Taliesin (studio): Difference between revisions

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==Taliesin II==
[[File:Taliesin II Courtyard.jpg|thumb|The courtyard of Taliesin II]]
Within a few months of his recovery, Wright began work on rebuilding Taliesin, naming the rebuilt structure "Taliesin II": <blockquote>There is release from anguish in action. Anguish would not leave Taliesin until action for renewal began. Again, and at once, all that had been in motion before at the will of the architect was set in motion. Steadily, again, stone by stone, board by board, Taliesin the II began to rise from Taliesin the first.<ref>Frank Lloyd Wright. ''An Autobiography'', in ''Frank Lloyd Wright Collected Writings: 1930–32'', Vol. 2. Edited by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, introduction by Kenneth Frampton (1992; Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York), 241.</ref>{{sfn|Drennan|2007|p=160}} </blockquote>The new complex was mostly identical to the original building{{sfn|Secrest|1992|p=222}} and was constructed on the ruins of Taliesin I.{{Sfn|McCarter|1997|page=120}} Similarly to the original complex, Taliesin II was arranged around a set of terraces and courtyards.<ref name="p862751855">{{Cite magazine |last=Buono |first=Jon |date=Apr-Jun 2011 |title=Modern Architecture and the U.S. Campus Heritage Movement |work=Planning for Higher Education |page=88-102 |volume=39 |issue=3 |id={{pq|862751855}}}}</ref> The dam (which burst less than a week after the murders) was rebuilt.{{sfn|Secrest|1992|p=222}} Wright added an observation platform, perhaps inspired by the one he designed in [[Baraboo, Wisconsin|Baraboo]].{{sfn|Henning|2011|p=68}} Later, he built a hydroelectric generator in an unsuccessful effort to make Taliesin completely self-sufficient. The generator was built in the style of a Japanese temple. Within only a few years, parts of the structure eroded away. It was demolished in the 1940s.{{sfn|Henning|2011|pp=70–72}}
 
Around Christmas time of 1914, while designing the residence after the first devastating fire, Wright received a sympathetic letter from [[Miriam Noel|"Maude" Miriam Noel]], who contacted him after reading about the Taliesin fire and murders.<ref>Finis Farr. ''Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography''. (1961; Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 147).</ref> Wright exchanged correspondence with the wealthy divorcee and met with her at his Chicago office. Wright was quickly infatuated, and the two began a relationship. By spring 1915, Taliesin II was completed and Noel moved there with Wright. Wright's first wife Catherine finally granted him a [[divorce]] in 1922,{{sfn|Secrest|1992|p=271}} meaning that Wright could marry Noel a year later.{{sfn|Secrest|1992|p=279}} Although Wright admired Noel's erratic personality at first, her behavior (later identified as [[schizophrenia]]) led to a miserable life together at Taliesin.{{sfn|Huxtable|2004|p=142}} Noel left Wright by the spring of 1924.{{sfn|Secrest|1992|p=280}}
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==== Main home ====
In its final form, the Taliesin III building measures {{convert|37000|sqft}}.<ref name="n160100586" /><ref name="FAQ" /><ref name="Kodrich 1988">{{Cite news |last=Kodrich |first=Kris |date=July 11, 1988 |title=Taliesin showing its age |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-taliesin-showing/159885091/ |access-date=November 28, 2024 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |pages=9}}</ref> The current structure is the northernmost building in the complex and is arranged in the shape of the letter "U", facing south-southwest.{{sfn|National Park Service|1972|page=2}} In contrast to Wright's later work—which tended to incorporate curved forms—Taliesin III largely incorporates rectangular shapes in its design.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Albanese |first=Ellen |date=August 3, 2005 |title=Tale of Two Unique Houses Defines One Wisconsin Town |work=Boston Globe |page=F.7 |id={{Pq|404964253}}}}</ref> Surrounding the main house are fountains, gardens, and courtyards.,{{Sfn|McCarter|1997|page=123}}<ref name="Potts 2001">{{Cite news |last=Potts |first=Jeff |date=July 1, 2001 |title=Taliesin Wright's prototypical work |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wausau-daily-herald-taliesin-wrights-pr/159925902/ |access-date=November 28, 2024 |work=Wausau Daily Herald |pages=33}}</ref> in a similar manner to the first two complexes.<ref name="p862751855" /> The house is accessed from a driveway that wraps around the hill, leading to the main courtyard. Water from one of the estate's lakes is pumped upward into the courtyard, supplying the pools there; the courtyard also contains oak trees and a perimeter wall made of rock.{{Sfn|McCarter|1997|page=123}} One magazine wrote that the house "emerges from the hillside like a natural outcropping, rooted in the earth".<ref name="Legler 2001" />
 
Wright's apprentices were responsible for much of the construction; they used recycled materials, as well as then-uncommon materials such as [[plywood]], to construct much of the building.<ref name="The Reporter 2004" /> The facade is clad with limestone from the surrounding area.{{sfn|National Park Service|1972|page=2}}<ref name="Legler 2001">{{Cite magazine |last=Legler |first=Dixie |date=May 2001 |title=On the trail of Frank Lloyd Wright |work=Better Homes and Gardens |pages=258C-258D |volume=79 |issue=5 |id={{pq|205353877}}}}</ref> Wright mixed stucco with Wisconsin River sand to turn the walls into a yellowish color.<ref name="Stone 2008">{{Cite magazine |last=Stone |first=Emily |date=June 23, 2008 |title=Wright's 'shining brow' |work=Crain's Chicago Business |page=20 |volume=31 |issue=25 |id={{Pq|198405256}}}}</ref> The house is topped by intersecting hipped roofs with masonry chimneys.{{sfn|National Park Service|1972|page=2}}<ref name="Smiley 1993">{{cite web |last=Smiley |first=Jane |date=March 7, 1993 |title=Wisconsin: Three Visions Attained |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/07/magazine/wisconsin-three-visions-attained.html |access-date=November 28, 2024 |website=The New York Times |archive-date=November 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118125055/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/07/magazine/wisconsin-three-visions-attained.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The house's service wing, which wraps around one side of the hill, is the only part of the house that rise above the hill.{{Sfn|McCarter|1997|page=123}}
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According to the ''[[Wisconsin State Journal]]'', Taliesin's preservation was "fraught with epic difficulties", because Wright never thought of it as a series of buildings with a long-term future.<ref name="Martell 2008" /> The studio wing's restoration was completed in August 2000 at a cost of $400,000, three-fourths of which was covered from insurance payouts; private donors paid the rest of the cost.<ref name="Saemann 2000" /> By 2002, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation estimated that it might cost up to $60 million to refurbish the Taliesin complex.<ref name="The Sheboygan Press 2002" /> At the time, workers were about to stabilize the hill under the house,<ref name="The Sheboygan Press 2002">{{Cite news |date=November 11, 2002 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's home deteriorating |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sheboygan-press-frank-lloyd-wrights/159926222/ |access-date=November 28, 2024 |work=The Sheboygan Press |pages=3 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref name="Auer 2002">{{Cite news |last=Auer |first=James |date=December 29, 2002 |title=Wright's grand house at risk ; Taliesin: In Spring Green, Wis., a house that stands for the great American architect the way Monticello stands for Thomas Jefferson, says a Harvard professor, is crumbling. |work=The Baltimore Sun |page=8L |issn=1930-8965 |id={{pq|406537968}}}}</ref> as the hillside was causing Taliesin's walls to slant and its walkways to crack.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 2002 b827" /><ref name="Auer 2002" /> To prevent further water damage, [[tarpaulin]]s had been placed on the ground as an emergency measure.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 2002 b827" /> TPI had issues raising money due to a weakening of the local economy,<ref name="Bromley 2002" /><ref name="Auer 2002" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Millionis |first=Allison |date=Sep 2005 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation slowly recovering from difficult times |work=Architectural Record |page=40 |volume=193 |issue=9 |id={{pq|222105848}}}}</ref> and many of the complex's structural issues were not readily visible to the public, posing further fundraising difficulties.<ref name="Bromley 2002" /> Preservationists predicted that the estate would be irreversibly damaged if it were not repaired within five to ten years.<ref name="Chicago Tribune 2002 b827" />
 
A $900,000 project to improve Taliesin's drainage system was completed in 2004.<ref name="Wisconsin State Journal 2005" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Nathans |first=Aaron |date=May 26, 2004 |title=Taliesin high and dry after revamp |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-capital-times-taliesin-high-and-dry/159938408/ |access-date=November 29, 2024 |work=The Capital Times |pages=1C, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-capital-times-taliesin-high-and-dry/159938440/ 12C]}}</ref> The cost of the restoration had increased to $67 million by 2005, of which the main house alone was estimated to cost $26 million.<ref name="McCrea 2005">{{Cite news |last=McCrea |first=Ron |date=April 4, 2005 |title=Wright Way ; Taliesin Restorers Ride Out Foundation's Storm |work=The Capital Times |page=1A |id={{pq|395303950}}}}</ref> The same year, businessman [[T. Denny Sanford]] donated $425,000 for Taliesin's restoration. These funds, which were matched by part of the Save America's Treasures grant, were used to pay for further repairs to the roof, as well as planning for future repairs.<ref name="Wisconsin State Journal 2005">{{Cite news |date=June 26, 2005 |title=Banker Gives $425,000 for Taliesin; It's the Biggest Cash Donation the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Has Ever Received |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-banker-gives-42/159938503/ |access-date=November 28, 2024 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |page=D13 |id={{Pq|391384258}} |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> There were also plans to replace a bridge carrying Taliesin's driveway across a creek.<ref name="McCrea 2005" /> In 2006, the [[Jeffris Family Foundation]] agreed to fund 25% of Tan-y-Deri's restoration, which at the time was estimated to cost $828,000.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morgan |first=Terry |date=November 26, 2006 |title=Wright's Tan-y-deri slated for rehab |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-wrights-tan-y-d/159939353/ |access-date=November 29, 2024 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |pages=27}}</ref> Over $11&nbsp;million was spent on the rehabilitation of Taliesin between 1988 and 2008.<ref name="Martell 2008">{{cite news |last=Martell |first=Chris |date=December 8, 2008 |title=Taliesin Restoration Fraught with Epic Difficulties |url=http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/317388 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210053026/http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/317388 |archive-date=December 10, 2008 |access-date=October 18, 2013 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |id={{Pq|391548955}}}}</ref> Financing renovations was stull challenging because of lower-than expected attendance.<ref>{{cite news |title=Restoring Wright: The Difficult Task of Preserving Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin |url=http://www.economist.com/node/18276004?story_id=18276004&fsrc=rss |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=May 3, 2011 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814232756/http://www.economist.com/node/18276004?story_id=18276004&fsrc=rss |url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' reported in 2009 that, despite increased attendance over the preceding two years, TPI still needed to raise $50 million to restore the rest of the complex.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Antlfinger |first=Carrie |date=March 22, 2009 |title=Attendance Turns at Taliesins |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-attendance-turns/159966304/ |access-date=November 29, 2024 |work=Wisconsin State Journal |pages=13 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> TPI also began reinforcing the house's structure, which had been undermined by the weight of the third-story guestrooms.<ref name="Martell 2008" /> The [[World Monuments Fund]] (WMF) added Taliesin to its [[2010 World Monuments Watch]] to bring attention to the complex's remaining structural issues.<ref name="Fazzare g306">{{cite web |last=Fazzare |first=Elizabeth |date=October 9, 2013 |title=Culture at Risk: World Monuments Fund Watch List Includes Palisades, FLW's Taliesin |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2013/10/culture-at-risk-world-monuments-fund-watch-list-includes-palisades-fllws-taliesin/ |access-date=December 1, 2024 |website=The Architect’s Newspaper}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=August 15, 2016 |title=2010 World Monuments Watch Includes Sites From New Orleans to Bhutan |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/2010-world-monuments-watch-includes-sites-from-new-orleans-to-bhutan/ |access-date=December 1, 2024 |website=ArtsBeat}}</ref>
 
By the early 2010s, workers had begun repairing the house's foundation and lower level.<ref name="n160100586" /> The house was still open to the public, thoughalbeit only for guided tours.;<ref name="Solomon w151">{{cite web |last=Solomon |first=Deborah |date=October 28, 2011 |title=Touring Wright Buildings in Wisconsin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/travel/touring-wright-buildings-in-wisconsin.html |access-date=December 1, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> there were eight separate kinds of tours because of Taliesin's wide-ranging history and scope.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-05-01 |title=Wright's Taliesin open for season |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-reedsburg-times-press-wrights-talie/160111491/ |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=The Reedsburg Times-Press |pages=6}}</ref> To celebrate Taliesin's centennial, TPI hosted a series of events in 2011.<ref name="n160100586" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Anderson |first=Carla |date=May 1, 2011 |title=Taliesin House opens doors to Wright’s life |url=https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/entertainment/human-interest/2011/05/01/taliesin-house-opens-doors-to/21427429007/ |access-date=December 1, 2024 |website=Columbia Daily Tribune |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=McKnight |first=Jenna M. |date=April 22, 2011 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Celebrates 100 Years |url=https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/2190-frank-lloyd-wright-s-taliesin-celebrates-100-years |access-date=December 1, 2024 |website=Architectural Record}}</ref> InThe Junecomplex 2024,remained thein 100-seatdanger theaterof attacheddeterioration, toprompting the HillsideWMF Hometo Schooladd buildingTaliesin wasto reopenedits after[[2014 aWorld five-year,Monuments $1.1 million renovationWatch]].<ref name="FixsenFazzare 2024g306" /><ref>{{Cite namenews |date="McLaughlin2013-11-09 2024"|title=Taliesin /><refadded nameto World Watch List |url="Adamshttps://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-dells-events-taliesin-added-to/160110605/ |access-date=2024"-12-01 |work=Wisconsin Dells Events |pages=14}}</ref> Workers also restored Taliesin's Midway Barn in the 2020s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hickman |first=Matt |date=August 16, 2022 |title=Major preservation work progresses at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Taliesin West |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2022/08/preservation-work-progresses-frank-lloyd-wright-taliesin-taliesin-west/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519171419/https://www.archpaper.com/2022/08/preservation-work-progresses-frank-lloyd-wright-taliesin-taliesin-west/ |archive-date=May 19, 2024 |access-date=November 27, 2024 |website=The Architect's Newspaper}}</ref> In addition, the 100-seat theater attached to the Hillside Home School building was reopened in June 2024 after a five-year, $1.1 million renovation.<ref name="Fixsen 2024" /><ref name="McLaughlin 2024" /><ref name="Adams 2024" />
 
=== Visitation ===
TPI provides tours from May 1 through October 31 of each year.<ref name="Frank Lloyd Wright" /><ref name="Johnson 2008" /> Other visitation opportunities are available sporadically through the rest of the year.<ref name="Frank Lloyd Wright">{{Cite web |url=https://www.taliesinpreservation.org/ |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin – Wisconsin Attraction |access-date=August 29, 2020 |archive-date=September 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904120248/https://www.taliesinpreservation.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref> However, tours are usually not given from November to April because Taliesin has no heating system; Wright had removed Taliesin's furnaces after his Taliesin West complex was completed.<ref name="Johnson 2008" /> {{As of|2023}}, more than 25,000 people visit Taliesin each year.<ref name="Milan 2024">{{cite web |last=Milan |first=Kelly |date=January 6, 2024 |title=Taliesin beckons tourists to learn about Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy |url=https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2023/12/27/taliesin-beckons-wisconsinites-to-embrace-frank-lloyd-wright-s-legacy |access-date=November 28, 2024 |website=spectrumnews1.com |archive-date=November 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128030723/https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2023/12/27/taliesin-beckons-wisconsinites-to-embrace-frank-lloyd-wright-s-legacy |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Wisconsin Historical Society]]'s collections include rare old photographs of Taliesin.<ref name="Holzhueter l032">{{cite journal |last=Holzhueter |first=John O. |year=2011 |title=Taliesin at 100 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41549203 |journal=The Wisconsin Magazine of History |publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society |volume=95 |issue=2 |pages=52–53 |issn=00436534 |jstor=41549203 |id={{pq|921465439}} |access-date=December 1, 2024}}</ref>
 
== Reception ==
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Robert Cross wrote for the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' in 2001 that "Everywhere—parlor, bedrooms, garden terraces—the eye falls on beauty. The outside comes in through the windows with gorgeous effect."<ref>{{cite news |last=Cross |first=Robert |date=September 23, 2001 |title=A trek to the shiny brow . . . ; Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin speaks of hubris, scandal and architectural genius |work=Chicago Tribune |page=8.1 |issn=1085-6706 |id={{ProQuest|419421746}}}}</ref> In a 2009 publication for the [[Thoreau Society]], Naomi Uechi notes thematic similarities between the architecture of Taliesin and the concept of simplicity advocated by philosopher [[Henry David Thoreau]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Uechi |first=Naomi |editor-last=Walls |editor-first=Laura Dassow |jstor=23395074 |journal=The Concord Saunterer |volume=17 |pages=73–98 |year=2009 |place=Concord, MA |title=Evolving Transcendentalism: Thoreauvian Simplicity in Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin and Contemporary Ecological Architecture}}</ref> Architectural historian [[Neil Levine (art historian)|Neil Levine]] highlighted the [[abstract art|abstract]] nature of the complex, comparing it to the works of [[Pablo Picasso]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Levine |first=Neil |title=Abstraction and Representation in Modern Architecture: The International Style and Frank Lloyd Wright |jstor=29543489 |journal=AA Files |pages=3–21 |number=11 |date=Spring 1986}}</ref> In "House Proud", an article in [[The Boston Globe#Magazine|''Boston Globe Magazine'']] by the [[Pulitzer Prize]]–winning architecture critic [[Robert Campbell (journalist)|Robert Campbell]], Taliesin was described as "my candidate for the title of the greatest single building in America."<ref>''Boston Globe Magazine'', December 13, 1992.</ref> Another writer, in ''[[The New York Times]]'', said of Taliesin that "the key idea is horizontality", contrasting with the vertical design elements of skyscrapers that were being built at the same time.<ref name="Solomon w151" />
 
Several sources have described Taliesin as an embodiment of Wright and his architectural philosophy. In ''Taliesin 1911–1914'', a collection of essays about the first house, the authors and editor conclude that Taliesin was "Wright's architectural self-portrait."{{sfn|Menocal|1992|p=ix}} [[Paul Goldberger]], the architectural critic for ''The New York Times'', similarly wrote in 1994 that "there is no better way into the soul of Frank Lloyd Wright than to tour this house".<ref name="Goldberger 1994" /> The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' wrote the next year that the complex's design provided insight into "the career of a man who reinvented the language of architecture".<ref name="Gould 1995" /> TPI's president Carol McChesney Johnson said in 2011 that Taliesin "was a part of who he was", in contrast to other buildings that he designed but did not occupy.<ref name="n160100586" /> The following year, a writer for the [[Wisconsin Magazine of History|''Wisconsin Magazine of History'']] described Taliesin as "a quintessential example of how architectural history and biography can blend into a single entity".<ref name="Holzhueter l032" />
 
==See also==
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==Further reading==
* William{{cite Allinbook |last=Storrer, ''|first=William Allin |title=The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion'', [[|date=2006 |publisher=University of Chicago Press]], IBN:|isbn=978-0-226-77621-27 |publication-place=Chicago}}
 
==External links==