My Father, Frank Lloyd Wright

by John Lloyd Wright

"An anecdotal reminiscence of America’s chief living genius by his son — short, unconventional, amusing and on the whole revealing." — Book Week.
Frank Lloyd Wright is widely regarded as the twentieth century’s greatest architect — an unconventional genius who transformed both residential and commercial building design with his concept of “organic” architecture. During a long and productive life, Wright designed some 800 buildings, received scores of honors and awards, and left an indelible imprint on modern architectural theory and practice.
In this charming, readable memoir, Wright the architect and father comes to life through the vivid recollections and firsthand knowledge of his son. John Lloyd Wright characterizes his father as “a rebel, a jolt to civilization, whose romantic theme — purposive planning and organic unity in inventing and combining forms — is an epoch in the architecture of the world.” His unique view of the “epoch” will intrigue architects, students, and all who admire the work of this visionary and uncompromising spirit. An added attraction of this volume is the inclusion of the complete text of William C. Gannet's The House Beautiful, an extremely rare work designed and printed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Genres: Biography, Architecture, Nonfiction, History, Memoir

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1992

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the end, I was extremely disappointed with this book. I've been picking up this book every now and then over the past few months, and I was often confused when I started reading again because of such a large time gap in between. Despite being confused sometimes, I still enjoyed the beginning of the story. The end was boring, and it started to focus more on Wright's architecture, not his actual life. I was hoping this book would be about Wright's life, his relationships, and how he was as a father, but the architecture parts dragged on for a long time. I would recommend this book for people interested both his life and architecture because it's a mix of about half and half.

[Steve Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this. I am a huge FLW fan, but found the writing to be so bad I could not finish.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a funny little book! It was like listening to an old man delightfully ramble about his younger years on a cozy winter's evening. I think John deserves far more credit in society for what he did, including invent Lincoln Logs. To that extent, it was mostly a pleasant read, with some especially beautiful thoughts worth underlining and rereading.

That being said, John seems to over-lionize his father, to an unhealthy degree, making excuse after excuse for the elder's near-abusive behavior (no respect for healthy boundaries, at the very least). I had no idea FLW was such a cad and horrific boss. A family therapist could have had a heyday with the Wrights, though Lord knows he or she never would have been paid for their services, despite hefty promises...

An enlightening read.

[Erin Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll give it a four. I really thought about a three though because there were two chapters near the end there that I thought were unnecessary and bogged down the flow of the book. I personally wasn’t a fan of reprinted texts being included. It feels silly to me
But I really enjoyed hearing about Frank from a more personal standpoint. Somebody who loved him and was loved by him. Made him more human rather than just this architectural genius.

[Debbie Rakestraw · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I love FLW architecture so thought this book by his son would be interesting. He was very complimentary of his father even though his father shut him out of his life once just because he wanted a livable wage while working for him. FLW was probably not the best father!

[Ronda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't get enough about Frank Lloyd Wright. This one is special because his son wrote it, and it's the only book I've read from one of his children's perspective.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight into what it was like living life with an American icon.

[Peggy Muller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expected my detail.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some readers have panned the writing and content of this biography, but I found it quite interesting. It rambled. It jumped around. But I felt like I was listening to a man discussing his father. The imaginative scene of FLW trying to get into Heaven was fun. And he liked to have fun and surround his children with beauty. And he loved his children. Like all fathers, FLW was multifaceted and complicated. A father can be difficult to describe. Since I'm venturing into reading "Loving Frank" next, I was happy to have read this. I certainly have a much clearer understanding of FLW, the man.

I grew up in Wisconsin and was born the year Frank Lloyd Wright died. Wright was all around us in houses and churches, in his home and his ideals. My father spoke so much about the man that I assumed he had been a family friend. This man of my State certainly gave us so much. John Lloyd Wright tried his best to show us a bit more about him.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serving on the Board of a FLW property and occasionally giving tours made this book very interesting to me. We frequently have guests who arrive thinking they know "all about Wright" because they read "Loving Frank". They make comments regarding how Wright "controlled everything" and cast him as a tyrant. As someone who has travelled to many FLW sites and had the luck to meet and talk with people who actually worked with Wright I found that they loved him. The owners of our Wright house loved him. Where does this attitude come from of people who think "they know Wright"? I think this book dispels some of those "facts" along with giving a personal view of Wright as a father. People mention the writing style but it was written in the early 40's. I think that explains a lot. After reading the book I looked up John Lloyd Wright and found it very interesting that his life paralleled his father's in so many ways. Not a great book but an interesting one.

[Rob Neyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book - originally published in 1946 with the lofty title MY FATHER WHO IS ON EARTH - is slim, but not slight. It's disjointed, but not dysfunctional. And if someone's got only a few hours to learn about American's greatest architect, here's a pretty good place to start.

From Chapter 16: "Just say 'house' to Dad, if that's what you want. With one eye, he will look you over from head to foot - with the other, your building site. Then he will start to dream, not about the functions as you see them. He will hear the birds sing, he will see them nesting in the protective limbs of the trees round about. He will hear the tinkle of the waterfall as it plays its way over around and around the rocks, giving life to nature's many forms of plant growth... He builds a romance about you, who will live in it - and you get the House of Houses, in which everyone lives a better life because of it. It may have a crack, a leak, or both, but you wouldn't trade it for one that didn't."

[Ellen Fetu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unique and personal account of FLW by his son, whose style is…less than epic, but he does have excellent observations and anecdotes to share. He addresses what was important to him, sometimes superficially. That was disappointing, but it was his book and I applaud him for what he set down. I got another dimension on FLW from reading this, especially poignant after just having visited Tallies West. The man was a genius no matter what anyone says, ahead of his time in design as well as in many areas of communal living, educating, creating.

[Cindy May]

So far a pretty light interesting read and overall a pretty good book. If anyone else had written it I would highly doubt some of the truth to it, but since this was written by his son, that's first hand knowledge, at least how he saw it. Either way, both men are dead now, so decide for yourself.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading it actually, but ran out of time with the Library. Who wouldn't want to read about someone getting fired by his father.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written by Frank Lloyd Wright's son, an architect - like his father. He should have stuck with blue prints, writing is not his forte.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on such a well known man. It was heart breaking and wonderful at the same time. A must read for any art/architecture lover!

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty interesting, fills in some gaps I had after reading other FLW biographies and histories, but the writing isn't super and sometimes it was hard to follow

[Tamara D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book after a tour of Taliesin West in Arizona this summer. The tour was wonderful, the book just ok. Written by Wright's son, the book is less biography and more meanderings about his father. It gave insight into Wright's way of working and thought processes, but it was hard to follow and lacked focus.