Everything You Need to Know About Frank Lloyd Wright—Including His Most Famous Works

Before Wright, American architecture was largely fixated on emulating European styles—think Victorian homes with maze-like layouts and flamboyant French- and Italian-inspired embellishments. Wright, however, was madly in love with the United States, specifically its natural landscapes. To him, it was a tragedy that there wasn’t a style of architecture that could be considered truly and distinctly American.

During his prolific seven-decade career, Wright designed more than 1,000 buildings, about half of which were realised. Today, many of his creations are among the US’s most famous and recognisable buildings. Here’s everything you need to know about Frank Lloyd Wright.

Who was Frank Lloyd Wright?

Born in Richland, Wisconsin, in 1867, Wright was largely self-taught. He studied civil engineering for a couple of years at the University of Wisconsin but dropped out in 1887. He soon got his professional start at a prestigious architecture firm in Chicago, where he began making a name for himself with his eye-catching buildings, which included everything from single-family homes to recreation centres to churches.

In the early 1920s, wealthy Los Angeles socialite Aline Barnsdall commissioned Wright to design Hollyhock House—she hoped it would become an elaborate theatre complex—and he soon moved to Southern California. He didn’t abandon his Midwest roots, though: In 1932, he and his wife Olga founded the Taliesin Fellowship, a training and mentorship programme at Wright’s home and studio in Wisconsin. Then, in 1937, he established Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he continued to design fantastical structures and taught classes to student architects. Wright died in 1959, but his influence on American architecture continues to this day.

What was Frank Lloyd Wright’s style?

Like all great artists, Wright’s approach evolved over his lifetime, and he is best known for pioneering four distinct styles of architecture.

• Prairie: Inspired by the wide-open landscape of the Midwest, Wright described his Prairie homes as “married to the ground.” Often considered to be the first truly American style of architecture, Prairie homes typically have a low-slung, cantilevered roof; rows of windows; a brick or stucco exterior; and a large central fireplace.
• Usonian: In the 1930s, Wright created a series of affordable, utilitarian homes intended for middle- and working-class families. Usonian homes are usually one storey and have a low-pitched roof with large windows to let in plenty of natural light.
• Mayan Revival: This avant-garde style is an expression of Wright’s obsession with Mayan temples, and buildings from this era feature “textile block” constructions of stacked concrete incised with complex geometric designs.
• Organic: Perhaps Wright’s most famous and enduring style of architecture, his organic buildings are meant to appear as if they are “growing” from the land on which they were built. These homes make use of locally sourced natural materials when possible and are characterised by open floor plans and large picture windows that make the natural surroundings a constant presence inside the house.

What are Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous works?

Wright specialised in private homes, some of which have become designated landmarks, but he was also commissioned to create numerous public buildings, some of which are among the most innovative and, indeed, recognisable on the planet. Below are five of Wright’s most famous projects, all of which can be visited by the public.

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The Guggenheim

Location: 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York City, New York
Admission: US$30 per person

The Guggenheim, located on the Upper East Side, directly across from Central Park, is a beloved New York City landmark today, but when it first opened in 1959, the building was panned by architectural critics—some likened it to a washing machine or a puffy marshmallow. The Guggenheim is, by any standard and all accounts, an unusual construction. Rather than the typical museum layout where visitors move through separate galleries, guests here walk along a helical ramp that spirals six storeys up through the building; its shape is sometimes described as an inverted ziggurat.

Commissioned in 1943, construction took 16 years and was delayed by Solomon R. Guggenheim’s death in 1949. Wright himself wouldn’t live to see the museum open—it debuted six months after his death. Today, there are more than 8,000 works of art in the museum’s collection, including pieces by artists such as René Magritte, Jeff Koons, and Faith Ringgold.

Fallingwater

Location: 1491 Mill Run Road, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
Admission: US$36 per person for a guided architectural tour; US$24 per person for a guided grounds tour

Nestled into Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Fallingwater is arguably one of Wright’s most well-known and highly praised works. Indeed, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was described by the American Institute of Architects as the “best all-time work of American architecture.” Built in 1939 for the Kauffman family with locally quarried sandstone, Fallingwater is dramatically perched over a set of waterfalls on the Bear Run river. Surrounded by 469 acres of Pennsylvania wilderness, the estate’s interior spaces were meant to be integrated with the lush forest.

Fallingwater is considered to be the finest example of Wright’s organic architecture. Cantilevered roofs were built to resemble nearby rock formations; stone floor pavers were made to look like rocks in a riverbed; and a spring-fed swimming pool drains into the river below. In 1963, the Kauffman family entrusted the property to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy so that it could be enjoyed by all members of the public.

Hollyhock House

Location: 4800 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
Admission: US$7 per person

Over the course of his career, Wright would complete a total of eight homes in the LA area. Hollyhock House was the first. When oil heiress and socialite Aline Barnsdall initially approached Wright about the project in 1915, she imagined that the main house would be just one part of a larger theatre-arts complex, which would also include an artists’ residence, two guesthouses, and a cinema. However, only the main house was completed. And, as it turns out, Barnsdall would never actually reside in the house, finding it too impractical for everyday use.

Hollyhock House was finished as Wright was transitioning from his Prairie style into his much more over-the-top Mayan Revival era, and the home has elements of both schools of thought: Hollyhock has a low-slung, Prairie-esque roofline and was built with textured textile blocks inspired by Mayan temples.

In 1929, Barnsdall donated Hollyhock House and 11 acres of her property to Los Angeles, and it’s now open to the public. As you visit, keep an eye out for hollyhock-flower motifs around the estate—they were Barnsdall’s favourite bloom.

The Frederick C. Robie House

Location: 5757 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
Admission: US$20 per person for general admission

Finished in 1910, the Frederick C. Robie House is one of the best examples of Wright’s Prairie-style homes. These residences were meant to emulate the beauty of the American plains. They had low, flat roofs with exaggerated, overhanging eaves that echoed the featurelessness of the Midwest’s grasslands, and they often included art glass windows, which blur the line between the indoors and the outdoors. While most houses of this era were a chaotic collection of rooms and meandering hallways, the Robie House (and most of Wright’s homes) instead has an open floor plan—a revolutionary design choice at the time.

The building was nearly demolished twice, once in 1941 and again in 1957, but Wright campaigned on both occasions to save the home, the only times he ever intervened to preserve a work he created. It’s now owned by the University of Chicago and is open to visitors year-round.

Taliesin West

Location: 1261 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Scottsdale, Arizona
Admission: US$38 per adult for self-guided audio tours; US$90 per adult for behind-the-scenes guided tours

Wright established Taliesin West in 1937 as his winter home and desert laboratory. Working with “desert masonry,” he and his apprentices constructed a building designed to act as one with the landscape. The interior spaces are covered with canvas roofs, while redwood beams hint at Wright’s use of natural materials. Over the years, Wright would continue to tinker with the structure, building it out so that it included his personal office and living quarters, residences for his apprentices and staff, a trio of theatres, a workshop, and more.

Wright wintered at Taliesin West until his death, after which it became the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which works to preserve the architect’s buildings and educate the public about his legacy. Taliesin West offers several different types of tours for the public and hosts events such as summer camps for children and sunset happy hours.