The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright


The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a selection of eight buildings across the United States that were designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. These sites demonstrate his philosophy of organic architecture, designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment. Wright's work had an international influence on the development of architecture in the 20th century.

Nomination

Through efforts led by the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy, a non profit organization, the collection was originally put on the World Heritage Tentative List in 2008 with ten of Wright's buildings. It then grew to 11 sites in 2011, but the S. C. Johnson & Son Inc. Administration Building and Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin, was eventually removed. A 2015 bid for inscription was referred by UNESCO for revision in July 2016. The Conservancy led, Frank Lloyd Wright World Heritage Council, worked closely with the National Park Service and UNESCO to reconsider the original proposal and to make appropriate changes.
In December 2018, a revised proposal was submitted with eight buildings, excluding the Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, from the proposal. In the following June, the International Council on Monuments and Sites gave a positive recommendation. The site was inscribed on the World Heritage list in July 2019.

World Heritage listing

Frank Lloyd Wright was raised in rural Wisconsin and studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin. He then apprenticed with noted architects in the Chicago school of architecture, particularly Louis Sullivan. Wright opened his own successful Chicago practice in 1893, and developed an influential home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois. In the 20th century, he became one of the most renowned architects in the world.
The eight representative Wright buildings selected for the World Heritage Site were designed in the first half of the 20th century. The first building included, Unity Temple, was completed in 1908, and the last, The Guggenheim —although its design began in the 1940s—was completed in 1959, the year Wright died.
PictureIDNameLocationDescriptionCoordinatesProperty Area
1496rev-001Unity TempleOak Park, IllinoisCompleted in 1908, this unprecedented church building used reinforced concrete in novel ways, creating a light-filled space with the "colors of nature." Its use of this single material has caused it to be thought of as the first "modern building" in the world.
1496rev-002Frederick C. Robie HouseChicago, IllinoisThis 1910 single-family home is considered a masterpiece of the Prairie School of architecture. Its "broad, sweeping horizontal lines; low, cantilevered roofs with overhanging eaves; and an open interior floor plan,... epitomizes Wright’s aim to design structures in harmony with nature." A significant contributor to the concept of bringing nature indoors is the 175 leaded glass windows and doors, which feature a design of "abstraction of organic shapes".
1496rev-003TaliesinSpring Green, WisconsinBegun in 1911 and never really finished, Taliesin became Wright's home, studio, and school of architecture. He built the large estate on the brow of a ridge, to be "'of the hill' not on it" It is perhaps his most expansive and longest exploration of the organic theory of architecture and the Prairie School.
1496rev-004Hollyhock HouseLos Angeles, CaliforniaWright's first commission in Los Angeles, Hollyhock House was intended to be part of an arts colony and live theater complex in East Hollywood, built near the time the Southern California movie business was taking off. The work of Wright and his young apprentices became a springboard to what became known as California Modernism. The structure "seamlessly integrates the indoors with outdoor gardens and living spaces".
1496rev-005FallingwaterMill Run, PennsylvaniaBuilt as a summer home in 1935, Fallingwater epitomizes Wright's ideas of organic architecture. Placed as if "floating" over stream and waterfall, its cantilevered terraces of rock and geometric reinforced concrete spaces blend with the setting's natural rock formations. Wright wanted the couple that commissioned the work to not just look out at the stream on their summer property but "live with the waterfall... as an integral part of lives". The American Institute of Architects has called Fallingwater "the best all-time work of American architecture".
1496rev-006Herbert and Katherine Jacobs HouseMadison, WisconsinBuilt during the Great Depression, ideas for the Jacobs House grew out of an urban planning idea of Wright's that would provide a community of well-built, single-family affordable housing. Wright initially called this aesthetic Usonian, a word coined in the early 1900s for "American." Working within a budget of less than $5000, Wright combined his open design plan, functional spaces, and the use of wood, brick, dyed concrete, and large windows, to match a small landscaped neighborhood lot.
1496rev-007Taliesin WestScottsdale, ArizonaIn 1937 Wright began building his winter home, studio, and architectural fellowship center in the foothills of the Arizona's McDowell Mountains. The property was designed by Wright and his students, and built using timber, locally sourced stone, and a mixed sand concrete. Taliesin West was set within the landscape with overlapping indoor and outdoor rooms, a triangular garden of native plants, and triangular pool.
1496rev-008Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumNew York, New YorkWright's work for the Guggenheim Foundation in the 1940s and 1950s re-conceived the modern museum building as a place in conversation with the art within. Wright also thought it important to have the museum placed across from natural areas in Central Park, and he incorporated the sinuous forms of nature in the spiral structure.