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Organically Wright
A Historiography of Frank Lloyd Wright and
Understanding Organic Architecture

Olivia Valentine
14 April 2015
HIST 610 - McGrath
Historiography Paper
From antiquity until the present day, architecture has taken many forms and has
continually evolved into grand masterpieces. Each building or design becomes a reflection of

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the architect, so for Frank Lloyd Wright, those buildings were born from ideas and
interpretations of an organic architecture, that were harmonious with nature, celestial, and
modern in design. They were based upon his theory of how form and function are one.1
However, does his architecture still influence new themes in architecture today, or was it just a
period in history, full of natural grandeur, which is now being glossed over by many? While
many historians question and ponder this, his work has, by all means, captivated and inspired
those that visit his works that are still standing today, such as the Guggenheim Museum in New
York City. Throughout his constant study, vigilance, and determination, his focus and
incorporation of nature into the modern and abstract allowed him to create some of the worlds
most infamous works which illustrate his organic architecture. This style has allowed for viewers
and visitors alike to explore and journey through his creations.
Frank Lloyd Wright was born June 8, 1867 in Wisconsin, and later between 1869 and 1878,
would travel with his family to Iowa, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts because his father held
pastoral positions. He then left and moved back to Wisconsin to attend high school, but there is
no record he ever graduated. In 1886, however, he attended the University of Wisconsin for only
a few years. He worked under a civil engineer named Alan Conover, but soon left the university
without a degree and moved to Chicago. There had been a fire in Chicago in 1871 which opened
up many opportunities for him to find some type of design work. Later, Wright then went to
work with architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee, and ended up publishing his first sketch in the Inland

1 Elman, Katherine Frank Lloyd Wright and the Principles of Organic Architecture PBS
http://www.pbs.org/flw/legacy/essay1.html

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Architect, an international architecture magazine for the building arts. However, this job did not
last long. He soon left and joined with Adler and Sullivan as a draftsman.2
At the age of twenty-two, he designed and built his own home in Illinois and married his first
wife. He stayed with Adler and Sullivan for about four years and continued to design, but did
freelancing work on this side. His freelance work got him fired from working with this company,
so instead, he opened his own practice in Chicago. During this time, he created approximately
seventy designs, and of those, forty-nine were built. Of these built designs was the Winslow
House, built in 1894.3
According to Henry Klumb, a draftsman that had worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and had been
a part of Wrights later-to-be-established Fellowship, said that the drawings for the Winslow
House, along with other designs such as the Yahara Boat Club, and the Unity Temple,
emphasized the depth of his [Wrights] poetry and the power of the third dimension. Nothing
that international architecture had to show could equal it.4
Along with many of Wrights drawings and sketches, birthed his famous prairie houses, which
began his revolutionary style in architecture. Continuing to refine his prairie style home, along
with his own unique style in general, he began his travels to Japan, Europe, and other places in

2 Tafel, Edgar, Biographical Overview About Wright: An Album of Recollections by Those Who Knew
Frank Lloyd Wright. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1993) p. xxi

3 Ibid. p. xxi

4 Klumb Henry, as stated in About Wright: An Album of Recollections by Those Who Knew Frank Lloyd
Wright by Edgar Tafel, in the Draftsman chapter, in his letter as a response to Donald Hoffmann. p. 102

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the world. He did this in order to become inspired, as well as to influence and share ideas with
others. Among these trips, he visited Japan in 1913, and soon started a life there in order to
complete his Imperial Hotel. Many years later, he then went to Russia in June of 1937. During
this time, however, his personal life was strewn with disasters, scandals, divorces, deaths, and
monetary issues.5
In 1909, he left his family and traveled to Berlin to write, produce, and expand on his
architectural portfolio. He was joined by a woman named Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the wife of
a client of Wrights. Cheney soon divorced and went to live with Wright in the Taliesin in 1911,
which was the home Wright had built for the both of them.
A significant moment during this relationship was when they both traveled to Japan in
1913 in order to obtain permission and approval to begin preliminary plans to begin annexes at
the Imperial Hotel to be discussed later in this essay. But the following year, a crazed employee
set the Taliesin ablaze and went on a killing spree, killing seven people including Mamah and her
two children she had had with her previous husband. However this did not stop Wright from his
passion, so he built Taliesin II, and met another woman named Maud Miriam Noel one year
later.
During this relationship with Miriam, they lived in Japan so that he could be near the
designs and Imperial Hotel project. In timeline aspects, he was still technically married to his
first wife, Catherine, and they formally divorced in 1922. After ten years of being together,
Miriam left him, and he soon met a woman named Olgivanna (Olga) Milanof. Miriam caused the
couple strife from 1925 until 1927, and this heavily put the two in the spotlight. They were part

5 Tafel, Edgar p. xxii

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of affairs, scandals, which forced them into hiding. Olgas former husband attempted to stalk
them in order to gain custody of their daughter, Svetlana. They were later arrested in Minnesota
in October 1926, but soon released. Wright then married Olga in August in 1928.6
Wright suffered a significant loss when a third fire burned a large portion of his Taliesin in 1927,
including many of his Japan art pieces. In order to help pay for the debts he was in due to this, he
auctioned off many of his oriental works in his Japanese art collection. A continuation of
monetary problems caused the Minnesotan government to take hold and seize the Taliesin. The
following few years were tough for him and Olga, since the stock market crash of 1929 ended up
halting many of his projects and designs he was currently working on. This put him in serious
debt, therefore in order for him to get himself and Olga on their feet, he opened up the Taliesin
Fellowship in October of 1932 with approximately thirty apprentices. It soon became an
established network, and the building for the Fellowship Complex continued.
This apprenticeship grew for many years, housing more and more students each year.
However they did not just sit and design. 7 According to apprentice and architect Edgar Tafel, in
regards to historian Tom Wolfes statements, the apprentices planted, cultivated, and harvested
the food, cooked it, served it, cleaned up after it, worked as farm hands, gardeners, carpenters,
plasterers,

electricians,

plumbers,

masons,

cabinetmakers,

chauffeurs,

florists,

and

entrepreneurs, and many loved the experience.8 Since Wright had been extremely poor, this

6 Ibid. p. xxiii

7 Ibid. p. xxiii

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Fellowship was his way of earning an income, and so he relied on the tuition his students paid to
help support his family.
Ironically, the apprentices ended up calling Wright and Olga their parents, since they spent so
much time with them.9 The Fellowship continued to gain notoriety amongst the public, and his
practice picked up steam. He and his team commissioned many pieces and drawings for the years
to come, including some of his most famous works like Fallingwater, Lewis House, Johnson Wax
Museum, and many others.10 Wright received honors and awards at the Museum of Modern Art
in 1941, but the following years during World War II, he was being investigated by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation for possible obstruction of the war effort. During this time, nothing
was completed and Wright lived an extremely sparse life.11
Following Wrights drought that lasted about thirty years, his career picked up steam between the
years of 1946 and 1959, during which he experienced the most productive years of his
architecture career. The GI Bill brought more apprentices to Taliesin Fellowship. He received
almost three-hundred home commissions, and designed nonstop. During this time, buildings such
as the Johnson Wax Research Tower and the Price Tower, were completed. Wright did not live to
see the completion of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, but almost did. He passed
8 Wolfe, Tom as quoting Edgar Tafel in the foreword for Tafels About Wright: An Album of Recollections
by Those Who Knew Frank Lloyd Wright, p. xv

9 Ibid.

10 Tafel, Edgar p. xxiv

11 Ibid. p. xxiv

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away on April 9, 1959 at almost ninety-two. He left behind Olga and Svetlana, along with his
Taliesin Fellowship, which Olga soon tended to for the remaining years of her life.12
Wrights life was not always extraordinary, nor did he live the extravagant life that many seem to
believe he lived.13 He was poor for the majority of his life, spending most of his money on
creating the Imperial Hotel. This project is what led to his monetary issues in the early twentieth
century. However, he did travel around the world, pushing the architectural envelope in hopes of
incorporating new designs and new ways of experiencing life. His biographical life explores his
personal endeavors, but what was it about the grit of his style that made him so famous and
sublime? The early years of life were ridiculed with scandal and devastating money issues, but
according to Tom Wolfe, during the the later years of Wrights life, he was met with a high
reputation amongst people such as Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, and Laurence Olivier.14 His
reputation at the end of his life was grand, which was a stark contrast to the majority of his life.
To echo Wolfes thoughts, a journalist in Design Quarterly, in 1969, stated that Wrights work
which was not without logic but treated rules as something to be broken when the occasion
demanded.15

12 Ibid. p. xxiv

13 Wolfe, Tom as stated in the Foreword in Tafels book, About Wright, p. xiv

14 Wolfe, Tom p. xiv

15 Design Quarterly, No. 74/75, Process and Imagination (Walker Art Center: 1969) p. 13

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This falls in line with Wrights idea of organic architecture, a philosophy he garnered with which
he incorporated into his drawings, designs, and finished products. Many view the term organic
as something dealing with plants and animals, but according to an essay by Katherine Elman,
Wrights organic architecture, is a reinterpretation of natures principles as they had been filtered
through the intelligent minds of men and women who could then build forms which are more
natural than nature itself.

16

Wright also brought the idea of organic architecture into the

materials that were used in building each design, by respecting both the form and design of
nature itself, as well as the function. Elman also states that during Wrights seventy year career of
design and speech giving, he continuously stated that organic architecture was a relationship
between not only the site where the building would reside, but also with context in nature and the
structure itself. Essentially, how it would be situated in the world, what its purpose would be, and
how it would create a harmonious connection to nature would all be taken into account for all of
Wrights works.17
Wrights philosophy on architecture, according to historian and professor Gail Satler of Hofstra
University, was a harmonious mixture of combining both Eastern and Western philosophies. 18

16 Elman, Katherine, online

17 Ibid, online

18 Satler, Gail The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Global View Journal of Architectural
Education, 53, no. 1 (1999) p. 15

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She remarks that when reading Wrights own words, he was both confusing and contradictory.19
However, she also shares that Wrights beliefs in his own style was not necessarily influenced by
Eastern culture, specifically that of Japanese and Native American philosophies, but that he
freely acknowledged an important philosophical debt to the Japanese print art, yet at the same
time, he insisted that neither the art nor the architecture of Japan had any direct formal influence
on his work.20 Instead, Satler states that Wright found confirmation of his organic ideals in
Japanese style, instead of it being his utmost inspiration.21
Instead of it being Japanese art and architecture, where did this idea and understanding of
organic architecture actually come from? Satler explores this by giving quotations from Wright
himself, but it does show discrepancies. She states that Wright was first heavily influenced by
the idea of organic architecture when he was building both the Larkin Building in 1904 and then
the Unity Temple in 1906. However, had received a book from Japanese scholar, Okakura
Kakuzo, called, The Book of Tea. According to Satler, this is where his ideas of what organic
architecture means truly originated from. She recalls a quote from Wright, stating, I came across
a quote in the book that said, The reality of a room was to be found in the space enclosed by the
roof and walls, not in the roof and walls themselves. Well, there I was. Instead of being the cake

19 Ibid. p. 16

20 Ibid. p. 15

21 Ibid. p. 15-16

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I was not even the dough.22 She also states that Wright believed that this idea of organic
architecture was that, the reality of the building lies in the space within to be lived in. But,
which came first? Did Wright receive this book first and say, ah ha! Thats it! Or, was it the
realization during both Larkin and Unity? Satler does not state which came first, which makes it
a little more difficult to comprehend where, exactly, his notion for organic architecture comes
from. However, what we can gather from her information is that there is some sort of Japanese
influence, somewhere, amongst the blueprints of his style.
One of the remarkable things that Wright did, according to Satler, is that he merged both Eastern
and Western cultures and exchange of ideas into his organic architecture, and this is what makes
his designs among the greatest examples of this [organic] phenomenon.23 She also states that he
is commonly referred to as a transitional figure for American architecture and the birth of
modernism. To explore this more, she combines the poem, The Way of Life by Laozi, who was
considered the father of Taoism and seen as a figure for anti-authoritarian movements. She says
that Wright often referred to this poem in his writings and so she combined this and created a
way of dissecting how he created his architecture by each stanza, how it plays in with the realm
of space, and how Wright interpreted it. According to her research, each stanza relates to a
particular perception of space and form that encloses it.24

22 Ibid. p. 16

23 Ibid. p. 16-17

24 Ibid. p. 17

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The most intriguing analysis of her article is that after she explores his architecture through this
poem, she states that this is how his work should be understood, viewed, and appreciated
through. She believes his work needs to be viewed from a global landscape, rather than what is
seen right in the viewers eyesight. She states that,
The non-Western and nontraditional elements of his philosophy and buildings are not often
the focus of analyses of Wright or his works. Perhaps this is because observers or critics are
more eager to show Wrights work as examples of architecture that is considered modern,
American, or radical We now have a way of see Wrights works that shows how he
incorporated non-dominant cultures into his works and gave voice and value to them.25
She believes that his work is revolutionary, in that Wright saw the need to always remember, but
also always to move beyond as well; to always be in the process of beginning again It comes
full circle.26 Her belief in Wrights work is that he not only incorporates these ideas into his
architecture, but combining it with Japanese influences and Laozis poem, but that his style is full
of life. His work is both social and creates an identity for both Eastern and Western cultures and
values. He was interested in creating a form of life.27
According to Robert McCarter, a practicing architect, professor of architecture, and author, at
Washington University in St. Louis, Wrights emphasis on his work with the Imperial Hotel in

25 Ibid p. 21-22

26 Ibid. p. 22

27 Ibid. p. 22

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Tokyo showcases just how much Japanese art and architecture influenced his work. 28 The
Imperial Hotel in Tokyo took up quite a bit of Wrights time, which actually involved him
physically moving to Japan in order to see the project through. It started to be built in 1914 and
was finished 1922. Wright received a letter from Japan, asking him to come and help build the
Imperial Hotel which would be placed across from the Imperial Gardens and Palace. According
to McCarter, those that visited Wrights Taliesin were moved beyond the more obvious
evidence, such as the profusion of Japanese wood-block prints Wright collected and displayed.
These impressions inspired Wright to write a book in 1912 about the Japanese art, and McCarter
quotes him as saying that it taught me [Wright] much. However, McCarter slightly differs with
Satler, in that he calls Wrights architecture modern instead of organic, mainly because he is
contrasting Wrights style with that of the European modern. So instead of things being organic
to McCarter, it is modern. He views his work as that of what it is, instead of how it got there and
how it originates in its surroundings, which starkly differs from Satlers view on how to
appreciate Wrights architecture.29
Being an architect and professor of architecture himself, McCarter delves into the structure and
foundation of the Imperial Hotel, while making mentions of other projects that Wright was
involved in in Japan at the same, such as the Yamamura House of 1918 and the Jiyu Gakuen

28 Faculty Portfolios Robert McCarter Washington University in St. Louis

http://www.samfoxschool.wustl.edu/portfolios/faculty/robert_mccarter"

29 McCarter, Robert Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, 1914-1922 Frank Lloyd Wright (Phaidon Press
Limited 1997) p. 144

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School of 1921 (in 1997 when this book was published, McCarter states that this school is under
the threat of destruction) along with many others.30 He discusses this hotel at length, but spends a
great deal of time focusing on the same problems Wright was encountering when designing and
ultimately building the Imperial Hotel. The main issue he faced was earthquakes. How was he,
Wright, going to be able to build a structure that could be deemed as earthquake proof of sorts?
McCarter states that both Wright and his clients understood these dangers, and were obsessed
with trying to come up with ways to get around it, and to use the materials that were naturally
there for them to their utmost potential. 31 Wright not only addressed multiple factions such as the
size, foundation, materials, balance, and specific systems in order to make this structure
withstand the Japanese earthquakes.
The Imperial Hotel was finished in 1922, and became open to the public, but one year later, it
faced its biggest challenge: the 1923 earthquake of Japan. According to historian M.F. Hearn of
the University of Pittsburg, there was actually premature news that the Imperial Hotel actually
collapsed! This news undoubtedly gladdened all who had taken satisfaction eleven years earlier
in the sinking of the unsinkable Titanic on her maiden voyage, mainly because Wright had
declared this structure to be earthquake proof. There was confusion, and people around the world
still were not sure if his structure was even still standing. It was not until the official word came

30 Ibid. p. 152

31 Ibid p. 149

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out that it was that truly helped Wright become an overnight international celebrity, an architect
of heroic stature.32
McCarter states that Wright had to wait about ten days in order to receive official word from
client Baron Okura that his structure, stands undamaged as monument to your genius, hundred
of homeless provided by perfectly maintained service.33 It was one of the only buildings to have
ridden the earthquake and still stood. Even Louis Sullivan, whom Wright was fired by,
according to McCarter, said that in an article published in 1924, the Imperial Hotel remains one
of Wrights greatest accomplishments, structurally and spatially; his gift to the Japanese culture
that had taught him so much.34
Although it survived the earthquake and even the World War II bombings, it soon became under
criticism for not surviving the western ideas that soon dominated Japanese culture, and was
demolished in 1968 because it was too low-rise and needed to be more high-rise.35 It is one of
six demolished structures that were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. 36 In terms of where he got
his ideas for building the Imperial Hotel, although he incorporated the natural surroundings

32 Hearn, M.F. A Japanese Inspiration for Frank Lloyd Wrights Rigid-Core High-Rise Structures
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians vol. 50, no. 1 (Mar., 1991), pp. 68

33 McCarter. p. 155

34 Ibid p. 155 Words paraphrased by McCarter for Louis Sullivan

35 Ibid. p. 155

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which made it organic (or to McCarter, modern), he also incorporated ideas from previous
drawings with Sullivan along with ideas from Wrights Midway Gardens which helped prompt
his success, despite his private life in the 1920s.37 Wright did take ideas from past mentors,
drawings, buildings, and although that may not seem organic in composition (by being unique),
it shows a different light in how he found inspiration that was not strictly from Japanese
influence, as suggested by Satler, McCarter, and Hearn.
Differing drastically from Japanese art and architecture, author David Michael Hertz explores
Wright through his writings instead of through his actual work. In his book, titled, Angels of
Reality: Emersonian Unfoldings in Wright, Stevens, and Ives, he shows how in the chapter titled,
Frank Lloyd Wright Rejects the Renaissance, that Wright actually got his ideas from Louis
Sullivan, an old counterpart mentioned earlier. He had previously worked with Sullivan, but then
Sullivan died in 1924, well after he had been fired from the firm.
Hertz believes that Wrights ideas were fleshed out if not from Sullivan, than from figures
such as Voillet-le-Duc and Victor Hugo. Hertz states that Although both Victor Hugo and
Viollet-le-Duc were French, they pointed out the path away from Europe and toward Wrights
American organic style.38 He also says that Wright viewed the dictates of the needs of the
36 6 Destroyed Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings The Imperial Hotel Mother Nature Network
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/photos/6-destroyed-frank-lloyd-wright-buildings/theimperial-hotel

37 Hearn, M.F. p. 69-70

38 Hertz, David Michael Angels of Reality: Emersonian Unfoldings in Wright, Stevens, and Ives,
(Southern Illinois University Press 1993) p. 47-49

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present architectural moment as superior to the recycling of motifs from classicism.39 What is
very interesting is that with this being his birth of modernism, so to speak, during the same time,
this modernistic flowering was also happening in other parts of the world such as with Pablo
Picasso or Kazimir Malevich, the father of suprematism in Russia and art forms. Could all of
these people have been influenced, in some way, by transcendentalist writings of Emerson?
Hertz believes Wrights instinct is consistent in his lectures (not architecture) at Hull House in
1901 and again at Taliesin West. This idea of Emersonian beliefs stems, according to Hertz, from
Emersons essay titled, Nature in 1836, and that Wright is very clearly linked to nineteenthcentury transcendentalism. But what is an Emersonian Unfolding? Essentially, is it a
canonization of individualism and self-reliance, reading nature as a text containing moral values
that infuses his [Wrights] ideas about art.40 He says that Wrights ideas absorb a wide variety of
foreign ideas and that he (along with both Stevens and Ives in his book), appropriated
knowledge from works of others.41 His architecture, however, can be blended with the works of
both Stevens and Ives, and that Wrights architecture was very anti-Renaissance and created,

39 Ibid. p. 49

40 Ibid. p. 2

41 Ibid. p. 1

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instead, a natural pattern. It is this, according to Hertz, that set this organicism apart from the
more abstract work of architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe or Le Corbusier.42
A very interesting contrast between historians Satler and Hearn to that of Hertz is that while both
praise Wright and his work, mainly Satler, Hertz actually says that Wrights buildings have not
held up at all. He believes that Wright is a pretentious person and it shows in his work. He says
his buildings have numerous maintenance problems which he finds symbolic, but also that his
buildings have not held up probably because Wright had an overly optimistic vision of the
modern building technology available to him, and that his most famous building, Fallingwater,
suffers from serious leaks in the roofing. 43 So while we have one historian claiming his work is
phenomenal and the sorts, we have another one showing more of the realities of the situation at
hand.
One very interesting mention in terms of Wrights life was his trip to the USSR in June of 1937.
During this time, the United States, and the world, was currently still in the Great Depression,
and the US was still facing the economic crisis. He was invited to attend the First All-Union
Congress of Soviet Architects which was held in Moscow, and declined in the beginning, but
then changed his mind. Historian Donald Leslie Johnson writes that this invite is quite unknown
to many, and many are still unsure on the exact reason as to why he was even invited to go, but
he did go and was effected by diplomatic channels.44 Johnson says that Wright gave a speech at
this conference, but it has never before been translated into english until now. He states that in
42 Ibid p. 2

43 Ibid p. 3

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this speech, Wright discusses his use of organic architecture, however, Johnson states that, he
used his word organic in the context of a new society. It was left to his readers imagination,
perhaps, to discover exactly what his word organic meant and how to apply it.45 Johnson
continues to discuss and then translate Wrights speech to this conference of Soviet architects, by
stating a list of methods for architectural designing. However, interestingly enough, he goes on to
say that there were actually four different translations of Wrights speech, all in Russian, all
serving four different purposes, and apparently, all for good reasons. These purposes were for
public consumption and professional consumption, along with two versions for Wright,
specifically, but dated for 1943 and 1977. He does not go into details on why this is.46
Johnson and Hertz are similar in that they discuss Wright and his beliefs on architecture and life
through his writings, rather than through his architecture like Satler, McCarter, and Hearn
believed. Through writings, the audience does not know why exactly Wright decided to go the
USSR, how many Johnson hints that it might have been because of his third wife, Olga, and her
pressure for him to go.47 He notes that although there are no architectural influences from Wright
in Russia, the Russians did take a notable interest in him and his work. Along with this interest,

44 Johnson, Donald Leslie Frank Lloyd Wright in Moscow: June 1937 Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians vol. 65, no. 79 (March 1987) p. 65-66

45 Ibid p. 68

46 Ibid p. 68-69

47 Ibid p. 77

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Wright also expressed an interest in Russian culture, as stated through his writings and research
by Johnson. Wright was, essentially, flirting with the Russians, in that he knew they took an
interest in him, and that he was now being looked at as a serious architectural candidate. Johnson
believes that it was this trip to Russia that helped put Wright in the spotlight and give him the
publicity he so desperately needed at that time in his life.48
Just as Johnson stated through Wrights speech, the idea of his organic architecture is,
undoubtedly, left up to his audience to decide. The idea of an organic building is that it resides in
that specific environment, which allows its own sort of unique identity to be explored both in and
out of the structure itself. While some like Hertz criticized Wright, slightly, the praise for Wright
weighs much more heavily in his favor. As stated, he is viewed as a modern hero of sorts, an
American architectural leader, and later in his life, an architectural celebrity. Just like the idea of
suprematism, that it is up to the viewer to take their own journey through art, so we are to follow
in the same footsteps when walking through one of Frank Lloyd Wrights building. Although his
legacy has essentially died in terms of his presence, there are some architect professors like
Robert McCarty, that are helping to revive his spirit amongst the architectural society.

48 Ibid p. 79

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Bibliography - Secondary Sources

"6 Destroyed Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings: The Imperial Hotel." MNN. Accessed May 6, 2015.
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/photos/6-destroyed-frank-lloydwright-buildings/the-imperial-hotel.
Using for information about the Imperial Hotel, one of six destroyed Wright structures.

Donoian, John, Dennis Doordan, and Sarah Smith. ""A Magnificent Adventure": An Interview
with Mrs. Sarah (Melvyn) Maxwell Smith about the Smith House by Frank Lloyd
Wright." Journal of Architectural Education (1984-) 39, no. 4 (1986): 7.
This is an interview conducted towards the woman that worked closely with Frank
Lloyd Wright to design her home, and still lives in it (as of 1986). The publishing source as well
as its associative partner (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Inc.) lends it to be a
credible and well-rounded source of material. It is secondary in that it is from the woman that
currently lives in the home, and provides information on how this home has functioned. It is also
an interview that is a good testimony to Wright's architecture, since he died almost thirty years
prior to this. This gives insight to primary accounts from a secondary source, and this can prove
to be very valuable in extracting just how well Wright's architecture withstood the test of time.

Elman, Kimberly. "Frank Lloyd Wright and the Principles of Organic Architecture." PBS.
Accessed April 14, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/flw/legacy/essay1.html.

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A short but simple essay explaining Frank Lloyd Wright's interpretation on "organic
architecture" and how he came to find this in his works.

"Faculty

Portfolios."

Faculty

Portfolios.

Accessed

May

9,

2015.

http://www.samfoxschool.wustl.edu/portfolios/faculty/robert_mccarter.
Using this webpage just for reference towards a source for a book that he, Robert
McCarter, wrote.

"Frank Lloyd Wright." Design Quarterly 74/75 (1969): 13-15. Accessed April 14, 2015.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4047362.
While I'm only using the first page, and there is no author specifically cited (which I find
interesting), the information presented in just the first page is enough to help push me to find out
why this person wants to group Wright will people such as Herman Melville and Jackson
Pollock.

Hearn, M. F. "A Japanese Inspiration for Frank Lloyd Wright's Rigid-Core High-Rise
Structures." JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS 50, no.
1 (1991): 68-71.
This journal article discusses what it was that really skyrocketed (pun intended) Wright's
name to fame on an international level. His "earthquake-proof" Imperial Hotel did it, and it
initially created confused around the world, due to conflicting reports. Since this event took place
in 1923, it was paired with the "sinking of the Titanic" to prove that manmade things could be

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devastated by nature. However, that wasn't the case here, and it was because of this that helped
him gain momentum in his architecturial abilities and insight. The publisher for this and another
journal article, University of California Press, help to show that this is a scholarly work and
intended for scholarly discussions, reading, and so on.

Hertz, David. Gels of Reality : Emersonian Unfoldings in Wright, Stevens, and Ives. Southern
Illinois University Press, 1993.
Although this book focuses on three individuals, I will specifically look at
instances/chapters dedicated to Wright. Wright consistently referred back to the works of
Emerson in his own architecture, so this is a great composition of those explanations from a
secondary point of view. The author is a professor of literature at Indiana University, so his
background in literacy helps push his credentials in the transcendentalist realm. Seeing and
reading how it plays out to Wright's ambitions in his style is informative and insightful.

Johnson, Donald Leslie. "Frank Lloyd Wright in Moscow: June 1937." JOURNAL OF THE
SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS 46, no. 1 (1987): 65-79.
This journal entry is of particular interest to me, as the Avant-Garde and modernization
of Russia during this time was very much in poor taste and looked down upon, simply because it
was not accepted by the Stalin. Kazimir Maleyvich died two years prior to Wright's visit to
Moscow, and Maleyvich was the father of suprematism, and this style of artwork lends itself to
some of the ideas of Wright. However, the journal itself talks a great deal about the politics of his

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visit to Moscow, how he and his Russian wife were invited there, and this creates a very
interesting overlay to what the Soviets were doing just prior to this whole visit.

McCarter, Robert. Frank Lloyd Wright. London: Phaidon Press, 1997.

An extremely comprehensive collection on Wright, McCarter utilizes many sources to
compile this philosophically driven book. Being a professor of architecture, McCarter created
this book to not only contain pictures of Wright's work for his students to look at for inspiration,
but he also provided blueprints of Wright's work, insights into his work, and this all flows in a
chronological and narrative way for the reader or student looking to study his work. The great
aspect to this book is that not only does it praise Wright and his work, but it also provides
criticism, which is important to the composition of this paper. Certainly, Wright was praised, but
there had to be criticisms and jabs at his work, or things that did not work out in his favor. This
book does that.

McCarter, Robert. "The Courtyard Public Space." In Frank Lloyd Wright. New York, New York:
Phaidon Press Limited, 1997.
Architect, Professor of Architecture, author, and historian Robert McCarter's book on
Frank Lloyd Wright is a great composite of information on the architect. In his chapter, "The
Courtyard Public Space," he discusses the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which I am using as a
segway for understanding Wright's use of organic architecture, and how he came to develop such
an admiration towards Japanese art and architecture.

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Satler, Gail. "The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Global View." Journal of Architectural
Education 53, no. 1 (1999): 15-24.
This in-depth analysis by Satler provides an insight into Wright's "organic architecture"
and why it has been so influential to architure in both the east and the west. It is written in a way
that allows for the scholarly reader to critically look at how his architecture was viewed by
multiple viewpoints and cultures around the world, whether it was accepted or devalued, or
whether it played any sort of role in other works at the time.

Tafel, Edgar. About Wright: An Album of Recollections by Those Who Knew Frank Lloyd Wright.
New York: Wiley, 1993.
Another collection of stories from people that new Wright very well, or those that
worked closely with him. This is a collection of not just stories, but newspaper clippings,
photographs, and interviews. This book will allow for not only another combination of
secondary/primary sources, but will allow also for insight on how his work influenced others.
The author of this work supervised and worked with Wright on constructing many of Wright's
buildings.