Architect, The

by Meyer Levin

In 1887, Andrew Lane, an architect with a dream of reshaping the American landscape, leaves Wisconsin for Chicago in order to fulfill his creative vision of a revolutionary style of architecture.

Hardcover

First published January 4, 1982

Reviews

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fictionalized biography of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The narrative follows the developing creative genius of Andrew Lane from rural Wisconsin to Chicago and back again, immediately before and after the turn of the 19th Century. Levin provides a background of the social and political movements at the time - anarchy, socialism, feminism, immigration, homelessness, etc. Along the way, Lane/Wright met such luminaries as Clarence Darrow, Louis Sullivan, Jane Addams, Theodore Dreiser and Carl Sandburg.
The author gives the reader an education in architectural styles. As office buildings in metropolitan areas were growing vertically, Lane’s/Wright’s homes were expanding horizontally as exemplified by his Prairie Homes with his signature cantilevered roofs.
Unfortunately, the writing can become tiring at times. The most poignant part of the book is where Lane/Wright starts an adulterous affair with a married woman and leaves his first wife and six children. While the protagonist feels entitled to pursue his happiness, Levin plumbs the depths of emotions of the first wife and Lane’s paramour. The book ends with the tragic murder of his lover and her two children. Yet Wright lived many years and had two marriages after this event.