An Insight about Frank Lloyd Wright Autobiography
Frank Lloyd Wright was born to William Cary Wright and Anna Lloyd Jones Wright on June 8,1867. His mother wanted him to become an architect. William Wright was a music teacher and a Baptist minister for a major part of Frank’s life. During this tenure, he led churches in Iowa, Rhode Island and Massachusetss.
Frank’s family returned to Madison, Wisconsin in 1877. Frank spent his childhood days schooling at Madison and spending the summers on his family farm. He pursued civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Later he moved to Chicago to get some experience. He worked in an architectural firm in Chicago belonging to J.Lyman Silsbee for one year. By that time, Wright’s father left the world leaving his family behind. He also began taking his classes at the University of Wisconsin. Wright then worked in his part time as a local builder for Allen D. Conover.
Wright was on a lookout for a better paying job, so after working for Silsbee for about a year. He worked on the Auditorium Theatre Design in Chicago with Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. Wright often referred to Sullivan as his “Lieber Mesiter” which meant beloved master. Sullivan has a lot of influence on Wright. He was a visionary and mentor for Wright and the only person to get his acknowledgements.
Eventually, Wright became the chief draftsman. He also took charge of the firm’s residential designs. Under his mentor, Sullivan he developed his creativity and gave room for his own architectural ideas. Wright’s future work was purely based on the philosophy of Sullivan. He followed the mantra” from follows function”. Later he married to Catherina Tobin and got settled in 1889. Towards the end, he designed houses on his own. In secrecy, he did some works against Alder and Sullivan’s policies and referred it as “bootlegged”. In 1893, he had a dispute with Sullivan over the independent commissions and then they decided to be separated. Sullivan fired him for this issue bringing an end to the partnership.
Later, he was mounted with bills from the rebuilding of Taliesin. He also had to bear the cost of maintaining an apartment in Chicago. In 1914,Wright got a offer to design and build the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. In such circumstances he gladly accepted the offer and headed to Japan. IN 1916, he started the construction of the hotel. For the next six years, even though he continued his works and got commissions, he was mainly devoted to the completion of Imperial Hotel.
His earnings were dwindling during the Great Depression. Wright then turned to writing. He wrote several books and contributed frequently to architectural magazines. During Frank Lloyd Wright’s career, he kept his geometry simple, yet elegant. This can be illustrated by his deigns of “Prairie” houses. He often focused on the relationship between the site and the building. His designs like Fallinwater, Taliesin West and the Imperial Hotel are all witnesses to his creativity.
Wright is considered one of America’s most influential architects of his time, and a role model for thousands of aspiring architects. His legacy lives of the fact that his high quality designs are still famous and his works can still be seen in future designs. |
