Have you ever seen or read or heard something that struck you as genius? That is how I feel about the lifetime work of renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), who had unusual vision, passion and talent. His architectural legacy shows a desire to change the world by creating spare spaces in which we can live our best lives with walls open to the outside world. He believed we had too many material possessions, so the homes are spare. Less is more.
Eight Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings are on the United Nation’s list of the world’s most significant cultural and natural sites as UNESCO sites. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation website describes Unity Temple, the Frederick C. Robie House, Hollyhock House, Fallingwater, the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Taliesin and Taliesin West, and includes photos.
Some people make pilgrimages to a specific building, but it is also possible to take a tour of several places. It was not until we took a road trip to Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, that we realized we could have seen Kentucky Knob on the same trip. But Fallingwater, built in 1935 for the Kaufmann family, is a destination in itself.
The home is located in the Laurel Highlands and shows off the architect’s philosophy of organic architecture: the harmonious union of art and nature. Wright designed Fallingwater to rise above the waterfall over which it is built. The home, and everything in it is organic to the space—Wright did not want furniture he did not design in his spaces. Today, the home and the surrounding 469 acres of natural land are owned by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which maintains and keeps it open to the public. Fallingwater was named the “best all-time work of American architecture” by members of the American Institute of Architects, which is impressive.
The architect built nine private homes in Ohio, including the Ellis Feiman, Nathan Rubin, and John Dobkins Houses in Canton, the Louis Penfield House in Willoughby Hills, the Karl Staley House in Madison, and the Burton Westcott House in Springfield (built in 1908, it is the oldest site in Ohio).
We bought tickets to tour the Charles Weltzheimer House in Oberlin (built in 1948) just before it closed for renovation. As expected, we found a simple but complex home with many windows and angles on several acres of land. While we waited for the tour to begin, we took in the feel of the place while walking around it. The house is an island in a town, with its long driveway, fruit trees, generous lawn, and a flat-roofed house with a carport, nondescript entryway, small windows right below the roofline to let in light, and large glass windows.
Our hosts told us to start exploring—we moseyed down dark hallways, a great room with soaring ceilings that opened to the outside, tall corner windows in the bedrooms, a compact utilitarian kitchen (c. 1960s) with cupboards that stretched to the ceiling. The ceilings were all different heights, depending on the needs of the room. It is a marvelous example of Wright’s Usonian-style homes meant to be affordable and modern. Only four materials were used in construction: wood, brick, concrete, and glass. This particular house’s horizontal lines emphasize the horizontal elements of the northern Ohio landscape. The south-facing windows provide passive solar heating in the winder, and the main living spaces remain cool as the sun stays high upon the horizon.
While the Weltzheimer House is under renovation, you can visit the Westcott House and the Louis Penfield House in Ohio. The Westcott House in Springfield is a good example of Wright’s prairie-style design. Typical of Prairie-style design, the home has horizonal lines, geometric patterns, cantilevered rooflines and wraparound windows.
The Louis Penfield House sits on a rise overlooking the Chagrin River and was once on farmland with wheat fields and river bluffs in the distance. The long kitchen countertop, which was milled from a black cherry tree that fell on the property, shows how Wright sometimes brought the outside into the inside space. Using material provided by the land furthered Wright’s vision of organic architecture so central to his Usonian dream.
Every state has Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. I visited the Arizona Biltmore Hotel and Taliesin West, his winter home and studio in Scottsdale, in one day, but there are ten other sites in the state. In 2018, the Illinois Office of Tourism announced the launch of an Illinois trail that highlights 13 Wright-designed buildings that are open to the public, including the remarkable Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park.
These buildings tell stories. You learn about the vision and the reality of making it happen. You learn about the people who admired Wright’s talents so much that they commissioned buildings without contracts. You learn about a unique way to live, and a new way to be in the world. You learn that the space you inhabit can make all the difference. Experience the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright to be inspired—why not take the curtains off your windows?
Claudia J. Taller has been writing for Cool Cleveland since shortly after its inception. She is the author of four books and has written many articles for local and national magazines. Find out more about her at http://claudiajtaller.com/.
One Response to “Awed by the Genius of Frank Lloyd Wright by Claudia Taller”
Eric Knopsnyder
Great article!
If you didn’t get to see Kentuck Knob during your trip to the Laurel Highlands, you definitely need to come for a return visit. In addition to it and the incomparable Fallingwater, there are two more Frank Lloyd Wright homes in the region. Mantyla and Duncan House were each built in the Midwest but could no longer be cared for, so they were taken down piece by piece, numbered, then painstakingly rebuilt in the Laurel Highlands.
The best part is, you can spend the night in either of those or in one of two homes built by Peter Berndtson, a Wright protege. They’re all part of Polymath Park, which is definitely worth a visit for any Wright fan.