Archinect - News

Embattled Price Tower owner sues Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy

2024-10-23T12:21:00-04:00

The embattled owner of Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark Price Tower in Bartlesville Oklahoma has filed suit against The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in order to void liens which have been placed on the property, the New York Times is reporting. The nonprofit had previously taken action against the Copper Tree Group, which is managed by investor Cynthia Blanchard, in order to prevent sales of original furniture from the building that were under the protection of a preservation easement dating to 2011.

Blanchard's attorneys are repeating their original claims that the orders no longer pertain post-sale. The company is now seeking $75,000 in damages in addition to an injunction against the Conservancy for "interfering" with the sale of the building or furniture. In yet another complication, the Times reports its previously scheduled October 7th auction has been pushed back to November 18th in response to a separate lawsuit from a Tulsa-based developer who claims to have signed ...

Frank Lloyd Wright's first private commission on the market for $1.98 million in Illinois

2024-09-17T17:30:00-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright’s first independent commission in River Forest, Illinois has hit the local real estate market for just under $2 million. The historic 1894 Winslow House was the young architect’s first after leaving Adler & Sullivan’s Chicago office, reports Blair Kamin.

Christie’s International listed the 5,000-square-foot/five-bedroom property, which was restored recently for $1.3 million. Wright credits the nascent underpinnings of the Prairie Style to its development in several sources including his biography per Crain’s. The National Register of Historic Places added the landmark to its database in 1970.

Wright’s early Warren Hickox House in nearby Kankakee, Illinois also hit the market in March after being held in private hands for 48 years.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower to be auctioned online in October

2024-08-22T13:18:00-04:00

Embattled owners of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Price Tower building in Bartlesville, Oklahoma have announced an October auction in response to growing debt obligations, which have reportedly quadrupled to $2 million since a local couple purchased the landmark for just $10 early last year.

Details of the impending auction were first reported by local journalist Andy Dossett, who notes that "Washington County records indicate the assessed value of the property is $6,214,060."

Owner Cynthia Blanchard is now facing a separate legal challenge over the supposedly illegal sale of original furniture designs from the tower to a Dallas area design dealer earlier this summer. The auction will take place via the online platform Ten-X between October 7th and 9th. Blanchard will reportedly entertain offers beforehand. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy currently holds a preservation easement over the property, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and w...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Anderton Court Shops on Rodeo Drive now home to Givenchy LA flagship

2024-08-13T12:42:00-04:00

The first West Coast flagship for Givenchy has openeded inside Frank Lloyd Wright's 1952 Anderton Court Shops building in Beverly Hills. The three-story design — Wright’s only commercial building in Los Angeles — features a central spine-like tower and inverted-V shape facade. It was originally intended to include a penthouse apartment and studio, and, after the most recent update, features a configuration of six boutique spaces serviced by an angular ramp that draws obvious comparisons to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Wright sold it to his client originally as "a little gem of an unusual sort."

Valerie Leon, Givenchy’s president of the Americas, said at its opening: "Given Hubert de Givenchy’s love of art and architecture, the Frank Lloyd Wright building felt like the right choice, and the opportunity to bring Givenchy to life there was inspiring."

The shops were added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2004.

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy files UCC claims over sale of original Price Tower items

2024-08-09T16:01:00-04:00

A dispute over the sale of original items from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower high-rise in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, has produced a series of UCC statements against the building’s current owners by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. The nonprofit issued an update to its legal pursuit this week and said that they are operating from an existing preservation easement agreement that prohibits the sale of certain items from the landmarked 1952 building.

According to the Trust, "The items in the sale included a one-of-a-kind rolling directory board, architectural copper relief panels, an armchair, and copper tables and stools, all designed by Wright for the Price Tower." The lot was reported to have been purchased by an unnamed Dallas area midcentury design dealer. The dealer was contacted in July with a demand from the Trust insisting that any items be returned immediately.

The Trust says the tower's owners "incorrectly [claim] that the easement is now invalid because the Tower...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Winn House is for sale at $1.85 million

2024-08-06T17:56:00-04:00

A unique Frank Lloyd Wright home in the historic Parkwyn Village community in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, is for sale after listing for $1.85 million.

The two-story Robert D. and Winifred L. Winn House from the architect’s Usonian period was built in 1950 and features a similar three-bedroom layout shared by a pair of Wright designs located nearby in The Acres that went on the market last September.

Image courtesy Fred Taber/Jacqua Realtors

Inside, surviving original built-ins can be found along with 2.5 baths. The 2,469-square-foot design received a total of $800,000 in renovations after being purchased by the current homeowner for just $200,000 in 2012, according to Realtor.com. Local firm Jacqua Realtors is listed as the sale agent.

Image courtesy Fred Taber/Jacqua Realtors

Artnet says this is the last home designed by Wright for the Parkwyn Village community, which he began planning in the early 1940s with a group of employees from the pharmaceutical manufacturer Upjohn Company....

Florida Southern College to launch new School of Architecture on historic Frank Lloyd Wright campus

2024-07-24T17:41:00-04:00

A new academic program in architecture is coming to Central Florida: The newly established Florida Southern College School of Architecture will begin instructing the first students enrolled in its undergraduate program in 2025, with a master’s course to follow beginning in the 2028 academic year.

The future school boasts a unique learning experience thanks to its setting in the Ordway Building, which is one of 16 structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Lakeland campus between 1938 and 1958. According to the college, that makes it the largest single-site collection of Wright's architecture in the world.

Rendering of the future Florida Southern College School of Architecture building. Image: The Lunz Group/FSC SoA

"We are blessed that this next stage of educational excellence is being funded through a generous benefactor who will ensure that Florida Southern makes a profound impact on the architecture profession and thus on our lives as we live and work in the structures our...

These are the eight historic sites receiving Conserving Black Modernism grants today

2024-07-18T12:07:00-04:00

A group of eight important Black modernist sites across the country has been selected for a round of grants worth a total of $1.2 million by the Getty Foundation in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

They were part of the Conserving Black Modernism program that is being directed by the Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Grants ranging up to $150,000 were awarded in four categories. Each joins almost two dozen other heritage sites connected to Black history as part of the larger $3 million initiative, which now means 304 grantees have been awarded $140 million nationwide through the fund since 2017.

Brent Leggs, the Fund's Executive Director, said, "The National Grant Program represents the Action Fund's enduring commitment to telling the full American story — one that makes room for Black resilience, creativity, and achievement. History is crucial to our nation's understanding of where we've come from, who we are today, and how we en...

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation teams up with Lindal to offer replica Usonian home designs with a modern twist

2024-06-24T13:07:00-04:00

Your chance to build a version of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's seminal Usonian home designs has now become available thanks to a new collaboration between the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the Seattle-based home construction company Lindal Cedar Homes.

Replica designs inspired by the Bachman-Wilson home, Gordon House, and Seth Peterson cottage count among the nine available for purchase. Lindal says each has been "updated for modern living," offering clients customization on top of the experience of being "liberated" (as Wright liked to imagine) by their unique combination of openness, light, and an organic relationship to nature.

'Crystal Springs' (inspired by Bachman-Wilson home design). Image courtesy Lindal Cedar Homes

The foundation’s CEO, Stuart Graff, commented, "The Lindal Imagine series reflects a modern embodiment of Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles; sensitive to the attributes of Usonian design while meeting the demands of contemporary living."

'Mirror Lake' (inspired by...

Jenny Holzer restages 1989 projection piece at the Guggenheim in New York City

2024-05-21T12:42:00-04:00

This month at New York's Guggenheim Museum, artist Jenny Holzer is having her landmark 1989 light projection restaged in the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building’s rotunda. The installation celebrates her innovative text-based art alongside pieces from the early 70s to today that were included in the museum's new Light Line exhibition.

Installation view, Jenny Holzer: Light Line, May 17 – September 29, 2024, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. © 2024 Jenny Holzer, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Ariel Ione Williams © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

"Developed in close collaboration with the artist and her studio, the new sign was the subject of an ambitious research project. Guggenheim conservators reverse-engineered the 1989 LED hardware and computer program, which helped inform the new manifestation. This investigation documents future variability and technology upgrades, and contributes to scholarship and methodologies for the preservation of ...

Frank Lloyd Wright's early Prairie-style design lists for $779,000 in Illinois

2024-03-29T14:41:00-04:00

The home credited as one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s first Prairie School designs, the 1900 Warren Hickox House, has hit the market recently in Kankakee, Illinois, for a listing price of $779,000.

Realtor.com was early to report news of the home’s listing, which represents the first time the home has been available for purchase in 48 years. Sited adjacent to the R. Harley Bradley House from the same year, the 3,277-square-foot design features four bedrooms and 2.5 baths and is completed by a Japanese-inspired roofline the then 33-year-old Wright was drawn to even before his first visit to the country in 1905.

First floor plan. Image: Freiluft/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust describes: “Despite the relatively small scale of the residence, Wright created a sense of both interior and exterior expansiveness through his use of a modified cruciform plan and his manipulation of architectural space, form, and details.”

Second floor plan. Image: Freiluft/Wikimedia Co...

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West

2024-03-26T16:54:00-04:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has announced its selection of Sasaki Associates to create a new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Plans for a new campus will guide the development of any new projects on the 620-acre campus (a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site) in line with the Foundation’s Taliesin West Preservation Plan from 2015. Their aim is to re-establish the site as a cultural destination for "future generations."

The site, which Wright settled with his third wife Olgivanna in the 1930s, had included a school that almost shuttered due to financial difficulties before reversing its decision and relocating to two sites in Paradise Valley at the start of the pandemic.

Photo credit: Andrew Pielage

The firm says: "The comprehensive plan for Taliesin West represents a significant step in ensuring the long-term preservation and vitality of this architectural masterpiece. By engaging with the site’s history and ecology, Sasaki’s plan will guid...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Tirranna home sells for $6 million in Connecticut

2024-01-30T14:58:00-05:00

A treasured Frank Lloyd Wright home once resided in by the architect himself has sold for a reported $6 million in suburban New Canaan, Connecticut. The house is one of Wright’s largest designs and was purchased for $2 million below the original $8 million asking price that was published with its first listing in June 2023.

Tirranna House was originally built for the local Rayward family in 1955 and features seven bedrooms with eight full bathrooms in a horseshoe plan covering some 7,861 square feet on 14 acres of land. It has had just four owners in the subsequent 70 years, according to Robb Report. Wright lived in the home during the construction of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York after 1956 and incorporated some of the same clerestory windows used in the museum’s design into the home’s greenhouse, which is joined by a guest residence, five-car garage, converted wine cellar, and barn.

Image courtesy Houlihan Lawrence

Featuring a lively palette of Philippine mahogany ...

Two-for-one special: Pair of Usonian Frank Lloyd Wright homes hits the market in Michigan

2023-09-29T18:37:00-04:00

A pair of Usonian-period Frank Lloyd Wright homes have hit the market in Galesburg, Michigan, for an asking price of $4.5 million, according to a combined listing posted last week by Christie’s International Real Estate.

Located in The Acres, a Wright-designed subdivision that remained unfinished after the architect began work on the more successful Parkwyn Village nearby, both the Samuel & Dorothy Eppstein House and Eric & Pat Pratt House offer approximately 2,000 square feet of premium living space inside of Wright’s signature concrete block and mahogany detailed exteriors.

Image courtesy Victoria Krause Schutte/@properties Christie’s International Real Estate

Christie’s says the original built-ins of the houses have been well preserved by their owners, along with Wright’s floorplans. The sale represents the first time Wright homes have been offered in a bundle, and follows a spate of other rare homes in Arizona, Northern California, Texas, and Oklahoma to have been listed in the ...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Tokyo Imperial Hotel prepares for major expansion

2023-09-28T08:00:00-04:00

Paris-based Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects (ATTA) is moving forward with its plans for a major expansion of Frank Lloyd Wright's beloved Imperial Hotel in Tokyo following their selection as the project’s winning design architect in November of 2021.

The project will be the fourth such major overhaul of Yuzuru Watanabe’s original 1890 design and links Wright (who strove in his multiple renovations from 1923 onward to blend eastern and western motifs as much as possible) with the present-day and future development of architecture as a culture-bridging discipline.

Tane’s instincts for the project were based on his beliefs that the hotel should be returned to its late-1920s reputation as the “Jewel of the Orient,” a source of national pride, and an important cultural exchange. His team says they will utilize a “unique archaeological approach” that considers the many layers of history and typology present at the site while in the process of realizing their design for the new Main Buil...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s stately Westhope home lists for $8 million in Oklahoma

2023-04-21T12:56:00-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright's historic 1929 Westhope home has just hit the market in Oklahoma.

Sage Sotheby’s has the property listed for $8 million in Tulsa, with local real estate investor Stuart Price as the seller.

According to the listing, the 5-bed, 4.5-bath home is 10,405 square feet, making it one of the largest residential projects designed by the architect. It joins two other in Carmel, California and the Phoenix area as Wright designs to have come on the market since the new year. The home is one of only three Wright commissions in Oklahoma between 1929 and the Price Tower in 1956 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 following a 1965 renovation.

Image: Sarah Strunk Photography/Sage Sotheby’s International Realty

Local publishing magnate Richard Lloyd Jones envisioned the home as a “symbol of Tulsa’s future.” The structure features the same “textile blocks” system seen earlier in the Enni...

Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson Eric Llloyd Wright passes away aged 93

2023-04-13T15:51:00-04:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has shared news of the passing of Wright’s grandson Eric Lloyd Wright last month at the age of 93.

Wright, who was the only child of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., designed homes and religious projects in California, Pennsylvania, the American Midwest and Finland.

He was an apprentice for his grandfather at Taliesin until being drafted into service in the Korean War in 1952. Wright returned to Los Angeles in 1956 to work for his father’s studio but did not earn an architectural license until 1967, according to his biography on the Foundation’s Memoriam.

It was in Malibu in 1978 that Wright began his own practice, Eric Lloyd Wright & Associates Architecture & Planning. From there, his firm went on to become a fixture in the myriad restoration projects of his father and grandfather’s original designs, including the Ennis House, South Carolina’s Auldbrass Plantation, and the Storer House in Los Angeles.

The Ennis House. Photo: Mary E. Nichols, via Realtor....

New Balance honors Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City concept in latest sneaker collab

2023-04-12T13:26:00-04:00

A new collaboration between New Balance and fashion designer Ronnie Fieg is paying homage Frank Lloyd Wright’s utopian concept for the ‘Broadacre City’ that first appeared in his seminal title The Disappearing City in 1932.

The KITH founder worked with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to design a pair of New Balance 998s (aka the “silhouette”) on the occasion of the sneaker’s 35th anniversary.

Ronnie Fieg x Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation x New Balance 998 “Broadacre City” capsule. Image courtesy Ronnie Fieg via Instagram

The suede designs come in two colorways, both meant to represent the agrarian landscape and buildings seen in the concept’s physical models that were displayed in the entryway of the Hacienda de la Chandler at Taliesin West after 1935.

Ronnie Fieg x Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation x New Balance 998 “Broadacre City” capsule. Image courtesy Ronnie Fieg via Instagram

“Broadacre City isn’t a city at all but a reimagining of how we could organize ourselves outside of dense...

Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed oceanfront home sells for $22 million in California

2023-02-27T17:05:00-05:00

Frank Lloyd Wright’s California seaside project, Mrs. Clinton Walker House, has sold for $22 million after being listed on the market in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The 1,400-square-foot home was completed in 1952 for a wealthy widower residing in one of California's sought-after surf meccas.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 and features a copper-shingled roof with the home's shape designed to resemble a ship’s bow breaking the waves overlooking the point towards nearby Pebble Beach. Thomas Church was also responsible for the landscaping at the site in his pioneering California Style.

The Journal quoted a 1948 letter from homeowner Della Walker to Wright (in which she reportedly references Fallingwater as an inspiration) as saying: “I am a woman living alone. I wish protection from the wind and privacy from the road and a house as enduring as the rocks but as transparent and charming as the waves and delicate ...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design lists for $9 million in Arizona

2023-02-08T19:16:00-05:00

The private home considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design has hit the market in Arizona for $8.95 million, according to the Robb Report and several local real estate listings.

The 3,095-square-foot Norman Lykes House, also known as the "Circular Sun House," was first designed by Wright shortly prior to his death in April 1959 and eventually completed by Taliesin architect John Rattenbury nine years later.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

It stands on a 1.3-acre plot overlooking the Phoenix Mountain Preserve in Palm Canyon and had previously been sold at an auction for $1.7 million in 2019 before being re-listed in September of 2020 for just under $8 million.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

Rattenbury’s 1994 renovation reduced the home’s capacity to three bedrooms from the original five. Its circular design was credited by Wright to the surrounding landscape.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

The home includes original furnishings made by Wright...

Steelcase reinterprets Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters furniture with their new Racine Collection

2023-01-27T10:54:00-05:00

Michigan-based manufacturing company Steelcase has announced the creation of the Frank Lloyd Wright Racine Collection, a range of furniture that pays homage to the products designed by the famous architect in 1939 for the SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin. Having worked with Wright to produce the furniture for the original 1939 building, Steelcase has sought to develop a new range that “reintroduces, reinterprets, and reimagines the classic furniture designs of Wright.”

Frank Lloyd Wright Racine Signature Collection. Image credit: Steelcase

Wright’s relationship with Steelcase began with the Johnson Wax Headquarters in 1939 and has continued through 1985 with their ongoing stewardship of Wright’s Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For their latest endeavor, Steelcase is collaborating with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to launch reintroductions of iconic furniture by Wright, as well as create newly authored designers inspired by Wright’s principles.

...

Three unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper projects brought to life by 3D imagery

2023-01-09T12:40:00-05:00

Three unbuilt projects by Frank Lloyd Wright have been recreated in 3D renderings by Spanish architect David Romero. Images of the high-rise schemes, located in Chicago and Washington D.C., have been published in the latest edition of the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, a hard-copy magazine of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

The Illinois. Image credit: David Romero via The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The tallest of the three, 'The Illinois,' remains one of Wright’s most famous unbuilt works. The mile-high skyscraper was unveiled by Wright in 1956 and would have stood four times taller than the world’s then-largest building. "The Empire State Building would be a mouse by comparison," Wright boasted at the time.

The Illinois. Image credit: David Romero via The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The 528-story, 18 million-square-foot concept would have accommodated 100,000 people. Four major highways, along with rail lines and a heliport, would provide access to the building, with docking s...

Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Fawcett Farm lists for $4.25M in California's Central Valley

2022-12-14T18:37:00-05:00

One of Frank Lloyd Wright’s final Usonian designs is now on the market in central California. Real estate firm Crosby Doe Associates recently listed Wright’s Fawcett Farm in Los Banos for a cool $4.25 million and is beginning to take offers on the 7-bed, 6-bathroom home that was completed just two years after his death in 1959.

Image: Jim Simmons

The house was built by local football legend Buck Fawcett and his wife using plans Wright drew up for them before his passing. It includes a koi pond, small museum, Japanese garden, workshop, and recessed pool. The lot it sits on is sized at 76 acres and offers the opportunity for commercial crop development on what Fawcett described to Wright at the time as “the most fertile agricultural land in the world.”

Image: Jim Simmons

Featuring an L-shaped interior with open plan, classic mid-century wooden built-ins, and furnishing arrangement designed by Cornelia Brierly. Other enhancements include a high-end sec...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro issues update on historic Frank Lloyd Wright theater revitalization in Dallas

2022-12-12T18:50:00-05:00

Diller Scofidio + Renfro has shared new project details and a flythrough animation for their planned revitalization of the 63-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas.

The project’s scope revolves around a “faithful reinterpretation of Wright’s original design intent” that calls for the removal of several decades worth of accumulated additions; creation of a new “theater arts complex” outside that includes a new performance venue, two pavilions, and a 100-seat black box theater; demolition of the existing Heldt Building; and further development of the William B. Dean Park with an emphasis on “stitching” the site with the popular nearby Katy Trail and Turtle Creek attractions.

Image courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro

According to a press release, the final plans will be submitted to the city no later than December 31st of this year. Chicago-based preservation specialists Harboe Architects is also involved with the planning team, helping to restore the so...

Acclaimed Chicago architect Brad Lynch, of Brininstool + Lynch, passes away at 64

2022-09-28T19:08:00-04:00

A beloved figure in Chicago’s architecture community is being mourned this week after the news that Brininstool + Lynch founder Brad Lynch passed away on Monday at the age of 64.

Lynch was known as the designer of seminal works throughout the Midwest region, including the Racine Art Museum, award-winning BARDAVID at the University of Chicago’s new David Rubenstein Forum, and multiple residential projects across his adopted home city.

Mariposa House, Malibu CA, by Brininstool + Lynch. Photo by Christopher Barrett

A model of Lynch's design for the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin. Image: Christopher Barrett/Hedrich Blessing

“I got to know Brad when he joined Archinect's ski trip in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. I had long been a fan of his design work, and quickly became a fan of him as a person,” Archinect founder Paul Petrunia remembered. “He was so kind and gracious with the group. He exuded excitement whenever talking about architecture and art, and was eager to show us the stu...

LA's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock House to reopen on August 18th

2022-08-10T12:58:00-04:00

Los Angeles' historic Hollyhock House will reopen to the public on Aug. 18, city officials announced. LA City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell and the Department of Cultural Affairs will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony that day to celebrate the return of in-person, self-guided tours.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home closed its doors at the start of the pandemic in early 2020. During this time, LA's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) embarked on “significant transformations” at the Hollyhock House and Residence A, a guest house (also designed by Wright) located at the same site. The property saw conservation work on its cast stone, art glass windows, woodwork, and landscape. In addition, the home’s prominent fireplace was restored, and two Wright-designed sofas were reinstalled.

Previously on Archinect: Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House to reopen once again in February

The reopening aligns with the centennial of the iconic home, which was constructed between 1919 and 1921. Wright’s first LA project, it is the city’s first and only UNESCO World Heritage Site .

The Hollyhock House has undergone a significant renewal before: From 2005 to 2015, it was subject to an extensive renovation process, which focused on restoring the home and its details to its origi...

Frank Lloyd Wright-designed doghouse is back on display at the Marin County Civic Center

2022-06-15T17:10:00-04:00

In 1958, Frank Lloyd Wright broke a personal record with a cottage he designed for Seth Peterson, a longtime admirer of his work. At just 880 square feet, the home along Mirror Lake, in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, is the smallest residential building Wright ever touched. But it isn’t his smallest structure. Instead, that honour goes to a doghouse, which Wright conceived in the mid 1950s and is now on display at the Marin Civic Center, in San Rafael, California.

In the early 1950s, Robert and Gloria Berger commissioned Wright to design a Usonian-style home for their family in San Anselmo, California. In 1956, their 12-year-old son, Jim Berger, wrote to Wright asking for plans for a matching doghouse for his Labrador retriever, Eddie. The architect provided the plans for a four-square-foot structure, written on the back of an envelope, the following year. The miniature home, dubbed Eddie’s House, was triangular in shape and featured signature Wright details, such as a low-pitched roof with an exaggerated overhang. Wright suggested Berger use scrap pieces of Philippine mahogany and cedar left over from the home’s original construction.

The doghouse wasn’t built until 1963, following Berger’s return from an army tour. When Jim’s father died in 1970, the original structure was scrapped. However, in 2010, Jim and his brother Eric rebuilt the shelter using the original plans and donated it to the County of Marin, in Northern California, in 2016....

Fallingwater gets an offsetting new upgrade

2022-05-27T16:22:00-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic 87-year-old Fallingwater historic site is getting a very necessary modern upgrade according to a press release issued last month by Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the organization responsible for its stewardship.

In order to supplement sustainability goals tied to the home’s current preservation needs, Fallingwater and the surrounding Bear Run Nature Reserve will now offset a full 100% of the structure’s energy use via a network of 540 individual 5 x 3-foot bifacial solar panels said to produce 254,880 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year. The Conservancy says their installation will offset the overall usage of the broader site by 25% annually.

Image courtesy Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC).

“In designing Fallingwater, Wright sought to create a harmonious relationship between architecture and nature. He was inspired by the natural features of the woodland landscape for the house’s colors, materials and design motifs, and oriented the buildi...

Colin Cantwell, the architecture lover who designed the Death Star, has died

2022-05-24T09:00:00-04:00

Designer Colin Cantwell, who was responsible for the design of the Death Star and several iconic ships in the Star Wars saga, has passed away at the age of 90. The news was confirmed by the designer’s partner, Sierra Dall, and reported first by the Hollywood Reporter.

Born in San Francisco in 1932, Cantwell earned a degree in animation from the University of California, Los Angeles. Cantwell was in fact the first animation graduate in the history of UCLA, having suggested to the school that they add an animation major.

In tandem with his love of space and animation, Cantwell described architecture as his other major passion. During his studies, Cantwell spent months creating building designs with the goal of attracting the attention of Frank Lloyd Wright. Cantwell ultimately traveled unannounced to the architect’s School of Architecture at Taliesin, Wisconsin to personall...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House has found a buyer in Los Angeles

2022-02-26T10:05:00-05:00

On Thursday, USC announced that it had finalized the sale of the home to Richard E. Weintraub, president and CEO of the Weintraub Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles developer who has worked with historic properties in the past. (He and fellow developer Tom Gilmore helped bring the old St. Vibiana Cathedral in downtown L.A. back to life as a restaurant and events center.)

The home hit the market in July and has undergone extensive restorations in order to repair structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The need for additional repairs was reportedly behind the agreement reached between the school and Weintraub, which negotiated a reduction of the originally listed price from $4.25 to $1.8 million on the condition that the developer will make the proper and necessary changes along strict conservation guidelines in addition to opening the home to public tours a minimum of time per year.

Previously on Archinect: USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale; Freeman House; Image © Liz Kuball

USC says it is in the process of “reaffirming its mission and priorities, which is academic teaching and research,” and that it lacks the funds necessary to make more than basic restorations.

“The textile-block houses, in particular, have very specific conservation needs,” the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Linda Dishman told the Times. ...

Archinect - News

Embattled Price Tower owner sues Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy

Frank Lloyd Wright's first private commission on the market for $1.98 million in Illinois

Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower to be auctioned online in October

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Anderton Court Shops on Rodeo Drive now home to Givenchy LA flagship

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy files UCC claims over sale of original Price Tower items

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Winn House is for sale at $1.85 million

Florida Southern College to launch new School of Architecture on historic Frank Lloyd Wright campus

These are the eight historic sites receiving Conserving Black Modernism grants today

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation teams up with Lindal to offer replica Usonian home designs with a modern twist

Jenny Holzer restages 1989 projection piece at the Guggenheim in New York City

Frank Lloyd Wright's early Prairie-style design lists for $779,000 in Illinois

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West​

Frank Lloyd Wright's Tirranna home sells for $6 million in Connecticut

Two-for-one special: Pair of Usonian Frank Lloyd Wright homes hits the market in Michigan

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Tokyo Imperial Hotel prepares for major expansion

Frank Lloyd Wright’s stately Westhope home lists for $8 million in Oklahoma

Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson Eric Llloyd Wright passes away aged 93

New Balance honors Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City concept in latest sneaker collab

Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed oceanfront home sells for $22 million in California

Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design lists for $9 million in Arizona

Steelcase reinterprets Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters furniture with their new Racine Collection

Three unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper projects brought to life by 3D imagery

Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Fawcett Farm lists for $4.25M in California's Central Valley

Diller Scofidio + Renfro issues update on historic Frank Lloyd Wright theater revitalization in Dallas

Acclaimed Chicago architect Brad Lynch, of Brininstool + Lynch, passes away at 64

LA's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock House to reopen on August 18th

Frank Lloyd Wright-designed doghouse is back on display at the Marin County Civic Center

Fallingwater gets an offsetting new upgrade

Colin Cantwell, the architecture lover who designed the Death Star, has died

Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House has found a buyer in Los Angeles

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West