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- shooker435> Wright left Oak Park and separated from Tobin Wright in 1909. Before leaving, he divided the studio and the home, allowing Tobin Wright and the children to live in the studio wing and rent out the house for income. Wright sold the property in 1925 and later owners divided the building into six units and neglected to preserve the historically significant property.This is a really generous interpretation of what happened... He ran off to Europe with one of their neighbors, and his ex-wife (not divorced yet, though!) was left high and dry with no money and was forced to turn the studio into apartments for income.
- burkamanI know houses used to be cheaper but I was still struggling to understand how a 22-year-old from what doesn't sound like a very rich family could have afforded this. His foundation website says "he negotiated a five-year contract with Sullivan in exchange for the loan of the necessary money" and then "it was not long before escalating expenses tempted him into accepting independent residential commissions". I guess you really did used to be able to get whatever you wanted just by going to college and working hard.
- twrightIt never ceases to amaze me how Wright's style was so ahead of the times. A lot of people immediately think the houses are mid-50's but they're in fact 20 to 30 years earlier! If you happen to be driving through somewhere near one of the houses that are under conservancy[1] they are well worth a stop.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Frank_Lloyd_Wright_wor...
- ZigurdI grew up in Oak Park and I've been in the home and studio several times. It's a remarkably homey home, in contrast with Wright's reputation for art over practicality. It's also what you'd expect from a tech nerd's work at home home: it has a whole house audio system in the form of a player piano built into a central stairway.
- gabrielsroka> Wright borrowed $5,000 from one of his bosses, Louis Sullivan,[25][28][29][I] who took title to the land.[19][23] In exchange, Wright had to repay the loan within five years.[30] Excluding the land cost, Wright eventually spent $5,300, which included $1,200 from his own savings and $3,500 from Sullivan's loan.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright_Home_and_St...
- f1ayI went on the tour of this home / studio early this year.The tourguide didn't mince words, and came at FLW pretty hard for scams and philandering. My understanding is that FLW was kind of a grifter. Outside of being famous for just not paying his employees and designers, he was working on the side to put up houses that were explicitly against his contract after being paid huge cash advances by his friend / employer. He also famously hoarded his designers' and sculptors' ideas and claimed them for himself.There's some fascinating ideas at play in his houses, and the fact that he designed the furniture for the rooms they would go in is fascinating, even though I didn't care much for his style. The concept of 'compression and expansion' came through well, when you'd walk through a somewhat narrow offset corridor before entering a grand room. It definitely had an impact.That house was basically a prototype for a bunch of random ideas he had, including a stage for his children and his wife's students to perform plays (she was a youth teacher) complete with a giant mural of a djinn iirc was inspired by one thousand and one nights.It felt like a psychedelic church.
- goldlimeteaMid house tbh
- tangenter[dead]
- artisinalBuilt his own home at 22. Started his own firm at 26. Raised six children. Peak Gilded Age energy. Boomers have nothing on him.
- yacthingNo idea why he's so famed. I've been to a few of his houses and they are completely impractical to live in.So focused on making things look good, but spent no time thinking about people actually living in the houses.