Taliesin West
Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox historic site Taliesin West (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell<ref name="The Reporter 2004">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Goldberger m687">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) is a studio and home developed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Named after Wright's Taliesin studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Taliesin West was Wright's winter home and studio from 1937 until his death in 1959. The complex is the headquarters of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, a nonprofit organization, which hosts tours and events there. Taliesin West is designated as a National Historic Landmark and a World Heritage Site.
Wright and his Taliesin Fellowship (later the School of Architecture) began making wintertime pilgrimages from Wisconsin to Arizona in 1935, and he bought a site in the McDowell Mountains two years later. His apprentices set up a temporary camp there, erecting the initial structures between 1938 and 1941. During Wright's lifetime, he oversaw several expansions, and some of the original construction materials were replaced. After Wright's death, the fellowship continued to modify the structures, and Taliesin West gradually gained popularity as a tourist attraction. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation began planning major renovations and a visitor center in the late 20th century. Parts of Taliesin West were gradually renovated and upgraded during the early 21st century.
Taliesin West consists of multiple structures, which are arranged on a 45-degree grid and connected by courtyards and walkways. The walls are made of desert masonry, a mixture of local rocks and concrete, which were originally topped by wood-and-canvas roofs. Triangles, hexagons, and natural motifs are used throughout the interiors. The main building includes a drafting room, kitchen, dining room, garden court, and the Wright family residence. The complex also includes spaces such as a kiva room, two performance venues, and a cottage. Over the years, commentators have praised the architecture, particularly the materials and the complex's relation to nature.
Site
Taliesin West is located at 12621 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard within Maricopa County in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States;<ref name="Visit Arizona c276">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Lengel l396">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the main entrance is at 12345 North Taliesin Drive.<ref name="Lengel l396" /><ref name="Wright Sites">Template:Cite book</ref> The modern estate covers Template:Convert<ref name="Haller h902" /><ref name="Snow e886">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and has flowers planted along its border.<ref name="Harris 1980">Template:Cite news</ref> Originally, Taliesin West was reached by an access road measuring about Template:Convert long.<ref name="Levine p. 275">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="The Arizona Republic 1982">Template:Cite news</ref> There was a masonry gate and a stanchion partway along the road.<ref name="Levine p. 275" /> The end of the road, just outside the main buildings, has a landscaped median.<ref name="Historic Report p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref> An array of 4,000 solar panels is installed on the estate, near the base of a hill.<ref name="AP 2012 t610">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Haller 2012">Template:Cite news</ref> The estate sits about Template:Convert above sea level, in a gully at the base of the McDowell Mountains.<ref name="Levine p. 259" /> Nearby are the McDowell Mountains' two highest peaks: Thompson Peak and McDowell Peak.<ref name="Levine p. 259">Template:Harvnb</ref> The surrounding desert contains volcanic rock that ranges in color from red and umber to blue-gray and purple.<ref name="FZ p. 335" /><ref name="Levine p. 262">Template:Harvnb</ref> The estate overlooks the cities of Tempe and Chandler to the south, the Phoenix Mountains to the southwest.<ref name="Levine pp. 259–262">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Central Arizona Project canal passes by the estate as well.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Before the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright acquired the site, the land had never been developed, although several Native American peoples inhabited the surrounding area until the 19th century.<ref name="Harboe p. 8a" /> Some of the boulders throughout the complex contain Native American petroglyphs,<ref name="Harboe p. 8a" /><ref name="Tafel p. 196">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Levine p. 273">Template:Harvnb</ref> which were created by the Hohokam people.<ref name="Harboe p. 8a" /><ref name="TCLF b966">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Native American millstones, pits with corn, and potsherds were still in situ when Wright obtained the land.<ref name="Levine p. 262" /> One of the petroglyphs, representing "handshake, friendship, and fellowship", later inspired Taliesin West's official logo.<ref name="Nolan 2003">Template:Cite news</ref>
History
After years of practicing architecture in the U.S. state of Illinois, Frank Lloyd Wright built an architectural studio, Taliesin, in 1911 near Spring Green, Wisconsin.<ref name="Dunyan 1990">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Smith p. 12">Template:Harvnb</ref> Its living quarters were rebuilt twice following fires in 1914 and 1925.<ref name="Davies c2812">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Matheson 19592">Template:Cite news</ref> Wright formed the Taliesin Fellowship in 1932, inviting young architects to apprentice under him.<ref name="FZ p. 187">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Smith p. 13">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Development
Wright had first visited the state of Arizona in 1927 while working as a consultant for the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.<ref name="FZ p. 307">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Smith pp. 88–89">Template:Harvnb</ref> He returned with several draftsmen in 1929 to establish the Ocotillo Desert Camp, a temporary camp in Phoenix, Arizona, while designing a resort for the developer Alexander J. Chandler.<ref name="FZ p. 143">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Secrest p. 356">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Ocotillo Camp was built around a plateau, on a grid of 30- and 60-degree angles.<ref name="Laseau Tice c796">Template:Cite book</ref> Though rising heat prompted Wright's team to leave the camp after only a few months,<ref name="FZ p. 145">Template:Harvnb</ref> it was a precursor to the design of Taliesin West.<ref name="Laseau Tice c796" /> Wright later wrote that he had found the camp's canvas tents to be "enjoyable and sympathetic to the desert", in contrast to the "much too heavy midwestern house", which he found oppressive.<ref name="Smith p. 89">Template:Harvnb</ref> Furthermore, Wright was elderly and in declining health, and the original studio was costly to maintain during the winter.<ref name="Levine p. 256">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Site acquisition
Wright announced in late 1934 that he would bring his apprentices to the hot Arizona deserts during early 1935.<ref name="Levine p. 256" /><ref name="FZ p. 262">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wright contacted Alexander Chandler,<ref name="FZ p. 262" /><ref name="Sisson f273">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> who invited the Taliesin fellows to stay at one of his properties, La Hacienda.<ref name="Levine p. 256" /><ref name="FZ pp. 265, 273" /> The fellows worked at La Hacienda from January to April 1935.<ref name="Sisson f273" /><ref name="FZ pp. 265, 273">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright also attempted to buy land in Arizona during that trip,<ref name="FZ p. 306" /> visiting a Template:Convert site southeast of Chandler, which was owned by a farmer named Dewey Keith.<ref name="Levine p. 256" /> Following the fellowship's 1935 trip to Arizona, Wright resolved to develop his own studio in the desert.<ref name="FZ p. 306">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Secrest p. 451">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright's wife Olgivanna preferred Arizona to the original Taliesin studio, whose landscape she disliked.<ref name="Secrest p. 451" /><ref name="FZ pp. 306–307a">Template:Harvnb</ref> After catching pneumonia in 1936, Wright went to see a doctor, who advised him to stay in the Arizona desert during the winter.<ref name="FZ p. 307" /><ref name="McKay 2010">Template:Cite news</ref> Taliesin fellows returned to Arizona in 1936, staying at La Hacienda.<ref name="Levine p. 256" /><ref name="Secrest p. 451; Tafel p. 194">Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> During that trip, Wright attempted to buy some federal land near the San Tan Mountains, but he needed another parcel from Keith to obtain a site of sufficient size. Ultimately, Wright could not acquire the land from Keith, and the apprentices and Olgivanna opposed that site as too remote.<ref name="Levine p. 258">Template:Harvnb</ref>
In December 1937, Frank and Olgivanna Wright found a site near McDowell Peak,<ref name="FZ p. 320">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Harboe p. 8a">Template:Harvnb</ref> Template:Convert from Phoenix.<ref name="Smith p. 88">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="FZ p. 321">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright obtained about Template:Convert in Paradise Valley, leasing half the land and buying the rest outright.<ref name="Levine pp. 258–259">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn He later recalled, "On the mesa just below McDowell Peak we stopped, turned, and looked around. The top of the world",<ref name="Levine p. 259" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="FZ p. 320" /> saying the landscape was unparalleled in "sheer beauty of space and pattern".<ref name="Michelet 1984">Template:Cite news</ref> Wright had paid Template:Convert<ref name="Secrest p. 451; Tafel p. 194" /><ref name="FZ p. 321" /> with a $3,100 check from Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., for whom Wright was designing the Johnson Wax Headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin.<ref name="FZ pp. 320–321">Template:Harvnb</ref> The site was particularly cheap because it was not known to contain any groundwater.<ref name="Secrest p. 451; Tafel p. 194" /><ref name="FZ p. 321" /> Although a local had warned him that it was a "waste of money" to look for groundwater on the site, Wright paid a digger to excavate a well;<ref name="Secrest p. 451; Tafel p. 194" /><ref name="FZ p. 321" /> the digger ultimately discovered water Template:Cvt underground.<ref name="FZ p. 321" /><ref name="Spano 1998">Template:Cite news</ref> Wright ended up spending $10,000 on the well, more than what he had paid for the land itself.<ref name="Secrest p. 451; Tafel p. 194" /> The well was not completed for three years;<ref name="FZ p. 321" /> it was supplied by a subterranean river and remains in use in the 21st century.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Temporary camp and planning
At the end of December 1937, Wright asked his secretary Gene Masselink in Wisconsin to bring housekeeping supplies, construction supplies, drafting boards, and musical instruments for entertainment.<ref name="FZ p. 320" /><ref name="Arrigoni 2001">Template:Cite news</ref> When the apprentices arrived at McDowell Peak in early 1938, they found a site that was completely undeveloped;<ref name="Harboe p. 10; Levine p. 263">Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> as apprentice Kay Schneider said, there was "no water, no building, nothing".<ref name="FZ p. 321" /> Apprentices had to carry water from several miles away.<ref name="Doerfler 1998">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Rene 2000">Template:Cite news</ref> Schneider recalled that, before the well was finished, the apprentices obtained water from a local farmer once a week, receiving Template:Convert to wash themselves for the entire week.<ref name="FZ pp. 321–322" /> The fellowship had little money on hand, so they were forced to ration meat and subsist on cottage cheese and grapefruit from a local farm.<ref name="FZ pp. 321–322">Template:Harvnb</ref> Another apprentice, Edgar Tafel, reflected that there was no phone service, a rudimentary septic system, and a portable power generator.<ref name="Tafel p. 194">Template:Harvnb</ref> Yet another apprentice, Larry Lemmon, built an earthen closet in which to store food.<ref name="Secrest p. 453">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Wright decided to construct the camp on a mesa near McDowell Peak's base,<ref name="FZ p. 323">Template:Harvnb</ref> at the southwestern corner of the parcel that he owned.<ref name="Levine p. 264">Template:Harvnb</ref> The first apprentices built their own tents using lumber and canvas.<ref name="Harboe p. 10; Levine p. 263" /><ref name="Secrest p. 453" /> They set up sleeping bags,<ref name="FZ p. 322">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Linn 1939">Template:Cite news</ref> which surrounded the mesa to the south and west.<ref name="Harboe p. 10; Levine p. 263" /> The Wrights initially stayed at a nearby inn.<ref name="Harboe p. 10; Levine p. 263" /> The apprentices designed a temporary accommodation for the Wrights, known as Sun Trap,<ref name="McCarter p. 225">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Trulsson p. 33">Template:Harvnb</ref> which was made of wood and canvas.<ref name="Arrigoni 2001" /><ref name="McCarter p. 225" /> The design of Sun Trap was derived from that of the Ocotillo camp, as well as Wright's unexecuted design for a house in the Mojave Desert in 1921.<ref name="McCarter p. 225" /> It consisted of a courtyard with bedrooms on three sides and a fireplace on the fourth side,<ref name="McCarter p. 225" /> surrounded by pieces of wooden siding.<ref name="Levine pp. 263–264">Template:Harvnb</ref> There was a bathroom in one corner and a music room in another corner; the other two corners were exposed to the elements.<ref name="McCarter p. 225" /> The bedrooms had sleeping boxes placed atop concrete pedestals, which Olgivanna loved despite their rudimentary nature.<ref name="FZ p. 322" />
Wright began drawing up plans for permanent structures soon after erecting the temporary accommodations.<ref name="Secrest p. 453" /> To reduce glare, he sketched the initial plans on butcher paper, since all the planning was initially done outdoors.<ref name="Levine p. 264" /><ref name="FZ p. 322" /> In designing the complex, Wright wanted to blur the distinction between the buildings and the ground, giving the impression that the structures grew from the desert floor.<ref name="FZ p. 335" /> He did not create standard blueprints; as one apprentice said, "I think that sometimes what was drawn one day was built the next."<ref name="Secrest p. 453" /> The early plans called for a collection of buildings surrounding a courtyard, accessed from the west<ref name="Levine pp. 264–265">Template:Harvnb</ref> and rotated 30 degrees clockwise from due south.<ref name="Harboe p. 10a">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Levine pp. 265–266">Template:Harvnb</ref> At the front of the site was the drafting room, the Wrights' residence, and a pergola to the courtyard; there were two additional wings behind the courtyard.<ref name="Levine pp. 264–265" /> Wright subsequently revised the plans further, placing the buildings on a 45-degree grid. The final plans called for five spaces—a drafting room, a courtyard, an office, the Wrights' residence, and workshops—arranged around a pergola.<ref name="Levine p. 266">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Construction
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Wright's apprentices spent initially seven months of the year at Taliesin in Wisconsin and the other five months at Taliesin West.<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> Frank and Olgivanna Wright led "caravans" between the two studios, taking a different route every year.<ref name="Nolan 2003" /> Because the land was so arid, the apprentices had difficulties excavating the foundations. During their first year at Taliesin West, the Taliesin fellows spent much of their time constructing these structures, rather than learning.<ref name="FZ p. 323" /> Tafel recalled that rattlesnakes became more common as the days got warmer, while heavy rain sometimes cascaded down the arroyos on the site.<ref name="Tafel p. 195">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Secrest p. 354">Template:Harvnb</ref> In a contemporary article for The Arizona Republic, an unidentified fellow said that much of the heavy-duty construction work was performed by "the boys of the fellowship", while the female fellows made the furnishings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
During 1938, the apprentices graded many of the paths and created the foundations for the buildings.<ref name="FZ p. 335" /><ref name="Smith p. 90">Template:Harvnb</ref> The fellowship returned to Taliesin West in January 1939.<ref name="FZ p. 335">Template:Harvnb</ref> Almost all building materials, except for cement, were extracted from the surrounding area.<ref name="FZ p. 336">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright decided to construct the buildings from a mixture of rock and cement, which was poured into wooden formwork or framing.<ref name="FZ p. 335" /><ref name="Secrest p. 453" /> The roofs were to be constructed of canvas sheets stretched between redwood frames.<ref name="Gibson p856">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Tafel pp. 194–195">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Storrer p. 254">Template:Harvnb</ref> The interior was to be decorated with pieces of local quartzite, which came in a variety of colors and sometimes weighed several hundred pounds. Because the quartzite was not easy to chisel away, the apprentices had to look for pieces that already had flat surfaces.<ref name="FZ p. 335" /> Wright decided to reposition the petroglyphs so that "when the Indians come back 2,000 years from now to claim their land, they will note we had respect for their orientation".<ref name="Tafel p. 196" /><ref name="Levine p. 269">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The vault was the first structure to be built.<ref name="Pfeiffer p. 13">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Harboe p. 11a" /> The apprentices built the masonry walls for the vault and kitchen, at either end of the main structure. In late 1938, workers began constructing the drafting room.<ref name="Levine p. 272">Template:Harvnb</ref> Apprentices were also constructing the dining room, kitchen, kiva, sleeping quarters, and Wright's office by early 1939.<ref name="Smith p. 90" /><ref name="Harboe p. 11a">Template:Harvnb</ref> Some of the apprentices stayed behind in mid-1939 to construct the rest of the structure.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1939">Template:Cite news</ref> Many of these initial rooms were finished by 1940.<ref name="Levine p. 272" /><ref name="McLain 1940">Template:Cite news</ref> During that year, a canvas covering was placed on the drafting room's roof.<ref name="Smith p. 96">Template:Harvnb</ref> The original compound was substantially complete in early 1941,<ref name="Harboe p. 11a" /><ref name="Levine p. 272" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> though The Arizona Republic wrote that "it may be years before it is considered finished".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Additional rooms including the garden room, guest desk, apprentices' court, and the Wrights' residence were completed at that time.<ref name="Harboe p. 13">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Wright usage
The Arizona complex became known as "Taliesin West",<ref name="Levine p. 272" /><ref name="Storrer p. 253">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="FZ p. 364" /> contrasting with the original compound in Wisconsin, which became "Taliesin East".<ref name="FZ p. 364">Template:Harvnb</ref> The original structure, in turn, had been named for the Welsh bard Taliesin, whose name means "shining brow"<ref name="Goldberger m687" /><ref name="McCarter p. 119">Template:Harvnb</ref> or "radiant brow".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In contrast to Wright's other projects, Taliesin West had not gained its name until after most of the initial structures were completed.<ref name="Levine p. 272" /> The apprentices had thought of several names for the complex, such as "Aladdin" and "Rockledge".<ref name="Levine p. 272" /><ref name="Tafel pp. 198–200">Template:Harvnb</ref> Other alternate names, like "Taliesin in the Desert" and "Desert Camp", also failed to gain popularity.<ref name="Levine p. 272" /> The writer Neil Levine states that Taliesin West "assumed the role of defining Wright's architecture and persona to the outside world", supplanting the original studio in some respects,<ref name="Levine p. 255">Template:Harvnb</ref> while The New York Times characterized the structures as a "countercultural colony".<ref name="Tortorello y331">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Wright designed numerous structures while at Taliesin West, such as the Price Tower, Monona Terrace, Gammage Memorial Auditorium, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.<ref name="Sunset 2012">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Galyean 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> Up to 100 Taliesin Fellowship apprentices worked there during the winters,<ref name="The Capital Times 1956">Template:Cite news</ref> and they performed many tasks there, per Wright's belief that they should learn through experience.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1954">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Foster 2002" /> For instance, they erected temporary shelters in the desert nearby,<ref name="Rathbun 2007">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which Wright then critiqued.<ref name="McCarter p. 225" /> The apprentices adhered to a detailed schedule, starting with a 6:30 a.m. breakfast,<ref name="Smith p. 111" /><ref name="Hart 1959">Template:Cite news</ref> though their clocks were deliberately set one hour ahead.<ref name="The Minneapolis Star 1949">Template:Cite news</ref> The apprentices took turns maintaining the estate and doing tasks such as cooking and gardening.<ref name="Hart 1959" /><ref name="The Minneapolis Star 1949" /> A bell tower in the main building marked when it was time to eat.<ref name="Smith p. 111">Template:Harvnb</ref> Apprentices cooked meals in the kitchen, which they then ate in the communal dining room.<ref name="Smith pp. 112–115">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright was reportedly a difficult teacher to work with, though his onetime apprentice Rudolph Schindler said: "Yet I believe that a year in his studio would be worth any sacrifice."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On weekends, the estate was open to tourists for $5 each.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1954" /><ref name="Chicago Tribune 1949">Template:Cite news</ref>
1940s
Wright continually made modifications to Taliesin West, directing his students to carry out these changes.<ref name="Budds i384">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Just before World War II, Wright planted native cacti on the grounds.<ref name="Smith p. 94">Template:Harvnb</ref> Taliesin West's completion coincided with the onset of World War II,<ref name="Harboe p. 13" /><ref name="FZ p. 366">Template:Harvnb</ref> and as such, few changes were made to the buildings during the war, other than basic maintenance.<ref name="Smith p. 90" /><ref name="Harboe p. 13" /> Following the United States' entry into World War II in 1941, some of Wright's fellows were drafted into the U.S. military, while others were imprisoned after refusing to be conscripted.<ref name="Harboe p. 13" /><ref name="FZ pp. 367–368">Template:Harvnb</ref> The remaining apprentices left Taliesin West largely unused until 1945, instead staying in Wisconsin.<ref name="FZ p. 366" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> One apprentice, Kenn Lockhart, offered to repair the complex and protect it from vandalism.<ref name="FZ p. 366" /> Wright also rented out Taliesin West to the U.S. military,<ref name="FZ p. 367">Template:Harvnb</ref> and cattle sometimes roamed onto the land.<ref name="Doerfler 1998" />
Following World War II, Wright began experimenting with alternate materials, adding glass and replacing some of the canvas and wood in the buildings.<ref name="Smith p. 91">Template:Harvnb</ref> Olgivanna asked her husband to install glass in the structures.<ref name="FZ p. 337">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Harboe p. 14">Template:Harvnb</ref> Pfeiffer states that Olgivanna had made the request after dreaming about seeing a storm from inside the complex.<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /><ref name="Pfeiffer p. 19">Template:Harvnb</ref> In any case, he added some glass to the garden room and drafting studios.<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /> Wright also expanded the dining room into an adjacent loggia,<ref name="Trulsson p. 63">Template:Harvnb</ref> and he drew up plans to replace a footbridge between the family residence and the kiva.<ref name="Levine p. 281">Template:Harvnb</ref> He replaced the original wood frames and fabric roofs because they decayed more quickly during the hot summers, when temperatures reached Template:Convert.<ref name="Smith p. 110">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Sun Trap was demolished in 1949 and replaced with the Sun Cottage, a residence for the Wrights' daughter Iovanna.<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /><ref name="Leonhard 1963">Template:Cite news</ref> Air-conditioning units were installed, and the rooms were enclosed so the buildings could be occupied during the summer.<ref name="McCarter p. 229">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Also in the 1940s, Wright fought the installation of overhead power lines in the area, as he considered them ugly.<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He contacted U.S. president Harry S. Truman to complain about the power lines, unsuccessfully requesting that they be buried.<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Rene 2000" /> After briefly considering relocating,<ref name="Harboe p. 15">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright instead relocated the compound's main entrance and the living room.<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Craven 1998">Template:Cite news</ref> Wright wrote for Arizona Highways magazine in 1949 that "we've all learned a helluva lot by practice" while erecting Taliesin West.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1950s
In the early 1950s, the compound's original theater (the kiva) became a library, while the Cabaret Theatre was built behind Wright's office.<ref name="Levine p. 274">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Smith pp. 90–91">Template:Harvnb</ref> A report from 2015 notes that the Cabaret Theatre may have been ready for use as early as December 1950,<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /> though other sources state that the theater was not finished until 1951 or 1952.<ref name="Levine p. 274" /><ref name="Smith pp. 90–91" /> After the Cabaret Theatre was finished, the fellows often relaxed in the theater during the weekends, watching movies or live performances there.<ref name="Smith pp. 90–91" /> In addition, Taliesin West was linked to Scottsdale's electrical grid by early 1952.<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /> Starting in the early 1950s, Olgivanna hosted gatherings with other followers of the philosopher George Gurdjieff at Taliesin West during winter weekends.<ref name="FZ p. 467">Template:Harvnb</ref> Wright stored his architectural medals in a tower on the estate.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1954" />
Wright decided to relocate his firm's headquarters from the original Wisconsin studio to Taliesin West in 1954, as he did not want to pay taxes on the Wisconsin estate,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> even though he also paid taxes on the Arizona compound.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The same year, work began on a larger theater on the grounds,<ref name="Smith p. 92">Template:Harvnb</ref> which was intended to host musical performances.<ref name="FZ p. 514">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="The Capital Times 1963">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> By then, Arizona Highways magazine claimed the estate earned hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for the state economy.<ref name="The Capital Times 1956" /> The music pavilion next to the Cabaret Theatre (originally called the movements pavilion<ref name="Storrer p. 2542">Template:Harvnb</ref>) was completed in 1957.<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Levine p. 274" /><ref name="The Capital Times 1959">Template:Cite news</ref> Fellows listened to musical performances after dinner in the music pavilion,<ref name="Smith p. 118">Template:Harvnb</ref> and the structure also hosted the Festival of Music and Dance.<ref name="The Capital Times 1959" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Olgivanna composed music for the theater, while Iovanna choreographed and directed the dance shows.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1959, Wright drew up plans for an orchard,<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /> and Taliesin West's access road was reconfigured.<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /><ref name="Levine p. 276">Template:Harvnb</ref> When Wright died in Wisconsin that April, his associates hosted a memorial service for him at Taliesin West.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After Wright's death
After Wright's death, his son-in-law William Wesley Peters formed Taliesin Associated Architects, which was headquartered at Taliesin West and operated as part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.<ref name="Cardon 1965">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Morin 1960">Template:Cite news</ref> Wright's architectural school continued to operate from the complex as well,<ref name="Cardon 1965" /><ref name="Savoy 1965">Template:Cite news</ref> enrolling no more than 35 students at a time.<ref name="Wang 1998">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Bernstein k827">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Olgivanna Wright took over Taliesin West's operations and management,<ref name="Savoy 1965" /><ref name="Spurlock 1964">Template:Cite news</ref> approving every major change to Taliesin West, including the designs of students' tents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Allen 1972">Template:Cite news</ref> Iovanna still lived in the Sun Cottage<ref name="Leonhard 1963" /> and choreographed performances at the music pavilion, inviting apprentices to participate.<ref name="Larson 1966">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Auer 1967">Template:Cite news</ref> The nearby Cabaret Theatre hosted formal dinners and film screenings on Saturdays.<ref name="Larson 1966" /><ref name="Milton 1966">Template:Cite news</ref> Apprentices had to attend lectures on Sundays and construction courses during the mornings.<ref name="Allen 1972" /> They spent the rest of their time maintaining the buildings, working on designs, or constructing structures.<ref name="Drew 1998" /><ref name="Roberts 1972">Template:Cite news</ref> Taliesin West's communal lifestyle did not suit everyone: for instance, Peters's second wife Svetlana Alliluyeva left him in part because she disapproved of the lifestyle.<ref name="Roberts 1972" /><ref name="Kihss e663">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Tourism to Taliesin West increased after Wright's death, even though the fellowship never promoted the structures.<ref name="Spurlock 1964" /><ref name="McLeod 1965">Template:Cite news</ref> Tours were initially hosted on weekdays and Sundays,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and they included a slideshow and photographs of Wright.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Visitors included major figures such as the publisher Henry Luce and his wife Clare Boothe Luce; the politicians Allen Dulles, Adlai Stevenson II, John Kenneth Galbraith, and William Benton; the art collector Peggy Guggenheim; and the actor Charles Laughton.<ref name="Spurlock 1964" /><ref name="Drew 1998" />
1960s and 1970s
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Wright's apprentices continued to modify Taliesin West after his death, adding steel and glass to the structures.<ref name="Morin 1960" /><ref name="Lycan 1965">Template:Cite news</ref> Although Olgivanna wanted to build an eastern wing, several of Wright's apprentices refused to help; one apprentice complained that Olgivanna had transformed her husband's "rugged, masculine, barbaric kind of a creation" into a feminine design.<ref name="FZ pp. 554–555">Template:Harvnb</ref> After plans to install power transmission lines next to the complex were announced in the 1960s, Olgivanna Wright wrote letters opposing the project,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; Template:Cite news</ref> but the power lines were installed anyway.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The original music pavilion was gutted and destroyed during a fire in September 1963.<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /><ref name="The Capital Times 1963" /> The blaze caused an estimated $150,000 in damage,<ref name="The Capital Times 1963" /> destroying curtains, sets, and 300 costumes.<ref name="Daily Independent Journal 1964">Template:Cite news</ref> Taliesin fellows quickly began repairing the pavilion following the fire,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> rebuilding the structure to one of Wright's old designs.<ref name="Daily Independent Journal 1964" /><ref name="Ings 1964" /> After the fire, smoking was banned at Taliesin West as a precautionary measure.<ref name="McLeod 1965" /> The music pavilion reopened in April 1965 with a performance choreographed by Iovanna Wright.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The complex had 1,500 monthly visitors by the mid-1960s.<ref name="McLeod 1965" /> In July 1966, a fire destroyed several dormitories<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> within the eastern section of the apprentices' court.<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /> The dormitories were rebuilt with a steel frame, and fiberglass roofs were also added above the garden room, Wright's office, and the drafting room during the 1960s.<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /> Many temporary materials, used in the construction of the original structures, were removed as a result.<ref name="Auer 1967" /><ref name="Goldberger o404">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One newspaper writer said in 1967 that "virtually every part of the main building" had been replaced over the preceding five years.<ref name="Auer 1967" /> During the same decade, apprentices dug another well.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the end of the decade, there were plans to construct a storage vault for Wright's writings.<ref name="Drew 1998" />
The guest terrace was reconstructed with a steel frame in 1970 after it began to sag.<ref name="Harboe p. 16" /> By then, the Scottsdale government was planning to annex the site of Taliesin West,<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> which at the time was located in an unincorporated part of Maricopa County.<ref name="Leonhard 1972">Template:Cite news</ref> The complex ultimately became part of Scottsdale in 1972.<ref name="Leonhard 1972" /> In addition, Taliesin West employed only people from within Taliesin Associated Architects or the fellowship until the early 1970s, when a small clerical staff was hired.<ref name="Roberts 1972" /> New bedrooms, a clinic and doctor's residence, and the tower room were constructed east of Olgivanna's bedroom during this decade. The Fellowship Pool was built north of the apprentices' court as well, while large palm trees were replaced with smaller shrubs.<ref name="Harboe p. 16">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Arizona government also allocated some funding for the complex's maintenance.<ref name="Marlin 1978">Template:Cite news</ref>
1980s
By the early 1980s, the complex had about 40,000 to 50,000 annual visitors.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1982" /> Olgivanna continued to host social events at Taliesin West, including afternoon teas, dinners, and performing-arts events.<ref name="Luptak 1981">Template:Cite news</ref> Apprentices built a ticket booth, a bookstore, a reading room, and a dormitory, and they also renovated several of the rooms.<ref name="Harboe p. 16" /> When Olgivanna died in 1985,<ref name="Goldberger m687" /> she had been attempting to relocate Frank's remains to Taliesin West.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Although Wright was originally interred in Wisconsin, Olgivanna had wanted herself, Wright, and her daughter from her first marriage to all be cremated and buried together at Taliesin West.<ref name="Secrest213">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Conroy r586">Template:Cite news</ref> Against the wishes of other family members and the Wisconsin Legislature, Frank's remains were relocated to Scottsdale in 1985, where they were later reinterred.<ref name="Conroy r586" /><ref name="Peterson n296">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the mid-1980s, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation started digitizing Wright's archives,<ref name="Ryon 1985" /><ref name="Muchnic 1985" /> and it drew up plans for a study center and an archive building.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Greene 1987">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition, the foundation received permission to construct a housing development, Taliesin Gates, on an Template:Convert plot adjoining the complex.<ref name="Webb 1985">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Carroll 1986">Template:Cite news</ref> The development was dedicated in 1986,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the sale of houses there was intended to raise money for the Wright Foundation.<ref name="Ryon 1985">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Kodrich 1987">Template:Cite news</ref> Taliesin Gates also provided a buffer between Taliesin West and the expanding Scottsdale suburbs,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> whose rapid growth had caused Taliesin West to be added to a list of endangered historical sites in 1984.<ref name="Remy 1988">Template:Cite news</ref> Richard Carney, who led the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, began raising $10–20 million for repairs to both Taliesins.<ref name="Kodrich 1987" /><ref name="Remy 1988" /> The foundation planned to raise $5 million for an archive building at Taliesin West by selling off some of Wright's original drawings, though these sales were controversial.<ref name="Greene 1987" /> In 1989, Carney converted Olgivanna's bedroom into an office.<ref name="Goldberger m687" />
1990s and 2000s
During the early 1990s, the garden room was renovated,<ref name="Harboe p. 17">Template:Harvnb</ref> and Wright's archives were relocated to a climate-controlled warehouse on the estate.<ref name="Goldberger m687" /> In the early 1990s, the consulting firm Coopers and Lybrand conducted a feasibility study, which predicted that Taliesin West could increase its annual visitation to 250,000 if the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation built a visitor center and a model of a Usonian house. At the time, the complex had 60,000 annual visitors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Subsequently, Scottsdale officials approved a $699,000 complex to help fund the construction of the visitor center, which was planned to cost $3.9 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the construction of the visitor center was delayed. According to Taliesin West's vice president Arnold Roy, the initial design, based on an unexecuted plan for a house in California, "was too institutional".<ref name="Corbett 2000">Template:Cite news</ref> An increase in visitors prompted the Wright Foundation to increase tours of the house in 1996. Annual visitation had increased to 72,000.<ref name="Swiatek 1996">Template:Cite news</ref> The foundation established an endowment fund for Taliesin West in the 1990s, but the endowment was insufficient to finance any long-term projects.<ref name="Telegraph-Herald 2002">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1998, the roofs of the garden room, office, and drafting room were rebuilt,<ref name="Harboe p. 17" /> and the old roof panels were replaced with acrylic panels.<ref name="Cohen l741">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Ward a397">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The structures east of the Wrights' residence were also converted into offices for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.<ref name="Harboe p. 17" /> The same year, Ken Burns released a documentary on Wright's work, which increased visitation even more,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with up to 12,000 monthly visitors during peak times.<ref name="Yost 1999">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation began giving tours of apprentices' shelters.<ref name="Merwin 1999">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Henry 1999">Template:Cite news</ref> By the early 2000s, the foundation was planning to construct a visitor center with $1.4 million from the Scottsdale city government.<ref name="Corbett 2000" /><ref name="Telegraph-Herald 2002" /> The complex accommodated 120,000 annual visitors,<ref name="Ryman 2002">Template:Cite news</ref> the vast majority of whom came from outside the surrounding area.<ref name="Corbett 2000" /> The foundation estimated that a visitor center would help increase annual visitation to 200,000.<ref name="Ryman 2002" /> Part of the visitor center's cost was to be financed through Wright Foundation fundraisers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Foundation officials requested a further $430,000 from the Scottsdale government in 2002, which would pay for the visitor center's construction, a restoration of the Wrights' living space, and rent for a museum space in downtown Scottsdale.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn
In 2003, the Wright Foundation received a $75,000 grant for restoration through the Save America's Treasures program,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Ottosen family donated another $200,700 for the renovation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Wright Foundation hired the architect John Eifler, to study the property, which needed $30–60 million in renovations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eifler and architect Arnold Roy designed a restoration of Wright's bedroom,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which began in January 2004<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was completed that November.<ref name="Engle 2004">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Nolan 2004">Template:Cite news</ref> The bedroom's renovation was funded with more than $500,000 from Scottsdale's government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation sought to rezone part of its campus in 2006 as part of a longer-range preservation plan for the complex.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The Capital Times 2006">Template:Cite news</ref> Though the Scottsdale government approved the rezoning,<ref name="The Capital Times 2006" /><ref name="The Arizona Republic 2006" /> the preservation plan was delayed for several months.<ref name="The Capital Times 2006" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Scottsdale government approved the complex's preservation plan in 2008.<ref name="Nolan 2008">Template:Cite news</ref> Attendance declined following the late 2000s recession<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but recovered in the 2010s.<ref name="Haller 2011">Template:Cite news</ref>
2010s to present
The Wright Foundation began renovating the living room in the early 2010s.<ref name="Haller 2011" /> The foundation also began installing solar panels across the complex in 2012 to reduce energy costs.<ref name="AP 2012 t610" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Several local firms installed the panels, which were completed that May.<ref name="Haller 2012" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February 2014, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation hired the restoration architect Gunny Harboe to create a master plan for Taliesin West;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Haller 2014">Template:Cite news</ref> Harboe's firm had previously helped restore the Robie House and other structures designed by Wright.<ref name="Haller 2014" /> At the time, the estate had 100,000 annual visitors.<ref name="Budds i384" /><ref name="Haller 2014" /><ref name="Glenn j139">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It cost the foundation millions of dollars to maintain Taliesin West,<ref name="Glenn j139" /> which needed a new roof, new mechanical systems, and repairs to water-damaged portions of the buildings.<ref name="Budds i384" /><ref name="Haller 2014" /> After conducting an 18-month study of the estate, Harboe announced a master plan in October 2015,<ref name="Glenn j139" /><ref name="Sisson z339">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which called for restoring the original buildings and repairing damaged infrastructure.<ref name="Haller h902">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Grabar j929">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The foundation had raised $2.1 million for emergency repairs and planned to obtain another $4.1 million.<ref name="Haller h902" /> The master plan also entailed reserving part of the complex as an educational campus.<ref name="Grabar j929" /> The Wright Foundation planned to keep Taliesin West open to the public during renovations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
To attract local visitors, in the late 2010s, the Wright Foundation expanded its education programs and began hosting performances.<ref name="Galyean 2017" /> The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced in 2018 that it would give Taliesin West a $176,706 grant, provided the Wright Foundation raise $500,000.<ref name="Longhi e740">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust and American Express also provided funds for new technology and programs at Taliesin West.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The next year, NEH gave Taliesin West a $50,000 grant for upgrades to storage space.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Subsequently, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation began renovating parts of Taliesin West.<ref name="Hickman u585">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Montgomery 2021">Template:Cite news</ref> Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the complex was closed to the public for much of 2020, reopening that October with strict capacity restrictions.<ref name="Hickman d758">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the closure, multiple spaces were restored, including the dining cove and Sunset Terrace.<ref name="Montgomery 2021" /> The School of Architecture also moved out of Taliesin West the same year.<ref name="Hilburg 2020" /> Group tours resumed in March 2021,<ref name="Robinson z838">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the garden room was restored to its original appearance the same year.<ref name="Cohen l741" /><ref name="Hickman d758" /> The foundation also began replacing the roof panels, and it also began making accessibility upgrades and replacing outdated sewers and water pipes.<ref name="Hickman u585" /><ref name="Gallagher u793">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The accessibility renovations included upgraded paths and restrooms.<ref name="Gallagher u793" /> In 2024, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation hired Sasaki Associates to design a new master plan for renovating Taliesin West.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Architecture
Taliesin West consists of multiple structures connected by courtyards and walkways,<ref name="Harris 1980" /><ref name="Arrigoni 2001" /> many of which are aligned with landscape features such as Paradise Valley.<ref name="Noland 2001">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Levine p. 292">Template:Harvnb</ref> The complex includes Wright's office, a drafting studio, living space, classrooms, and communal areas.<ref name="Budds i384" /> The writer Neil Levine classifies the structures into two types: "pavilions", with masonry columns and wood-and-canvas roofs, and "caverns", which are comparatively more tightly enclosed.<ref name="Levine pp. 270–271">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The buildings were heavily inspired by the natural forms of the desert,<ref name="Harboe p. 10a" /><ref name="Morin 1956">Template:Cite news</ref> and Wright wanted the structures on the site to be "sharp, clean and savage", similarly to the surroundings.<ref name="FZ p. 3362" /> Taliesin West's appearance contrasted with that of the original studio, which had smoother features because it was built into a rolling hill.<ref name="Morin 1956" /> Wright favored using locally sourced construction materials, rather than those that had to be transported to the site.<ref name="FZ p. 3362">Template:Harvnb</ref> In addition to local rocks, Wright used wood from trees in northern Arizona, and he made the fabric out of cotton grown in the state.<ref name="McLain 1940" /> In Wright's words, "There were simple characteristic silhouettes to go by, tremendous drifts and heaps of sunburned desert rocks were nearby to be used. We got it all together with the landscape…"Template:Sfn The design included few vertical lines or right angles, as Wright opted to construct sloped walls and slanted pillars.<ref name="Noland 2001" /><ref name="Jeffery 2008">Template:Cite news</ref> The complex also has ribbed walls and gently sloped terraces, reflecting the appearance of the nearby mountains.<ref name="Jeffery 2008" /> Wright said of Taliesin West's design:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
"Arizona needs its own architecture… Arizona's long, low, sweeping lines, uptilting planes. Surface patterned after such abstraction in line and color as find 'realism' in the patterns of the rattlesnake, the Gila monster, and the saguaro, cholla or staghorn—or is it the other way around—are inspiration enough."Template:Sfn{{#if:|
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Wright also decorated Taliesin West with art and furnishings, particularly Native American and Asian art.<ref name="Rene 2000" /><ref name="Temin 1995">Template:Cite news</ref> Olgivanna picked out Taliesin West's color palette, which included 57 hues of pink,<ref name="Michelet 1984" /> in addition to shades of yellow and green.<ref name="Platts 1985">Template:Cite news</ref> Inside, the rooms are painted in shades of red, including Wright's favorite color, a terracotta-tinted Cherokee red.<ref name="Robbins l8793">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Wide image
Primary structures
Taliesin West consists of three primary structures: the workshop, Wright's office, and the main building.<ref name="NPS pp. 5–6">Template:Harvnb</ref> Each structure is arranged around a grid of square Template:Convert modules,<ref name="Harboe p. 10a" /><ref name="Levine pp. 265–266" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 2" /> and the structures themselves contain wings that intersect at 45-degree angles.<ref name="Levine p. 266" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 2" /> The workshop is the westernmost building in the complex;<ref name="Levine p. 266" /><ref name="NPS p. 5">Template:Harvnb</ref> also known as the Shops, it connects with a locker room and a student lounge to its north.<ref name="NPS p. 5" /> Southeast of the workshop is the main building.<ref name="Historic Report p. 2" /><ref name="Levine p. 266" /> There is an office and studio to the north of the main building, along the same orientation as the workshop building.<ref name="Levine p. 266" /><ref name="NPS pp. 5–6" /> The Cabaret Theatre, the music pavilion, the planning library, storage room, and further workshops are all adjacent to the office and studio.<ref name="NPS p. 6">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Exterior
The structures' walls are made of local desert rocks stacked within wooden formwork and filled with concrete.<ref name="Harboe p. 11a" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The apprentices labeled the rocks based on the manpower required to lift them, e.g. "two-man rocks".<ref name="Spano 1998" /> The material was referred to by several names,Template:Efn of which the term "desert masonry" was the most popular.<ref name="Harboe p. 11a" /><ref name="Storrer p. 253" /> The rocks were placed into the formwork, with the flat faces positioned outward, and concrete and smaller rocks were poured between the larger rocks;<ref name="Levine p. 269" /><ref name="Storrer p. 253" /><ref name="Herberholz p. 31">Template:Harvnb</ref> the excess masonry was then chopped off.<ref name="Dunyan 1990" /><ref name="Storrer p. 253" /> To withstand the extreme temperatures, which ranged from Template:Convert, the foundations are made of cement.<ref name="Lycan 1965" /> The exteriors also include ramparts that blend into the landscape.<ref name="Labong2025">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web
}}</ref>
The stone walls are mostly slanted inward at 15-degree angles.<ref name="McLain 1940" /><ref name="Levine p. 270" /> They are generally Template:Convert tall, and the upper portions of some walls are slanted outward or are vertically oriented.<ref name="Levine p. 270">Template:Harvnb</ref> The angled walls, as designed, resembled the shapes of the nearby mountains<ref name="Herberholz p. 31" /> and cast shadows throughout the day.<ref name="Labong2025" /> Though the buildings' frames were originally constructed out of redwood,<ref name="Gibson p856" /><ref name="Tafel pp. 194–195" /> these were later supplemented with Cherokee-red steel.<ref name="Tafel p. 195" /><ref name="Smith p. 110" /><ref name="Noland 2001" /> The walls also include decorations, such as Chinese ceramic panels salvaged from the second Imperial Hotel in Tokyo,<ref name="Michelet 1984" /> as well as redwood cubes embedded into the fascia boards.<ref name="Herberholz p. 32" /> There are also triangular indentations in some of the rocks, which were inspired by the grooves that Wright had seen in the walls of nearby canyons.<ref name="Herberholz p. 32">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Wright wanted Taliesin West to function as a camp,<ref name="Cohen l741" /> and he regarded the buildings as "glorified tents".<ref name="Cardon 1965" /> As such, the roofs were originally made of canvas panels.<ref name="Gibson p856" /><ref name="Tafel pp. 194–195" /> The roofs are pitched at a 15-degree angle so they would intersect perpendicularly with the redwood columns.<ref name="Levine p. 270" /> The canvas sheets overlapped each other<ref name="Linn 1939" /> and could be moved to permit natural light to enter the rooms.<ref name="Levine p. 270" /><ref name="FZ pp. 336–337" /> Air passed under the canvas sheets whenever there was a breeze.<ref name="McCarter p. 226">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Harboe p. 13a">Template:Harvnb</ref> The sheets ended up leaking after the building was completed,<ref name="FZ pp. 336–337">Template:Harvnb</ref> and the canvas sheets degraded rapidly in the summertime, prompting Wright to put the panels in storage during the summer.<ref name="Harboe p. 13a" /> Wright, and later the Taliesin Fellowship, continued to modify the panels through the 20th century.<ref name="Storrer p. 254" /><ref name="Harboe p. 13a" /> Wright first tested out fiberglass or plastic panels,<ref name="Smith p. 110" /><ref name="Harboe p. 13a" /> which were replaced with acrylic panels in 1998.<ref name="Cohen l741" /><ref name="Ward a397" /> There are trusses between the roof panes, which have a reddish-pink hue.<ref name="Dunyan 1990" /> Under the trusses are internal gutters, which collect rain from the roof.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Interior
Taliesin West includes about Template:Convert of space.<ref name="Craven 1998" /> The rooms were oriented to maximize natural light<ref name="Levine pp. 265–266" /> and to prevent them from being permanently hot or cold based on which direction they faced.<ref name="Drew 1998" /> Triangular and hexagonal shapes are used throughout the rooms,<ref name="Swiatek 1996" /> as are natural motifs.<ref name="Drew 1998" /> The spaces have simple, organically designed furniture.<ref name="Yost 2007">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Temin 1995" /> which the Wrights frequently rearranged during their lifetimes.<ref name="Allen 1972" />
On the main building's northeastern side is a pathway with an open pergola, which connects all the rooms.<ref name="Levine p. 266" /><ref name="NPS p. 6" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 3">Template:Harvnb</ref> The pergola is sunken about Template:Convert and is partially covered by trellises.<ref name="Levine p. 284" /> Fireplaces are scattered throughout,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the interiors are illuminated by natural light.<ref name="Lycan 1965" /> The drafting room, kitchen, and dining room comprise the core rooms of the complex.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /> The drafting room is at the northwest corner of the triangle, directly southwest of the pergola.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /><ref name="Levine p. 271">Template:Harvnb</ref> The kitchen and dining room are near the center of the triangle, southeast of the drafting room. At the southeast corner of the triangle are the Wrights' apartments, an infirmary, and a garden room; these connect only to the pergola.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /> Originally, each of the main building's rooms was exposed to the elements on at least one side, allowing air to flow in and out.<ref name="McCarter p. 226" />
Workrooms
Wright's office is just past the entrance court.<ref name="Levine p. 280">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /> The office has a translucent ceiling, which is designed to resemble the canvas roofs that were originally used.<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Miller 1993">Template:Cite news</ref> It also had sloping walls<ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /> and a large drafting table.<ref name="McKay 2010" /> After Wright's death, the office was turned into a reception room.<ref name="Miller 1993" /><ref name="Smith p. 109">Template:Harvnb</ref>
South of the office is the drafting studio, which was constructed from 1938 to 1941<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is rectangular in shape, with space for 60 worktables.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /> It is slightly more than Template:Convert long, spanning about 6.5 modules.<ref name="Levine pp. 270–271" /> The drafting room is an open work space illuminated by natural light, and the tent-like structure allows air to pass through.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The drafting studio's ceiling slopes upward from Template:Convert.<ref name="McLain 1940" /> The northwestern end of the drafting studio abuts the vault,<ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /><ref name="Levine p. 271" /> where Wright's architectural drawings were stored.<ref name="Harboe p. 11a" /><ref name="Smith p. 110" /> The vault has since been converted into a computer lab.<ref name="Smith p. 110" /> The southeastern wall abuts the kitchen wall and a fireplace,<ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /><ref name="Levine p. 271" /> while the southwestern side opens onto Indian Rock Terrace.<ref name="Levine p. 271" />
Living areas
A northeast–southwest loggia separates the living quarters and the drafting studio,<ref name="McCarter p. 225" /><ref name="Levine p. 284">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Smith p. 98">Template:Harvnb</ref> connecting the pergola with Sunset Terrace.<ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> The loggia was originally used as the entrance to the fellowship dining room and the Wrights' residence, although part of the loggia was later converted to dining space.<ref name="Trulsson p. 63" /><ref name="Levine p. 284" /> The dining room itself (now the board room<ref name="Harboe p. 11a" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 3" />) measures Template:Convert<ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /> and has a large stone fireplace.<ref name="Lowe-Bailey 2000" /> Three of the dining room's walls reach only partway to the ceiling, allowing sunlight to illuminate the space,<ref name="Smith p. 98" /> A sculpture of a fire-breathing dragon stands outside the dining room.<ref name="Yost 2007" /><ref name="Trulsson p. 99">Template:Harvnb</ref> Immediately above the loggia, kitchen, and dining room is a guest terrace,<ref name="Levine p. 269" /><ref name="Harboe p. 16" /> which has several bedrooms, each with a small closet and bed.<ref name="Harboe p. 13" /> There is a bell tower between the dining room/loggia and the drafting studio.<ref name="Historic Report p. 3" /><ref name="Levine p. 286">Template:Harvnb</ref> Additional bedrooms—for Gene Masselink, William Wesley Peters, and Peters's first wife Svetlana—are located east of the fellowship dining room.<ref name="Smith p. 99">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The Wrights' former living quarters include a bathroom, a kitchen, three bedrooms, a garden room, and a small dining niche.<ref name="Harboe p. 13" /><ref name="Smith p. 100">Template:Harvnb</ref> The living quarters form an L shape;<ref name="Smith p. 100" /> the bedrooms all face east, while the garden room faces south.<ref name="McCarter p. 225" /> The garden room, which served as the family's living room,<ref name="Smith p. 100" /> is Template:Convert long<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Lowe-Bailey 2000">Template:Cite news</ref> and spans 3.5 modules.<ref name="Levine p. 271" /> The garden room has a sloped roof<ref name="Drew 1998">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Smith p. 101">Template:Harvnb</ref> with a low ceiling at its rear.<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4">Template:Harvnb</ref> A fireplace and an alcove occupy separate walls,<ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the rear wall has movable flaps.<ref name="Smith p. 101" /> Within the garden room are a statue of the Chinese goddess Guanyin, a Pueblo pot, and a bust of Wright.<ref name="Haller n908" />
The family's personal rooms, occupying a wing measuring Template:Convert,<ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> are comparatively small.<ref name="Engle 2004" /> For instance, there is a sitting room called the Swan Cove, which measures Template:Convert, while Frank Lloyd Wright's bedroom is Template:Convert.<ref name="Engle 2004" /> The rooms include items such as Japanese art and replicas of Wright's books.<ref name="Engle 2004" /><ref name="Nolan 2004" /> The family's private dining niche has a sculpture of Maitreya, the future Buddha, as well as a pot from a New Mexican pueblo.<ref name="Haller n908" />
Other structures
Next to the apprentices' court is a standalone masonry room called the kiva, which was named after a Pueblo Native American kiva and is partially underground.<ref name="Smith p. 90" /><ref name="l033">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The kiva was initially connected to the Wrights' living quarters by a wooden bridge spanning a hexagonal reflecting pool, which was replaced in the 1940s.<ref name="Levine p. 281" /> The newer bridge is a stone span supported by slanted piers, and there is a water tower next to the bridge.<ref name="Levine p. 281" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> There are clerestory windows near the top of the kiva, which are slightly above ground level.<ref name="Levine p. 271" /> The kiva has a concrete roof,<ref name="Lowe-Bailey 2000" /> which was supposed to be topped by an observatory.<ref name="Levine p. 269" /> The kiva has been used for other purposes throughout its history, including as a library,<ref name="Levine p. 274" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> and as a classroom and conference space.<ref name="Drew 1998" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4" />
Next to Wright's office is a performance space called the Cabaret Theatre,<ref name="Smith p. 109" /><ref name="Trulsson p. 99" /><ref name="l033" /> which dates from the early 1950s<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /><ref name="Levine p. 274" /> and was originally called the Stone Gallery.<ref name="Trulsson p. 99" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> It is a rectangular space recessed into the ground<ref name="Smith p. 118" /> and accessed by a narrow hallway.<ref name="Lowe-Bailey 2000" /><ref name="Trulsson p. 99" /> The Cabaret Theatre has about 100 seats,<ref name="Drew 1998" /> which are arranged in a tiered-seating layout with counters next to each seat.<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /><ref name="Trulsson p. 99" /> On the side walls are long benches with cabaret tables,<ref name="Smith p. 118" /> while at the rear is a stone fireplace and a round table for 16 guests.<ref name="Leahy o418">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The side benches, ceiling, and walls are made of desert masonry and reinforced concrete.<ref name="Historic Report pp. 4—5">Template:Harvnb</ref> There is also a projection booth, a fireplace, and removable wooden slats leading to a garden.<ref name="Historic Report p. 5">Template:Harvnb</ref> The theater has a bust of the Buddha and a wooden carving from southeast Asia.<ref name="Haller n908" />
East of the Cabaret Theatre is a music pavilion,<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref name="Storrer p. 254" /><ref name="Levine p. 274" /> which has 135 seats.<ref name="Drew 1998" /> Unlike the complex's other structures, the music pavilion has a steel frame with plastic panels, which date to a 1964 reconstruction project.<ref name="Harboe p. 15" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 5" />
The Sun Cottage is just east of the primary structures.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 5" /> The Sun Cottage has an atrium and an eastern wing<ref name="NPS p. 6" /> and is connected to the rest of the complex by a bridge.<ref name="Swaback b875">Template:Cite book</ref> The Sun Cottage, which replaced the Wrights' original Sun Trap,<ref name="Harboe p. 14" /> was built with slanted desert-masonry walls topped by glass clerestory windows, as well as an exposed steel-beam roof.<ref name="Leonhard 1963" /> Inside was a living room, kitchenette, bathroom, and bedroom for Iovanna Wright, in addition to a sitting room, bathroom, and two bedrooms for a guest.<ref name="Harboe p. 14" />
There are several other outlying buildings.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /> The Pfeiffer House, as well as a hexagonal women's dormitory, are located on the estate.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /> First-year students of the School of Architecture lived nearby in tents measuring Template:Convert,<ref name="Merwin 1999" /><ref name="Foster 2002">Template:Cite news</ref> though female students could choose to live in a dormitory instead.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the late 20th century, there were between 70 and 80 such tents at Taliesin West, and a facility manager had to approve the design of each tent.<ref name="Henry 1999" /> Faculty and upperclassmen could upgrade their shelters or stay in more permanent accommodations.<ref name="Carroll 1986" /><ref name="Foster 2002" /> Apprentices had to demolish their tents after they had graduated.<ref name="Milton 1966" />
Courts and terraces
The estate includes various plantings, pools, and several sunken gardens.<ref name="Dunyan 1990" /><ref name="Arrigoni 2001" /> Rocks with petroglyphs were incorporated into the buildings or placed throughout the complex as standalone objects.<ref name="Levine p. 273" /> A parking lot is located southwest of the workshop building and Wright's office.<ref name="Swaback b875" /> An open courtyard leads southeast from the workshop to the main building.<ref name="Levine p. 276" /><ref name="Swaback b875" /> Along the edges of the court is a stone tablet with the name "Taliesin West" and a light tower tilted at a 15-degree angle.<ref name="Levine p. 276" /> A boulder with a petroglyph is placed between the tablet and the light tower.<ref name="McCarter p. 226" /><ref name="Levine p. 280" />
Directly south of the open courtyard, on the western and southern sides of the main building, is a prow-shaped terrace,<ref name="Levine p. 267">Template:Harvnb</ref> which is known as Sunset Point<ref name="Wang 1998" /> or Sunset Terrace.<ref name="Jeffery 2008" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> At the terrace's northern tip, the main building's dining and drafting rooms wrap around Indian Rock Terrace.<ref name="Levine pp. 286–289">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Swaback b875" /> Within Indian Rock Terrace is a stepped pyramid, which is topped by a boulder with petroglyphs.<ref name="Levine pp. 286–289" /> A triangular pool stands in front of Indian Rock Terrace,<ref name="Levine p. 286" /> while the rest of Sunset Terrace consists of a lawn.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /><ref name="Swaback b875" /> The pool was intended as a reservoir in case the buildings caught fire,<ref name="Herberholz p. 32" /> and it is supplied by groundwater from Taliesin West's original well.<ref name="Robbins l8793" />
The apprentices' court is at the southeast corner of the main building<ref name="Levine p. 266" /><ref name="NPS p. 6" /> and is surrounded by the apprentices' bedrooms.<ref name="NPS p. 6" /> A square protrudes from the eastern corner of the apprentices' court, rotated 45 degrees from the rest of the court.<ref name="Levine p. 266" /> To the northeast of the main building is a garden court with a citrus grove. The apprentices' court consists of a courtyard surrounded by bedrooms.<ref name="Harboe p. 13" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> There were 11 men's bedrooms, 3 women's bedrooms, and bathrooms and showers for apprentices of both genders.<ref name="Harboe p. 13" /> These bedrooms housed apprentices prior to World War II and have fireplaces and canvas flaps.<ref name="Historic Report p. 4" /> There is also a sculpture garden with artwork by Heloise Crista,<ref name="McKay 2010" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a onetime apprentice to Wright.<ref name="Haller n908">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A citrus grove stands to the northeast of the main building.<ref name="Swaback b875" /><ref name="Historic Report p. 5" />
Management
The complex is managed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation,<ref name="Herberholz p. 39">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which was established in 1940 to preserve Wright's legacy.<ref name="Stamp n593">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The foundation has been designated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization since 1983.<ref name="GuideStar w340">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Taliesin Associated Architects was part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation until 1985,<ref name="Harboe p. 16" /><ref name="Webb 1985" /> while the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture was spun off from the foundation in 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The foundation holds a trademark on the Taliesin West name.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The foundation provides tours of Taliesin West, which vary in duration and scope.<ref name="Yost 1999" /><ref name="Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation v106">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are "insights tours" that traverse the key rooms, in addition to more elaborate tours that provide more details about the buildings.<ref name="Snow e886" /> In contrast to typical attractions, visitors are allowed to touch the objects inside.<ref name="Noland 2001" /> There have also been tours of the apprentices' desert shelters,<ref name="Merwin 1999" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> hosted by architectural students.<ref name="Foster 2002" /> The foundation provides a virtual tour as well.<ref name="Longhi e740" /> In addition, Taliesin West has been used for public events such as day camps, movie nights, and happy hours,<ref name="Davies q478">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and lectures are hosted at Taliesin West.<ref name="Haller 2011" />
Taliesin West formerly hosted the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's archives, which were inaccessible to the general public<ref name="Goldberger t205">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and were very difficult for researchers to access.<ref name="Goldberger o404" /><ref name="Marlin 1978" /> In 1985, the Wright Foundation and the J. Paul Getty Trust began duplicating about 21,000 documents to make them available to scholars in Los Angeles.<ref name="Muchnic 1985">Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> The archive was primarily kept in a closet, and the Wright Foundation hired an archive expert in 2010 to determine how to open the rest of the collection to the public.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The archives were moved to the Museum of Modern Art and Columbia University in New York City in 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Felten 2012">Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, the archive included 23,000 drawings, 44,000 photographs, and 300,000 pieces of mail and other correspondence.<ref name="Felten 2012" /><ref name="Haller 2013" /> Columbia's Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library took over management of the photos and drawings, while the Museum of Modern Art began managing the 3D architectural models; the Wright Foundation retains the archive's intellectual property rights.<ref name="Haller 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Wright School of Architecture also operated at the complex until 2020, when the school moved to the nearby Cosanti studio.<ref name="Hilburg 2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From October to May of each year, students at the School of Architecture stayed at Taliesin West, while for the rest of the year, they worked out of the original Taliesin in Wisconsin.<ref name="Rathbun 2007" /> The school also operated other programs at Taliesin West, such as day camps for children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since 2022, the foundation has operated the Taliesin Institute, which hosts classes at Taliesin West and the original Taliesin.<ref name="Hilburg w362">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ImpactTemplate:Anchor
Critical reception
When the first structure was being constructed, the Chicago Tribune described the building as a mixture of Mayan, Egyptian, and Japanese architectural influences.<ref name="Linn 1939" /> The Arizona Republic wrote that the complex "cannot be compared accurately to any other building in the United States",<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1939" /> while other newspapers noted that it blended in with the landscape.<ref name="McLain 1940" /><ref name="Chicago Tribune 1949" /> In Fortune magazine's August 1946 issue, George Nelson wrote that the compound was "barbaric and like a crustacean" because of its organic construction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Chicago Tribune writer said in 1949 that the materials, including glass walls and canvas roofs, "bring the outdoors in...with startling and exciting results".<ref name="Chicago Tribune 1949" />
In 1964, a writer for The Capital Times wrote that all structures at Taliesin West were "a unit in the entire design—a great tent", and that the structures' designs were "in completeness with nature".<ref name="Ings 1964">Template:Cite news</ref> Another writer for The Kansas City Star said that the complex "operates as if [Wright] still were guiding it",<ref name="Spurlock 1964" /> while The Minneapolis Star said the combination of materials "make an eye-appealing setting".<ref name="Larson 1966" /> A Boston Globe writer stated that the building "is impossible to photograph satisfactorily" because its sharp-edged appearance meant that there were no front or side facades.<ref name="Milton 1966" /> A writer for The Arizona Republic, in 1981, characterized the structures as "innovative variations on parallelograms and trapezoids",<ref name="Luptak 1981" /> and the Associated Press wrote of the Wrights' living area: "There is an opulence in the long expanse of dining-living room combination."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A writer for The Oregonian said that the structures "offer a fascinating contrast between modern forms [...] and crude construction techniques",<ref name="Michelet 1984" /> while an Arizona Daily Star writer said the buildings had "both strength and subtlety".<ref name="Platts 1985" />
In 1993, a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that the buildings showed respect to Wright's style without necessarily serving as a memorial to him.<ref name="Miller 1993" /> By contrast, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times wrote that Taliesin West "has always had an oddly worshipful, almost cultlike quality to it", citing the fact that apprentices spoke of Wright in a reverent manner and that a massive picture of Wright was hung in the drafting room.<ref name="Goldberger m687" /> A writer for the San Francisco Examiner said in 1998 that Taliesin West was "one of the purest expressions of Frank Lloyd Wright's vision", as it had been built on an undeveloped site, and Wright had not been beholden to any client demands while designing the structures.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Los Angeles Times reporter called the complex "one part desert camp, one part cave and one part fleet of ships".<ref name="Spano 1998" /> A writer for The Burlington Free Press wrote in 2000 that the structures looked like an Asian temple at night.<ref name="Rene 2000" /> In 2001, an Associated Press writer described the complex as imitating the desert environment,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while the Los Angeles Daily News wrote that Taliesin West was a monument to Wright and to organic architecture.<ref name="Noland 2001" /> As a Calgary Herald reporter described it, the desert "simply flows into the walls, in the rocks and the sand" of the house.<ref name="Jeffery 2008" />
The writer Neil Levine described Taliesin West as being "angular [and] rough" with crude-looking materials, in contrast to the smooth concrete design of Fallingwater, which Wright had designed around the same time.<ref name="Levine p. 254">Template:Harvnb</ref> The architect Philip Johnson described Taliesin West as "the essence of architecture"<ref name="Smith p. 90" /> but also said that, to people unfamiliar with Wright's work, the structures appeared as "a meaningless group of buildings".<ref name="Levine p. 254" /> Sunset magazine wrote that scholars called Taliesin West "one of Wright's masterpieces".<ref name="Sunset 2012" /> Several critics wrote that the buildings' organic, transient nature had become diluted due to modifications such as air conditioning, glass ceilings, and steel beams.<ref name="McCarter p. 229" /><ref name="Allen 1972" /><ref name="Goldberger o404" />
Media and exhibits
Taliesin West was depicted in a 1955 film about modernist U.S. buildings,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the complex was featured in a 1957 special for the TV show Wide, Wide World<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a 1972 television special titled "Taliesin West".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The complex has been the subject of several books, including Kathryn Smith's 1997 book Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Taliesin West.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In addition, the complex was depicted in a 1997 children's book<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and on packs of baseball cards depicting historic sites.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A model of the complex was displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1940,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and pictures of the structures were shown at the same museum in 1947.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Landmark designations
Taliesin West received the American Institute of Architects' Twenty-five Year Award in 1973<ref>Template:Cite news; Template:Cite news</ref> and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.<ref name="nris">Template:NRISref</ref> The complex was further designated as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1982;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nhlstudies">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the National Park Service cited the complex as "one of the first major works during the last quarter-century of [Wright's] life".<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1982" /> Taliesin West was the 25th National Historic Landmark in Arizona<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1982" /> and the first in the state to be designated specifically because of its architecture.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1986">Template:Cite news</ref> A plaque denoting the complex as a NHL was installed in 1986.<ref name="The Arizona Republic 1986" /> The Scottsdale Historic Preservation Commission voted in January 2006 to rezone Template:Convert of Taliesin West as a historic preservation site.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The city government approved a municipal-landmark designation for the tract that April,<ref name="The Capital Times 2006" /><ref name="The Arizona Republic 2006">Template:Cite news</ref> and the designation went into effect in 2008 after the city approved the complex's preservation plan.<ref name="Nolan 2008" />
In the 1980s, Taliesin and Taliesin West were jointly nominated as a World Heritage Site, a UNESCO designation for properties with special worldwide significance.<ref name="Robbins l8793" /><ref name="Allsopp 2008">Template:Cite journal</ref> The federal government endorsed the nomination,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but UNESCO rejected it because the organization wanted to see a larger nomination with more Wright properties.<ref name="Allsopp 2008" /> In 2008, the National Park Service submitted ten Frank Lloyd Wright properties, including Taliesin West, to a tentative World Heritage list.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>For the list of nominated buildings, refer to: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ultimately, Taliesin West and seven other properties were added to the World Heritage List under the title "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" in July 2019.<ref name="Robbins l8793" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
- List of Frank Lloyd Wright works
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Arizona
- List of World Heritage Sites in the United States
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Maricopa County, Arizona
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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- Template:Cite Wright CompanionTemplate:Sfn whitelist
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Further reading
External links
- Taliesin West at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Template:Frank Lloyd Wright Template:NRHP in Arizona by county Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- 1937 establishments in Arizona
- Architecture museums in the United States
- Architecture schools in the United States
- Artists' studios in the United States
- Biographical museums in Arizona
- Buildings and structures in Scottsdale, Arizona
- Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
- Historic American Buildings Survey in Arizona
- Historic house museums in Arizona
- Houses completed in 1937
- Houses in Maricopa County, Arizona
- Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona
- Modernist architecture in Arizona
- Museums in Scottsdale, Arizona
- National Historic Landmarks in Arizona
- National Register of Historic Places in Maricopa County, Arizona
- School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona
- Schools in Arizona
- 1930s architecture in the United States
- The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright