Drawn from his writings, this book presents a survey of Wright's achievements as a major figure of 20th century architecture. The text is complemented with more than 150 of his sketches, drawings and plans as well as photos of his completed buildings and includes the first complete list of Wright's executed buildings from 1893 to 1959, keyed to a map of the U.S. 346 pages; 64 pages of photos and reproduced drawings plus b&w illustrations throughout; 4.75 x 8 inches.
Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the world's most prominent and influential architects.
He developed a series of highly individual styles, influenced the design of buildings all over the world, and to this day remains America's most famous architect.
Wright was also well known in his lifetime. His colorful personal life frequently made headlines, most notably for the failure of his first two marriages and for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio.
Tons of great stuff in this book that can be applied to vast and varied fields other than architecture. Written in beautiful language that at times made me feel really dumb and wonder WTF he was talking about, FLW relates insight on the concepts of beauty, societal norms, the importance of art and architecture to the (sorta/kinda) modern man, and of course nature itself and the role it plays in the unique interaction between individuals and their chosen space. Will probably go back and re-read this one over again periodically, just so I can continue to highlight the shit out of it.
I was trying to find an online copy of this book, to copy part of a page toward the end of the book, which is the beginning of Bruce Radde's list of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings which is in the book.
See Wright's Diamond Module Houses: His Development of Non-Rectilinear Interior Space Bernard Pyron Art Journal Vol. 21, No. 2 (Winter, 1961-1962), pp. 92-96
I mention the Bruce F. Radde list in this 1961 article.
In 1957 I began a project on collecting information and photos of Wright's houses designed since about 1950. At that time I took, on a noncredit basis, a course on Wright in art history at the University of Wisconsin under John Kienitz. Although this project of mine was not part of any University of Wisconsin coursework, it did grow out of my earlier interest in Wright and from the course I took under professor Kienitz who was a friend of Wright's.
I got a large part of the list I compiled on Wright's houses designed since about 1950 from the Burnham Library of Architecture, Art Institute of Chicago. At Taliesin and Hillside I got other names and locations of then recent Wright houses from some of his senior apprentices, including John Ottenheimer.
Bruce Radde , myself and my wife Gail became friends because Bruce had learned much about Wright from John Kienitz. Bruce went with us to see various Wright houses in the Midwest, including a trip into Minnesota where we arrived at about dark in June of 1958 at the Don Loveness Wright house near Stillwater, Minnesota. Don Loveness came out to talk with us. I showed him the list and information I had on Wright's recent houses and the photos I had then of the houses and the floor plans and perspective drawings I had photographed at Hillside. We all three spent the night in the Loveness house and much of the following day, including lunch with them.
Bruce Radde was a graduate student at Wisconsin in the late fifties - in political science. But he obtained a Ph.D. in art history from Berkeley and for years was a professor in art history at San Jose State University.
When Walter Gray and I walked up to Frank Lloyd Wright sitting at a drafting table in Hillside in the fall of 1957, I asked him for permission to photograph his floor plans and perspective drawings for the houses on my list . He agreed and assigned John Ottemheimer to work with me. I went back the following year, 1958, to get Wright's permission to photograph more of the houses on my list and his secretary Gene Masselink had me make an official appointment to talk with Wright. We spent about an hour that day showing Wright the color slides and black and white photos I had of his recent houses.
Bruce Radde had my list of Wright's recent houses which was updated with more houses since 1957, and when Radde visited Falling Water apparently in 1959 he met Walter Kaufman, owner of Falling Water. Kaufman took Radde 's list of Wright buildings to put in the forthcoming book he and Ben Raeburn, editor of Horizon Press, were to publish. Radde had used the list in the book by Henry Russell Hitchcock, In the Nature of Materials, 1942 ,Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York for the buildings up to about 1941. He included my list of Wright's houses since 1950 and gave me full credit in the book for that list .
Then, when we went to Texas for Christmas in late 1959, we met Bruce Radde in Tulsa, Oklahoma in January of 1960 and he went with us back to Madison. He then told us that the list was to be published in the Kaufman and Raeburn book, Frank Lloyd Wright: Writings and Buildings. 1960.
I lost contact with Bruce F. Radde sometime in the sixties. Radde died in 2008. He was born in 1935.
This book was recommended to me, and I’m really curious to get into it. I believe that the book collects the architect’s own words along with examples of his work, which feels like the best way to understand both his ideas and his designs. Wright is such a central figure in modern architecture, so having his philosophy and practice side by side makes this book an exciting one to explore. Definitely looking forward to seeing how his thoughts connect to the buildings I’ve always heard so much about.