Bucket List for Many
For Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts or any serious student of American architectural history Taliesin West is a must-see stop for your bucket list.
Wright, like so many others, had come to the Scottsdale area when his doctor warned his lungs couldn’t withstand another Midwest winter. It wasin the midst of the Great Depression, when Wright, with family in tow, led his yearly winter trek with his architectural fellows (students) to build Taliesin West, later declared a National Historic Landmark in 1982.
You imagine the white tents the students lived in and how they toiled with hand tools to make the walls. You marvel at the tales at how their work clothes came off and tux and gowns were donned for formal dinners or music, dance and other cultural performances in the midst of the desert. You learn that Wright played piano by ear and described architecture as “frozen music”. You likely appreciate this more in situ than simply reading this quote upon the page.
You ogle fine Asian ceramics here and there—even outside—that Wright collected and hear of his many (90+/-) automobiles too. You peek into studios where students are working to this day. You admire the kiva (ceremonial meeting place) and lighting innovations (cove, inverted, floor) and other innovations both patented and not, and get to enjoy sitting in his extraordinary theater space where films were shown and his friend John Wayne might have made a live appearance.
You forget that every entranceway in the world doesn’t compress and then expand space as they do in Wright’s buildings. You begin thinking about whether Wright’s favorite Cherokee Red color would look good on your doors and walls too.
