The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright - ACE129.2

Landscape. The prairie. The hearth. Frank Lloyd Wright’s own home. The playroom for his six children. Narrator identifies herself as daughter of his daughter Catherine. Another fireplace – narrator speaks of fireside stories, of Taliesin, the bard born out of a fish pond in ancient Wales, and Wright’s own Welsh background. Water, and Wright’s house, Taliesin, in Wisconsin. Aerial shot of waterway beside Taliesin, crossing nearby land and the house. Narrator speaks of Wright’s childhood being in six different towns, but this, Spring Green, Wisconsin, being the one he remembered best. Unity Chapel gate post. Home movie of Wright walking on the road and talking to some workmen. The Unity Chapel. Its architect, Joseph Silsbee, offered Wright his first job. Snowy landscape, and Wright’s first house in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, a version of the East Coast shingle style. Tree in spring with quotation from Louis Sullivan. Detail of arched doorway designed by Sullivan.
Photos of buildings by Sullivan. "A golden, organic arch", part of the transportation building for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Other World’s Fair buildings, most of which Sullivan disliked for their neo-classical appearance. Collage showing the ruins of Chicago after the great fire of 1871. Wright VO talking about the need for Americans to rid themselves of the Old World architectural legacy in order to progress. Photos of World’s Fair buildings that Wright liked: the Ho-o-den, a temple from Japan, ancient architecture of the Americas, the pattern and shape of the Turkish pavilion. The Winslow House, Wright’s first independent commission, from 1893, in the River Forest suburb. This was the nucleus of what would come to be called "the Prairie house". Details of the building: main door, opening onto the fireplace, inglenook with arches, carvings, exteriors, bay window. Wright VO talking about the house and the excitement it caused. Horse and carriage drive by the Moore house. Wright VO continues. Wright’s own house, diagonally across the street from the Morra house. Wright VO continues. Narrator talks about constant experimentation and expansion of this building. Photo of Wright sitting in his garden. Photo of Wright’s mother and other family members, including his wife, Catherine Tobin.
Interior of Wright’s house: formal dining room, decorative motifs, the children’s playroom. Wright VO. Models, toys, books of decorative patterns, children’s wooden blocks arranged in patterns.