The summaries and links on this page are selected each month to provide visitors to the Japanese-language section of this website with a snapshot of Wright-related news and events overseas. Some of the topics may not seem particularly timely, but few, if any, have been reported in the Japanese media. Please be aware that some links may require free site registration.

For up-to-date news in English, please see our Links page.

1,000 Visit La Miniatura in First Tour Since 1992

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wright27jan27,1,1649919.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

People flew in from all over the world to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's first textile-block design in the Los Angeles area, the Alice Millard House (1923), aka La Miniatura, on January 26. The first public opening of the house since 1992, the tour was sponsored by Friends of the Gamble House. Located near the Rose Bowl in northwest Pasadena, La Miniatura's concrete blocks were fabricated on site in wooden molds by workers using sand, gravel and minerals found on the property. “I would rather have built this little house than St. Peter's in Rome,” Wright said about it.

Photos from the tour:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildbell/sets/72157603802723285/

Wright Buildings on US World Heritage Tentative List

http://www.doi.gov/news/08_News_Releases/080122a.html

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior announced in January that 10 buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright were among 14 new sites on the World Heritage Tentative List, making them eligible for nomination to become a World Heritage site. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy assisted in the effort to place the buildings on the list. They are:
    * Taliesin West (1938), Scottsdale, AZ
    * Hollyhock House (1919-21), Los Angeles, CA
    * Marin County Civic Center (1960-69), San Rafael, CA
    * Frederick C. Robie House (1908-10), Chicago, IL
    * Unity Temple (1905-08), Oak Park, IL
    * Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1956-59), New York, NY
    * Price Tower (1953-56), Bartlesville, OK
    * Fallingwater (1936-38), Mill Run, PA
    * S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research Tower, Racine, WI
     (1936-39; 1943-50)
    * Taliesin (1911 and later), Spring Green, WI

$2.5 Million to Fund Visitor's Center at Darwin Martin Complex

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/261521.html

A $2.5 million gift in January from inventor Wilson Greatbatch and his wife, Eleanor, will enable the Darwin Martin Foundation to begin construction of a visitor's center at Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece in Buffalo, NY. Ground is expected to be broken in late February, with completion by year's end. The glass-walled structure, designed by Toshiko Mori in 2003, will be called the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion.

The gift marks the end of a 15-year, $50 million effort to return the six-building compound that Wright designed for the Martin family in the early 1900s to its original condition.

Storrer Identifies New Wright System-Built Homes

http://www.franklloydwrightinfo.com/

William Allin Storrer, author of The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion, recently announced that he has identified at least three previously unknown Wright-designed bungalows in the Chicago area. He first heard about the designs years ago from Henry-Russell Hitchcock, who told him: “Wright would drive me through Evanston and Oak Park and Hyde Park, and every so often he'd point to a house and say, ‘I did that one but no one will ever know.’” Prof. Storrer will be revealing more about the American System-Built Homes on his website.

STORIES FROM 2007

Taliesin Fellowship Celebrates 75 Years

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1109taliesin1110-ON.html

Some 300 alumni, architecture students and Wright fans gathered at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ, from Nov. 7 – 10 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Wright's apprentice program, the Taliesin Fellowship, which was accredited in the 1980s as the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. The anniversary was marked with educational programs and special exhibits, as well as a gala evening gathering on the 10th. Announcing the celebration, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation CEO Philip Allsopp noted: “It is a fortuitous convergence of events that on the eve of the 75th reunion of the Taliesin Apprenticeship Program that Taliesin, Wright's home and studio in Wisconsin, and Taliesin West are being considered for designation as World Heritage Sites, given that many of the celebrants actually built them with Frank Lloyd Wright.”

Paul Ringstrom provided these links to historic footage taken by Alden Dow when he was an apprentice at Taliesin in 1933:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cAzhdPv39Y
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhKeiS-lx3Q

Norman Foster to Design Building for SC Johnson Campus

http://my.journaltimes.com/wright-in-racine

British architect Lord Norman Foster and his Foster + Partners have been commissioned to build a hall, which will house an airplane replica, on the campus of the SC Johnson campus, near the Wright-designed Administration Building (1936) and Research Tower (1944). Although some have expressed concern about whether the new design will honor the historical context, there is already another non-Wright building on the campus: the Golden Rondelle, designed as the Johnson Wax pavilion at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. It was brought back to Racine and seated on Cherokee red brick entrances and exits designed by Taliesin Associated Architects. The Foster-designed building is expected to open in 2009.

Guggenheim Color to Remain Gray

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/guggenheim-will-remain-light-gray/

In November, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 7 to 2 in favor of the Guggenheim Museum maintaining the same off-white paint shade that it has had since 1992, rather than the original light yellow. Designed in 1959 by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Guggenheim retained its original color for only a few years; since the early 1960s, it has been clad in various shades of off-white.

Florida Southern Water Dome Delights 60 Years Late

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/oct/26/me-vision-realized/?news-breaking

Some 3,000 students, alumni and architecture buffs were on hand on Oct. 25 for the grand reopening of the Water Dome at Florida Southern College following a $1 million renovation, 60 years after it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The fountain is 160 ft. in diameter and features 74 high-powered water jets that create a 45 ft. tall circular cloak of water. It was first filled with water in 1948, but technology wasn't advanced enough to achieve Wright's desired effect, so it was soon shut down and eventually covered in concrete.

Here is an NPR story with audio and links to photos:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14933254

Illinois Preservation Awards Go to Wright, Sullivan Buildings

http://illinoischannel.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!B0DB128F5CD96151!2694.entry

The owners of Louis Sullivan's last commissioned building, the Krause Music Store, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Coonley House and Muirhead Farmhouse received awards in October for outstanding preservation efforts as part of Landmarks Illinois' annual Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards program. Wright's Coonley House, in Oak Park, has been fully restored, while the Usonian Muirhead Farmhouse, in Plator Center, has been rehabilitated as a bed and breakfast inn.

The (W)right Color for the Guggenheim

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/arts/26arts.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Guggenheim Museum has filed for permission with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to paint the 1959 building the color that Frank Lloyd Wright chose 50 years ago. Conservation experts have recommended Benjamin Moore HC-35, an egg-finish shade that is the closest match to a paint chip signed by Wright and stamped July 24, 1958. Members of the commission said they would visit the museum to compare the proposed paint color with ones used in the 1990's. The landmark building has been covered with as many 12 coats of paint, including four grayish white layers applied since 1992, but Wright apparently hated white.

Paul Ringstrom has supplied this link to the proposed color:
http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Benjamin-Moore-HC-35-Powell-Buff-p/mpc0006996.htm

Exciting Plans for Taliesin West Archives

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/97494

The Frank Lloyd Wright Archives at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ, houses the world’s largest collection from a single artist in one location, according to Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, the archives’ director. The 3,000-square-foot facility includes about 24,000 of Wright’s original drawings and 300,000 pages of correspondence that date back to the late 1880s.

If a new fundraising campaign is successful, the archives may be transformed into a “major destination for artists, engineers and scientists,” says Philip Allsopp, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation CEO. Allsopp notes that the “wish list” for $125 million worth of major additions and renovations proposed at Taliesin West includes a 30,000-square-foot archive facility with exhibition space and an on-site design and innovation center for artists, scholars and students from all generations.

$29 Million Upgrade Under Way at Guggenheim Museum

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2007/09/12/guggenheim-newyork.html

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York has been covered in scaffolding for nearly three years, but the Guggenheim Foundation now says their $29 million renovation will be complete in time for the building’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2009.

The distinctive spiral-shaped museum has suffered cracks on its external walls and other structural defects such as corroding steel supports and non-thermal windows. The Guggenheim was one of the earliest buildings to be covered in sprayed concrete —which gives it its smooth curves — but expansion and contraction due to weathering has cracked the exterior.

“Although some remedial reinforcing is necessary, our investigation revealed that Wright's radical design for the Guggenheim was irreproachable," says Pamela Jerome, who works for a firm that assessed the building.

Virginia Lovness Ready to Part with Hand-built Wright Homes

http://www.startribune.com/417/story/1434817.html

Virginia Lovness and her late husband Donald didn't have money to hire a builder when Frank Lloyd Wright sketched them a new home in 1955. So they bought 20 acres west of Stillwater, MN and with Wright's blessing, built the 1,800-square-foot home by themselves, hauling over 100 tons of Wisconsin rock in wheelbarrows. "We were so enthusiastic," Virginia recalls. "Mr. Wright called us his 'do-it-yourself couple.'" In 1972, they built a Wright-designed cottage nearby, on the shore of Woodpile Lake. Virginia recently put the two gorgeous wood-and-stone buildings on the market for $3.75 million.

The price includes the Wright-designed furnishings, which were handcrafted by Donald, plus Wright's original designs for three more cottages. "I'm 82 and can't do it alone," says Virginia. Donald died in 2001 from a heart attack and her dream is for the new owner to eventually build the other three structures. "Let the next person have the fun we had doing it."

Ennis House Restoration Completed

http://www.laconservancy.org/issues/issues_ennis.php4

Restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis Brown House (1923) in Los Angeles has been completed in record time, despite the heavy damage it had sustained in the 1994 Northridge Quake and the destructive rains of 2005. The home had been placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places, and on the World Monuments Fund’s list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world.

Long-delayed maintenance work commenced in mid-2006. The restoration includes a new structural frame to support the motor court, chauffeur's quarters and part of the south wall, which had partially collapsed. The restoration team also replaced the roof, restored a number of art glass windows and doors, and restored and replicated Wright’s concrete textile blocks, many of which had eroded over time or were treated with waterproofing materials that inadvertently caused damage. The team repaired and retained as many of the original blocks as possible, and new replacement blocks were cast from molds made from the originals.

Wright Foundation Hires Head of Conservation

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,166567.shtml

Robert A. Jones, AIA NCARB, joined the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation at the end of August as Vice President of Campus Planning, Restoration and Development, a newly created position. Jones is responsible for all facility-based initiatives and maintenance for Taliesin and Taliesin West, as well as managing the development and execution of a master plan to stabilize, restore and manage the properties.

Jones previously served as a professor and assistant dean for buildings and operations in the College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology. He also spent six years at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was staff architect and director of the Department of Design and Construction. He directed several key restoration and preservation projects, including the museum's Renzo Piano Modern Wing, now under construction.

Latest Wright-related Videos

For those who visit YouTube regularly, you’ll find literally hundreds of videos related to Frank Lloyd Wright and his designs. Here are links to several others that recently came online:

http://www.etereaestudios.com/docs_html/fallingwater_htm/fallingwater_movie_index.htm#
A stunning computer graphic tour of Fallingwater.

http://media.revver.com/qt/356602.mov
This is a video walking tour of Oak Park narrated by Nancy Horan, a native of Oak Park and the author of the new bestseller Loving Frank.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070806/VIDEO04/308060007/-1/rss01
Joseph Massaro guides viewers through the majestic home he recently completed in Mahopac, NY based on a Frank Lloyd Wright design.

http://www.storybridge.tv/chronicles/016
Video of the Monona Terrace 10th Birthday Celebration in Madison, WI.

School of Architecture Reaccredited

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0726sr-wrightschool0727-ON.html

The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West was reaccredited on July 26 by the National Architectural Accrediting Board, after two years “on notice” following the resignation of its dean in 2004 and subsequent problems. Enrollment is now 19 and is expected to reach 25 in October. (See Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Gets HLC Okay below for further information.)

Massaro House Digitally Modeled

http://aec.cadalyst.com/aec/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=441603

Joe and Barbara Massaro hired Wright expert Thomas A. Heinz, AIA, to model and document the original sketches of the unbuilt home that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for A.K. Chahroudi more than 50 years ago. Heinz used Graphisoft's ArchiCAD Virtual Building modeling software to create detailed visualizations of the design before the Massaros began construction on Petre Island, NY. "The challenge of turning the sketches into something buildable, both in terms of planning commission regulations, as well as considering Whale Rock—the huge boulder that we were building on—made the project particularly interesting," said Heinz. “We sped through approvals because everyone could immediately see what the building would look like, inside and out.” Construction was completed on July 12.

Building Conservancy Conference in October

http://www.savewright.org/

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy is holding its annual conference in suburban Chicago from October 10-14. Frank Lloyd Wright: From Private to Public will feature a keynote address at Unity Temple in Oak Park. Highlights also include events in Racine, WI and at the Coonley Estate, as well as optional side tours to the Charnley-Persky and Robie houses, Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Bruce Goff’s Ford House.

Auldbrass Tours in November

http://www.openlandtrust.com/auldbrass.html

The Auldbrass Plantation buildings in South Carolina, consisting of the main house, kennels, stables, barn and various outbuildings, were designed in 1940 to encompass farming, hunting and entertaining. They are built of native cypress boards laid diagonally at 80 degree angles and held by brass screws, conforming to the incline of indigenous live oak trees, with ornamental rainspouts that resemble clumps of Spanish moss.

In 1987, the incomplete plantation was purchased by film producer Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon and Matrix series), who had just finished the restoration of Wright’s Storer House in Los Angeles. After 20 years of work, a majority of Wright’s original plans for the plantation has been completed. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The next tour dates will be November 3, 2007 and November 4, 2007. Send your mailing address by e-mail to bcolt2@islc.net for a chance to be selected.

Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Gets HLC Okay

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/91474

After two years being “on notice” for problems that needed to be resolved, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture received re-accreditation from the U.S. Higher Learning Commission (HLC) on June 13.

In 2005, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (FLLWF) did not have a CEO, the school did not have a dean, enrollment was declining and the faculty had high turnover. Many changes have been made since then, including the hiring of Phil Allsopp, RIBA, as FLLWF CEO, and Victor E. Sidy, AIA, as dean of the school.

“There was a great deal of turmoil at that time but the entire administration and management of the foundation obviously has changed,” CEO Phil Allsopp said. The school still has to hear the National Architectural Accrediting Board findings, expected in July. There are currently 19 students and four fulltime faculty at the school.

(Japan's Yumi Doi, a graduate of the school, former Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation board member and current member of WAAJ, is featured in the picture that accompanies this article.)

Leading Scholar Discusses Wright in Buffalo

http://www.buffalorising.com/story/harvard_professor_dicusses_buf

The Buffalo (NY) Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau has started a new podcast series, and the inaugural speaker is Harvard University Prof. Neil Levine, an internationally renowned authority on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Levine toured the recently reconstructed pergola and conservatory at the Darwin Martin House Complex, calling it all “a dream image,” and notes that the Graycliff Estate is “surprisingly beautiful.”

Florida Southern College on Endangered List

http://www.flsouthern.edu/news.asp?ACTION=view&ID=411

Florida Southern College in Lakeland, largely designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, joined famed historic sites around the world on the 2008 list of the world's 100 most endangered monuments. The New York-based World Monument Fund names 100 sites every two years to highlight risks to the world's cultural heritage.

Florida Southern boasts the largest collection of Wright structures in a single location. But they have been deteriorating in recent years and the school has made renewed efforts to fix them up. Wright completed 12 structures for his only college campus, including zig-zag breezeways, a domed planetarium and the iconic Annie Pfeiffer Chapel.

For more details, go to: http://www.worldmonumentswatch.org/

Wright Foundation Restructuring

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0530taliesin0530.html

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Board of Trustees announced sweeping changes to its articles of incorporation and bylaws on May 23. The Foundation will now be managed as a non-membership corporation, with the 25-member Taliesin Fellowship relinquishing control of the board. The changes are expected to strengthen the financial stability and fundraising capabilities of the Foundation’s branches: Wright's National Historic Landmark homes at Taliesin West in Phoenix, AZ and Taliesin in Spring Green, WI, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives.

Phil Allsopp, RIBA, who became Foundation president and CEO in 2006, mentioned several reasons for increased optimism, including the increased number of public trustees; the recruitment of Victor Sidy as the new dean for the School of Architecture; the school's growing enrollment, and management reorganization including hiring a senior financial officer and a facilities manager.

Wright-Related Tourism Pays Off

http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=12748

Wright-related tourism is generating a great deal of revenue for such towns as Oak Park, IL and Buffalo, NY. But it’s also affecting smaller towns with Wright buildings. Here’s a blog article about the economic impact that Wright’s legacy has had on Racine, WI, focusing on a French couple who have come to town for an in-depth visit. It’s estimated that Wright tourism brings in $500,000 a year to Racine, where some 5,000 people take the architectural tour at Johnson Wax (1936) every year. Tourists may also make appointments to tour the Johnson Foundation’s Wingspread, the home Wright designed for H.F. Johnson Jr. in 1937. Racine is close to other Wright sites in Milwaukee and Madison.

Newsweek Covers Wright Restoration

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18477076/site/newsweek

Newsweek has begun providing text and online video coverage of the ongoing restoration process of Wright’s William A. Glasner House (1905) in Glencoe, IL, on Chicago’s North Shore. At the request of a good friend, Jack Reed rescued the home in 2003, paying $1.5 million. Reed expects to spend $2.5 million more renovating it.

The house features two octagonal rooms, ornate stained-glass windows and a generous living room with a vaulted ceiling and a huge roman-brick fireplace. Reed, who got the house listed on National Register of Historic Places in 2005, marvels at how much the building and its site “intermingle… The house is so sensitively related to the site that the windows change color when the leaves change color. You can imagine Wright smiling to himself about that.”

The house was built on a budget. Experts estimate that the original owners paid Wright only $250 for his drawings. The restoration will include strengthening the living-room walls and ceiling with a rigid steel frame and getting rid of un-Wrightian renovations made by previous owners.

Reed also helped save Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, west of Chicago.

Usonian Community Plans June 30 Tour

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040829/news_mz1h29wright.html

June 30, 2007 is the date for the 4th Annual Friends of Rush Creek Village Tour. Rush Creek, a suburb of Columbus, OH, is comprised of 49 Usonian-style homes built starting 50 years ago. The community was founded by Martha Wakefield in 1946, after Frank Lloyd Wright told her to “Go home, buy a Jeep and build a house for yourself. Then build a house for your next-door neighbor.” Wakefield’s late husband, Richard, built all the houses — each of them different. They were designed by Theodore Van Fossen, who had worked on two projects with Wright.

Rush Creek is believed to be the largest "organically" designed subdivision in the United States, according to the National Park Service. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Two Wrights, One Lot

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1178440677209180.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

Paul Penfield inherited the home that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for his parents in 1953 near Cleveland, OH, and spent years restoring it. Now he wants to build the second home that Wright designed for the property, which his parents never built. In 1957, Louis Penfield learned that a highway was going to intersect his land, so he went back to Wright and asked him to design a second house farther south, oriented away from the traffic.

The second Penfield house is one of Wright's last residential designs and the only house planned by Wright that could be built on its original site and authenticated by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, director of the foundation's archives, says that the second home’s design is “more elegant in every way” than the first.

See also: http://www.penfieldhouse.com/

Three Wright Buildings Designated U.S. Historic Landmarks

http://www.doi.gov/news/07_News_Releases/070404.html

The U.S. Department of the Interior designated three buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as National Historic Landmarks in early April: the Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK (1952), the Hollyhock House at the Aline Barnsdall Complex in Los Angeles (1917) and the Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park, PA (1954).

Fewer than 2,500 historic places in the U.S. have received the designation, the highest recognition that the federal government bestows on historic properties. Only 9 other buildings were designated this year.

In its announcement, the Interior Department said: “These new National Historic Landmarks reflect some of the most important historical and cultural developments in American history. Each of them tells a story about us as a nation and a people. Together they exemplify our history, heritage, literature and architecture.”

Update on Darwin Martin Complex Restoration

http://www.wrightnowinbuffalo.com/whattodo/wright_legacy.cfm#martin
http://www.darwinmartinhouse.org/

The recently reconstructed portions of Wright’s 1907 Darwin D. Martin House Complex — the pergola, conservatory and carriage house – officially opened on March 17 in Buffalo, NY. The largest Wright Prairie House in existence, and considered one of his finest Prairie designs, it features six buildings totaling nearly 32,000 sq. feet, with 394 art glass windows. The complex has been undergoing a $50 million restoration project that is bringing these “lost buildings” back to life. They have been faithfully recreated from Wright’s blueprints. A newly-designed visitor's center by architect Toshiko Mori that incorporates some of Wright's themes will also become part of the complex.

Mark Hertzberg, a writer with the Journal Times of Racine, Wisconsin, has a blog with wonderful photos of the Martin House complex, as well as a lot of Wright-related news and other photos (just scroll down to his 3/23/07 posting):
http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?blogid=36

Also in Buffalo...

http://www.wrightnowinbuffalo.com/whattodo/wright_legacy.cfm

Buffalo features buildings by Louis Sullivan and H.H. Richardson, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed the Larkin Company Administration Building, one of the most modern office buildings of the early 20th century, and six homes for Buffalo. The city government has embraced these riches by supporting the construction of several other structures that Wright did not design for Buffalo: a mausoleum, a boathouse and a filling station.

Experiencing Wright Overnight

http://www.polymathpark.com/index.asp

If you’re visiting Fallingwater, you may be interested in the scenic Polymath Park Resort, where you can stay in the Wright-designed Duncan House (1957) or two other Usonian-style homes built by Wright apprentice Peter Berndtson. With support from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the Duncan House was dismantled from its original location in Lisle, Ill., and recently reconstructed at the forested resort in Acme, PA. Berndston built the Balter and Blum Houses at the resort in the 1960s. Wright’s Duncan House can sleep six guests in three bedrooms.

http://www.muirheadfarmhouse.com/
If you’re visiting Chicago and have a car, you might be interested in staying at the Wright-designed Robert and Elizabeth Muirhead Farmhouse, which is now a bed and breakfast. The Usonian-style home was built between 1951 and 1953 and remains in the family today. It recently underwent extensive restoration, and the surrounding 800 acres of farmland will soon be replanted with native prairie wildflowers and grasses.

http://www.sethpeterson.org/Default.htm
If you’re visiting Taliesin, Wright’s 1958 Seth Peterson Cottage near the Wisconsin Dells is also being operated as a special rental getaway, with accommodations for up to four guests. The secluded cottage comes with a canoe, paddles and life preservers — as well as firewood.

Wright Ranks High on Favorite Buildings List

http://www.aia150.org/afa150_default.html

In honor of its 150th anniversary, the American Institute of Architects commissioned a poll to find America’s favorite 150 buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright had eight projects on the list, more than any other architect. Fallingwater ranked 29, Taliesin, 30, followed by the Guggenheim (74), Dana-Thomas House (114), Taliesin West (123), V. C. Morris Gift Shop/ Xanadu Gallery (126), Hollyhock House (131) and Robie House (138). Louis Sullivan's Carson, Pirie, Scott store ranked 145 and the Auditorium Building, 147.

Frank's Home Debuts on Broadway
Richard Nelson's new play about Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank's Home, debuted on Broadway on Jan. 30 (it closed Feb. 18), following a premiere at Chicago's Goodman Theater in November 2006. Critics disagreed with each other about the play. Here's a sampling:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932262.html?categoryid=33&cs=1
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/105265.html
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/theater/reviews/31fran.html>
http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=15456

Wright Plus House Tours in Oak Park

http://www.wrightplus.org/wrightplus/wrightplus.html
Frank Lloyd Wright's Preservation Trust is hosting its 33rd annual Wright Plus benefit housewalk on May 19, featuring rare interior tours of architecturally significant homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries in Oak Park, Illinois. The cost is $85, but there are many options, including a side tour to Wingspread and Johnson Wax in Wisconsin, and dinners cooked by famous Chicago chefs.