriCymru

'Frank Lloyd Wright' on AmeriCymru

America's Greatest Architect?

 

A Conversation with Frank Lloyd Wright

 

Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright - Paul Hendrickson

Wright Sites: A Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright Public Places (field guide to Frank Lloyd Wright houses and structures...) - Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy

Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders - William R. Drennan

Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography - Meryle Secrest

Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography - Frank Lloyd Wright

In The Cause of Architecture 1908 - Frank Lloyd Wright (Architectural Record) 

In The Cause of Architecture 1914 - Frank Lloyd Wright (Architectural Record) 

Frank Lloyd Wright Trust