Portal:Architecture/Selected article
Taliesin was the estate of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of the village of Spring Green in Iowa County, Wisconsin, the 600-acre (240 ha) property was developed on land that originally belonged to Wright's maternal family.
Wright designed the estate after his affair with Mamah Borthwick made headlines and forced him out his residence in Oak Park, Illinois. The design of the original house was consistent with the design principles of the Prairie School, emulating the flatness of the plains and the natural limestone outcroppings of the Driftless Area. The house was completed in 1911.
After a disgruntled employee murdered Borthwick and several others and set fire to the house in 1914, Wright rebuilt the Taliesin estate. This second version was used only sparingly by Wright as he worked on his projects abroad. He returned to the house in 1924, shortly before a fire destroyed the living quarters the next April. A third building was constructed after Wright reacquired the foreclosed property from a bank. Taliesin III was Wright's home for the rest of his life, although he began to winter at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona upon its completion in 1937. Many of Wright's acclaimed buildings were designed here, including Fallingwater, the Imperial Hotel, Johnson Wax Headquarters, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Wright was also an avid collector of Asian art and used Taliesin as a storehouse and private museum.
Taliesin was donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation upon Wright's death in 1959. This organization oversaw renovations to the estate and now operates it as a museum. The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and is being considered as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (more…)