Love him or hate him, Frank Lloyd Wright was quite possibly the most influential architect in America. His style is pleasing to the eye and functional in practice. His buildings blend with their natural surroundings and their interiors and exteriors use the same materials and blend with each other. (Steps off soapbox)
He designed and built a home in Spring Green, WI when he was 44 and he'd been designing house since he was a teenager. So this is one of the most icon examples of his style.
The property originally belonged to Wright's mother's family. He bought hundreds of acres and proceeded to build a beautiful estate that included the home and the Midway Gardens. Previously he had designed and had built the Hillside School for his aunts who ran it as a boarding school.
Our tour covered the same Hillside School that we had seen yesterday. Notice how the outside materials flow into the inside of the building.
We walked up the hill to the Romeo and Juliet Windmill designed by Wright in 1896. It provided water for the school. Naysayers said the design would blow over in the first windstorm.
It IS still standing today because the point of the thing points into the predominate wind direction.
There was a house on the backside of the property called Tan-y-deri that Wright built for his sister in 1907.
We continued walking until we came to the Midway Gardens which were actually working barns and shops for workers who ran the farm.
Further on, waiting for us on the terrace of Taliesin was Frank Lloyd Wright himself, with bottles of water and carrot cake. We sat and talked and took more pictures of the house from this side.
Our guide led us into the house and we proceeded to marvel at all of the nooks and crannies designed by Wright.
This is the backside of the house with the residence area to the right and the studio part on the left.
Tragically, 3 years after the house was built, a soon-to-be-fired chef on the property killed 7 people in the house including Wright's mistress and her son, and some other workers. He then set fire to the residence and the living quarters burned to the ground. Wright was in Chicago at the time.
Within months he was rebuilding Taliesin very similar to what it was and what we see today.
As automobiles became more popular he added a cantilevered parking area for them for his guest who came to party with him. This is a look at the front of the house.
And this is the entrance that most visitors would walk up to come inside.
Having designed a 1000 homes and built almost 600 of those designs you can find Wright's homes across the USA. There are three in Washington state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Frank_Lloyd_Wright_works
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