A Great Year for the Milwaukee Art Museum

News, Organizations, Wisconsin No Responses »
Jan 162012

The Milwaukee Art Museum had a great year in 2011, and the exhibit “Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century” was part of it.

All three of the major exhibitions at the museum in 2011 attracted more than 100,000 visitors.

The latest was “Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper,” which ran from Oct. 14 to Jan. 8. Museum spokeswoman Kristin Settle said more than 103,000 visited it.

She said museum attendance has exceeded 100,000 for the four of their last five exhibitions since the summer of 2010 — the first time in museum history.

The other more popular ones were the “Summer of China” exhibitions, “Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century” and “American Quilts.”

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Cast a Vote for Graycliff

Buffalo, Organizations, Restoration/Renovation No Responses »
Dec 132011

Graycliff, Darwin Martin’s Wright-designed house on Lake Erie, is one of four Buffalo-area properties in the running for a $10,000 award from The National Trust for Historic Preservation. Go to the voting page on Facebook to cast your support.

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Laurent House Foundation Interview

For Sale, Illinois, Organizations No Responses »
Dec 072011

Related to yesterday’s story of the Laurent House grant, “Preservation Nation”, the blog for the National Trust For Historic Preservation, has posted an interview of John Groh, a founder of the Laurent House Foundation, the group hoping to buy and open to the public the Laurent House.

From the interview:

Our intention is to showcase the home “as is,” and want visitors to be able to really experience the home as Mr. and Mrs. Laurent and their family have. Mr. Laurent credits the home with helping him live a long, full life. We hope that this home and its design will be an inspiration to the new generation of wounded soldiers returning home from war, and hope it will inspire architects and builders to more fully integrate accessible design moving forward.

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New Boss not the Same as the Old Boss

Arizona, News, Organizations No Responses »
Nov 292011

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has chosen its new president and CEO. Sean Malone is currently serving as the president of the Ten Chimneys Foundation, the estate of famous acting duo Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. The estate of Ten Chimneys is a National Historic Landmark, a Save America’s Treasures site and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Malone was instrumental in the early stages of the creation of the Ten Chimneys Foundation.

He was chosen for his strengths in fund raising, including capital campaigns for cultural organizations, and building and maintaining internal organizational mechanisms. Sean Malone hold a Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

Malone will take his new position February 1, 2012.

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Foundation News

News, Organizations Comments Off
Nov 092011

Here’s an update on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation: “Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation rebuilds, seeks CEO” from the Arizona Republic.

A few years ago the Foundation seemed, at least from the outside, to be on the brink above a very deep, dark financial chasm. An interim CEO, Ann Maley, with experience in the finances of non-profit organizations has righted a listing ship and positioned the Foundation for a successful run of fund raising.

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Unity Temple Restoration

Chicago, News, Organizations, Restoration/Renovation Comments Off
Aug 032011

An article in the Wednesday Journal offers more details — to the extent that “more details” means that there are not any more details. Last week Crain’s reported that Unity Temple was planning a $25 million restoration, and, at the same time planning a $10 million building project to address the growing congregation’s pressing need for more space.

The location for church’s new building has not yet been chosen, though several sites in downtown Oak Park are being considered. A final decision on whether it will be new construction or an existing building has not yet been made. The congregation hopes that the new space will serve as a cultural center, and other non-profits may share the space.

The Unity Temple Restoration Foundation will focus on fund raising for the restoration of Unity Temple. Funding for the $25 million project has not been secured; $5 -7 million is needed for the early phases, and a consultant has been hired to help with the fund raising. A major funding campaign will begin soon, with the UTRF and the church working together on the first steps.

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Every Once in a While, the Center Does Hold, and Things Do Not Fall Apart

News, Organizations, Wisconsin No Responses »
Jul 152011

It was announced today that a number of significant items from the Frank Lloyd Wright archives will lent to SC Johnson, and they will go on display in Spring 2012.

For details, see Mark’s story on Wright in Racine, including photos of many of the best items.

The archives, held at Taliesin West, are not open to the public, so this agreement will allow a number of important items to be on display — and displayed in proximity to two important Wright buildings. In essence, SC Johnson is giving us a free, permanent, world-class Frank Lloyd Wright museum exhibition in a place we’d want to visit anyway.

And it gets better; the loan isn’t just a random collection of Wright memorabilia: there’s a theme. From the press release:

The collection will provide opportunities for people to learn about the principle ideas embodied in Wright’s work and increase awareness of the impact of his architecture and design on families and the home. Rather than simply reflecting one period of Wright’s work, the collection will explore Wright’s influence on the home throughout his career. It will include artifacts from Wright’s earliest exploration of the natural house in the early 1900s through his American System pre-cut housing venture of 1917 to his reinvention of the American home in 1940. The collection will also feature artifacts from the mid-1950s, when his work reached legendary scale.

This is an early step in what SC Johnson hopes will be broad-ranging effort to promote Wright’s legacy in Wisconsin and boost Wright tourism in Racine itself (again, see Mark’s piece for more details).

Also of note: SC Johnson will be taking responsibility for conserving the loaned items as necessary. This is a boon for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, since they can now focus their finite resources on the remaining items in the archives.

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Wrights to the UNESCO World Heritage List

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Jul 142011

Secretary of the Interior, [Ken Salazar will nominate eleven Frank Lloyd Wright buildings](http://laist.com/2011/07/13/frank_lloyd_wrights_hollyhock_house_1.php to be added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list .

Wisely chosen, the sites span much of Wright’s career (though the nomination criminally omits the Winslow House) and cover all of the major elements of Wright’s work. Unity Temple the Robie House and Taliesin represent the early years, the Jacobs House, the Hollyhock House and Fallingwater cover the middle portion, and Taliesin West, Marin County Civic Center and the Guggenheim cover his final work. Price Tower and the SC Johnson campus make the list.

Wright’s buildings will be added the US’s current count of 21 World Heritage sites, though most of the US sites are natural monuments, rather than structures; Wright’s buildings will join Monticello, Independance Hall and the Statue of Liberty.

The process of adding a site is ridiculously long. The new nominations should be formally added to the list by 2013.

Here’s the full list:

Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, California Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House, Madison, Wisconsin S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research Tower, Racine, Wisconsin Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin

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The Ability to Work Miracles is a Prefered Qualification

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Jul 102011

If you, or someone you know is hyper-competent and qualified to lead a non-profit with an annual budget near $10 million and an invaluable legacy, then check out the job description for President and & CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation .

Holy crap, that’s a tough job.

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Annual Conference

Eastern US, Events, Organizations, Restoration/Renovation, Travel Comments Off
Jul 022011

Registration for this year’s Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Annual Conference is open (you can view the brochure here). The conference this year is in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Each year the conference offers spectacular opportunities to see the work of Wright and related architects, and this year is no different:

Highlights of the conference include the rarely-seen Spencer House (1956) in Wilmington, Delaware, the Sweeton House (1950) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the magnificent Beth Sholom Synagogue (1959) and multiple units of the Suntop Homes (1938-1939), a four-unit Usonian design intended to provide a nationwide model for affordable cluster housing. Other tours and special events are scheduled to include works by Robert F. Bishop, Paul Beidler, Alden B. Dow, Frank Furness, Louis Kahn, Richard Neutra, I. M. Pei and Robert Venturi among others. Pre- and post-conference tours will also be available to further explore Philadelphia’s rich architectural heritage.

The list of speakers is equally impressive , and it includes Jane King Hession, Neil Levine, Kathryn Smith, Richard Cleary and Joseph Siry.

Note that fellowships are available to students in historic preservation and volunteers and staff of preservation organizations and employees of properties listed on the Nation Register of Historic Places.

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