Retro Saturday: Happy 146th Birthday, Frank Lloyd Wright! A Miscellany Portrait of the Reprobate ‘World's Greatest Architect’

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“I.K”, [Frank Lloyd Wright] said with almost no prelude. “I.K, I have been conventional too long! I am a genius, I know no conventions, a genius knows no law. A genius must and will live his own life. From today I cast aside conventions; from today I live my own life!” That was the gist of a ten or fifteen minute prattle, in which the words 'genius', 'life', 'conventions' were flung about like confetti at a carnival. At first, I thought that as usual architecture was on his mind . . . but the next day the papers carried as an item of news that our genius had 'eloped with the wife of a client.'

- from The Autobiography of Irving K. Pond: The Sons of Mary and Elihu

It's been said that Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest creation may have been himself.  Through many rocky decades, he clung to his self-image of ‘world's greatest architect’, and by the time he died at 91 in 1959, he had convinced most of the rest of us, as well.  On this day, June 8th, that would have been Wright's 146th birthday, the old scoundrel's sorcery remains as potent and inspiring as ever, so what better time than provide this highly selective, impromptu portrait from our writings down through the years . . .

The Night Frank Lloyd Wright Spent in Hennepin County Jail was a direct consequence of Wright's willful liberation from his second wife.

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Japanese Print - The Art Institute had a great show last fall displaying many of the Japanese prints Wright had collected early on and sold to sustain himself during the lean times.  Among the prints were some of the original spectacular Japanese-influence renderings that had helped made his work world famous, many of which came not from Wright's hand, but from that of his employee, the richly talented Marion Mahony . . .

Frank Lloyd Wright's Right-Hand Woman

Also last year, the indispensable Tim Samuelson, who currently has another great show, Modernism's Messengers: The Art of Alfonso and Margaret Iannelli, up at the Cultural Center, curated an overview of Frank Lloyd Wright's early work, centered on the time he spent as an employee of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sulivan.

Wright's Roots

 

Wrights Roots: Garrick Theater colors seen for first time in over a century

In May, a joint campaign was announced in which the Alphawood Foundation would contribute up to $10 million in matching funds towards the restoration of Wright's 1908 Unity Temple in Oak Park,, which, if successful, could also see ownership transferred from the Unitarian Universalist

congregation which originally commissioned the building to ownership by a new, endowed foundation.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple among National Trust's 11 Most Endangered 

See Frank Lloyd Wright's Boiler!

Back in 2006, actor Peter Weller brought his own stamp to Wright in his portrayal in Richard Nelson's play at the Goodman Theatre, an interesting effort to capture Wright at his point of exile, the long, lean years between his early triumphs as his re-emergence as an architectural powerhouse in the 1930's.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pacific Overture
Robocop channels Frank Lloyd Wright

The play also featured Harris Yulin as an alcoholic and exhausted Louis Sullivan, but when, during the play's run, a major American magazine created a list of 100 Influential Americans, Sullivan had a bit of revenge, coming in at position 59 to Wright's 76.

Koolhaas, Wright, Sullivan score in Overnights

Wright continues to be influential, as can be seen in Hyde Park, where Wright's Robie House . . .

. . . is both subtly mirrored and re imagined in Rafael Viñoly's Graduate School of Business for the U of C.

Rafael Viñoly talks Wright, new hospital, at the Logan Center for the Arts

And for dessert, a small Wrightian miscellany . . .

Frank Lloyd Wright archives won't be bleeding Art Institute Red

Frank Lloyd Wright Hits the Wall

Wright's dog house

 Let's Get Small - Frank Lloyd Wright's American System-Built Homes in Beverly

Psssst, hey - buddy!  Wanna buy the Larkin Building?

Mars realigns Wright, Achilles on the Glessner bowl, Caughman, Greene, Spirit of Design - still more for May!

A whole bunch of editions to the May 2013 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

99% Invisible's Roman Mars, whose April appearance at Frank Lloyd Wrights Unity Temple was rained out, has designs 4 dignity has its' big Spirit of Design fundraiser at Ignite Glass Studio.
rescheduled for May 9th, the same day

On Tuesday, May 14th, Rolf Achilles lectures on The Glessners'Kutani ware bowl and Chicago's take on Japonisme at the Glesser House Museum, while on Thursday the 16th, James Caughman talks about Furniture, Fashion and Music in the 18th Century at the Baker Knapp and Tubbs Chicago Showroom, and on Wednesday the 9th, Jeff Greene of EverGreene Architectural Arts talks about Preservation at the SAIC.

We're up to nearly 50 great items this month.  Check out all the who, what and when's on the May 2013 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

New Geographies 5, Shirley King for CAF, new items for logjam week on the April Calendar!

Yep, still adding items to the April Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

This Thursday, April 18th, the publication of New Geographies 5 - The Mediterranean: Worlds, Cities, Regions and Architectures will be marked with a panel discussion at the Graham with editor Antonio Petrov, architect Clare Lyster, Sean Keller of IIT, Hashim Sarkis of Harvard and Stephen J. Ramos of the U of GA.

It's one of those logjam evenings that will also include 99% Invisible's Roman Mars at Unity Temple, Erin Feher on The Architectural Rise of San Francisco at the Driehaus, and Paul Stoller of Atelier Ten at AIA/Chicago.

We've also learned that this Friday's Chicago Architecture Foundation Gala, Architecture is Art, at the Radisson Blue at Aqua, will feature, in addition to dinner, dancing and an auction, a performance from Shirley King, who will perform with the Blue Road Band.  About the same time, Preservation Chicago will be hosting it's own Spring fundraiser at the Union League with live music, an auction, and a presentation by Lost Chicago author David Lowe.

As if that's not enough, there's also the final days of the American Planning Association's 2013 National Planning Conference, an AIA/Chicago panel on the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, Michael Webb of Cooper Union at UIC, the principals of Project Projects at the Art Institute, UrbanWorks' Patricia Natke talking about Pilsen at CAF lunchtime on Wednesday.  

Hashim Sarkis returns for a lecture, The World According to Architecture at Wishnick Hall, IIT , a Landmarks Illinois presentation on the restoration of Hairpin Lofts at the Chicago Cultural Center and a DePaul University Real Estate Center symposium on Chicago's New Eastside.

Next Saturday the 20th sees a symposium at Evanston's Block Museum, The Modern Capital: City, Utopica, or Spectacle?, on the occasion of the opening of its new exhibition, Drawing the Future: Chicago Architecture on the International Stage, 1900-1925.

And believe it or not, that's not all, not by a long shot.  Check out all the great items and get the who/what/where's on the April Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

See! One Day Only! Frank Lloyd Wright's Doghouse!! At Unity Temple! plus FLW in California

It's June 1st?  You're kidding me- the first of the month again?  So I guess it's time for the June calendar, right?  Someday ....... someday .......

For now, a reminder that today, Friday, June 1st is your one-day opportunity to see Eddie's House, the doghouse that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for 12-year old Jim Berger in 1956.  A reconstructed version of the structure, plus the original plans and correspondence will be on display from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at FLW's Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park.  "This is the doghouse's only trip to the Chicago area." You don't want to be the one having to tell your grandkids you let this opportunity pass you by.

Also today, at 5:00 and 7:30 p.m, there will be a screening of the documentary Romanza: The California Structures Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, with writer/director Michael Miner on hand for discussion.

Romanza gives us unprecedented access to every Wright building in California. We see it all, including the textile block houses in Los Angeles, famous for their appearances in Hollywood films; Wright's only San Francisco commission (a building he described as a "glass of champagne"); and the Berger House in San Anselmo, for which Wright also designed a doghouse. [see above]

Tickets are $15.00 for AIA members, Wright Plus members and volunteers; $18.00 for the general public.  Purchase here.

Goose Island for Obscura Day, Kalmbach's Grand Mansions, Buckley's Utopie, Doug Garofalo memorial - still more in April

We don't usually include tours on our calendar because there are just so damn many of them, but we did one to mention two:

Next Saturday, April 28th, is Obscura Day "an international celebration of unusual places" and Forgotten Chicago is offering a walking tour of Goose Island and Pulaski Park from 12:00 p.m to 2:30.

Goose Island is one of the more obscure areas of Chicago. Primarily industrial, it once contained a working class Irish residential enclave as well. We’ll discuss the history of much of the island, and examine remnants from its manufacturing and residential past.

We’ll also venture off the island to tour the once working-class neighborhood surrounding Pulaski Park. The area is dense with mixed architectural uses and history. Additionally, it has been shaped by various political forces over the years, from Progressive Era reformers to less-than-progressive machine politicians. We’ll check out some of the tangible physical evidence that reflects the area’s political history, and architectural oddities and other curiosities in the built environment.

The cost is $12.00, and with a limit of 35 participants, I'd expect it will fill up.  Get information and buy tickets here.

Then in May, architectural historian Sally Kalmbach will be offering From Grand Mansions to Luxury Apartment Buildings, The Story of the changing skyline of Lake Shore Drive, covering both the buildings, residents, and the architects, with an emphasis on Benjamin Marshall.  The tour is being offered Saturday May 19th and Wednesday May 23rd, both times from 10 a.m. until noon.  Cost is $25.00 per person.  For more information and to reserve your place, contact Sally Kalmbach via email.

And just to prove it's never too late to add to the April 2012 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events, on Tuesday April 24th, 6:00 p.m. at the Graham, there's a lecture by Craig Buckley of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture on Utopie: Encounters and Missed Encounters, followed by an open discussion moderated by Sara Knox Hunter.

Elsewhere this week, there's Digital Design at SOM at the Arts Club on Monday the 23rd, Peter Skosey discussing Bus Rapid Transit: Chicago's New Route to Opportunity, CAF lunchtime on Wednesday the 25th, SEAOI's Midwest Bridge Symposium, ULI Chicago's Rebirth of the East Loop and State Street, and Gunny Harboe's tour of Unity Temple, all on Thursday, the 26th.  And on Saturday afternoon, April 28th at the Hyde Park Art Center, there will be a "public memorial celebrating the life and work of visionary architect Doug Garofalo."

Check out the dozen events still to come on the April Calendar.

Digital Design at SOM, Giancarlo Mazzanti on Colombia Transformed, Gordon Gill at Unity Temple and lots more to come on the April Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events

We're halfway through the month and we're still adding new items to the April 2012 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

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On Monday, April 23rd, SOM Chicago is sponsoring a panel discussion, Digital Design at SOM: The Past, The Present and the Future Experiences and Lessons from a Platform for Practice, at the Arts Club.

Today, Monday the 16th, 6:00 p.m. architect Giancarlo Mazzanti will lecture at the Instituto Cervantes in an event affiliated with their current exhibition, Colombia Transformed: Architecture = Politics.  He will be introduced by the exhibition's curator, Vladimir Belogolovsky.  Also at 6:00 over at the Driehaus Museum, architectural historian Dennis Doordan will talk about Organic Design and Classical Architecture: A Chicago Story.  Monday also marks the final four showings of the Architecture and Design Film Festival at the Music Box, repeating films on Pruitt-Igoe, Robert Stern, Victor Gruen and Zaha Hadid.

Wednesday, the 18th, lunchtime at CAF,  Josh Ellis of the Metropolitan Planning Council talks about The Cost of Water, while Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering offers a breakfast symposium on Building the New Children's Memorial Hospital.  Thursday, the 19th, lunchtime at the Cultural Center, architectural historian Jean Guarino discusses Myth Buster: New Perspectives on the Chicago School for Landmarks Illinois, while at 5:30 at the Häfele America Chicago Showroom, DoCoMoMo/US President Theo Prudon discusses his organization's role in Preserving Modern Architecture, while on Friday, the 20th, 7:30 p.m., Gordon Gill talks about Form Follows Performance at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Unity Temple in Oak Park.

And there's much, much more.  Check out the nearly three dozen great offerings still to come on the April 2012 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.