Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect that was considered to be one of the greatest in the 20th century. He was a pioneer in the modern style of architecture. For more than 70 years, frank showed his countrymen ways to build their homes and see the world around them. He created some of the most monumental, and some of most intimate space in America. He has designed everything from banks and resorts, office buildings and churches, a filling station and a synagogue, a beer garden and an art museum.

Frank was born June 8, 1867, in Richland, Wisconsin and died in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 9, 1959, at the age of 91. His Father, a musician, abandoned the family in 1885. He grew up under the leadership of his mother, Anna, and his aunts and uncles on a farm near spring Green, Wisconsin.

When he entered the University of Wisconsin in 1884 his interest in architecture had already declared itself. There were no courses offered in his chosen field. He ended up going into the civil engineering program and gained some experience that would later help him in the designs of his buildings. He went to Chicago in 1888, where he became a designer for a firm called Adler and Sullivan. He worked directly under Louise Sullivan for six years. Louise was one of the only people that Wright ever acknowledged as an influence. Wright and Sullivan parted in 1893 when Sullivan discovered that Wright had been selling house designs on his own. A while passed before they became friends again.

Wright's life was marred with marital problems, and the scandals connected with them scared away many potential clients. He stayed with his first wife, Catherine, for twenty years. They had six children together. While he...

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...or easy construction. Pipes carrying heated water ran beneath the floor and provided radiant heat. The kitchen, which Wright called the workspace, and two supporting walls at each end of the house were of masonry. Long wood panels, emphasizing the structure's horizontality, were used for both interior and exterior walls. Glass window walls on the inside of the L opened onto the yard, while the wooden outside of the L closed the house from the street.

Of the more than 1100 projects Wright had designed of his lifetime, nearly one-third were created during the last decade of his life. Wright had an astounding capacity for self-renewal and was tireless in his efforts to create an architecture that was truly American. Through his work, his writings, and the hundreds of apprentice architects that trained at his side, his ideas have been spread throughout the world.