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New at Wright in Racine

Oct 182011

Mark Hertzberg’s newest post to Wright in Racine: window restoration at the SC Johnson Administration Building

For the new readers of this site, Mark is a journalist living in Racine Wisconsin and covering the developments of the Wright buildings in his area. As a professional journalist and photographer, his site is the best source for information on Wright’s dramatic and unique SC Johnson campus. If you have not been to his site before, be sure to read his post on the Price Tower in Oklahoma — it’s a great introduction to one of Wright’s most interesting, under appreciated buildings.

Mark is the author of three books on Wright’s work in Racine: Wright in Racine, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hardy House and Frank Lloyd Wright’s SC Johnson Research Tower.

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.

Up on the Roof

News, Web Sites, Wisconsin Comments Off

Jul 142011

Speaking of World Heritage sites, Wright in Racine has a post up on roof repairs on the Research Tower on the SC Johnson campus.

Wrights to the UNESCO World Heritage List

News, Organizations Comments Off

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

The Research Tower as it was Meant to Be

Audio & Video, History, Wisconsin 2 Responses »

Jun 162011

A great link passed along by Mark Hertzberg:

It’s a two-minute film of Wright’s Johnson Wax buildings. From the buildings heydays in the late 50s or early 60s, the buildings are shown as they were intended to be: a busy, bustling hub for a progressive company. It’s great.

Bottom Line

Organizations, Restoration/Renovation, Web Sites, Wisconsin No Responses »

Apr 252011

Mark Hertzberg’s site Wright in Racine has a post on SC Johnson’s disclosure last week that the company has spent $8 million restoring the company’s iconic Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. The company revealed the amount after taking a $175,000 tax exemption for the work on the Wright buildings and the Norman Foster-designed Fortaleza Hall.

Mark points out that, aside from the fact the the exemption is a small portion of the total spent on the restoration, but that Racine’s Wright buildings contribute $750,000 a year to the local economy. SC Johnson’s contributions to the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright are not limited to its own Wright buildings; they are supporters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the current exhibit “Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century”.

Two Notable Events This Weekend

Events, Wisconsin Comments Off

Mar 102011

The Milwaukee Art Museum has a full schedule of events surrounding the exhibit Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture for the 21st Century.

The weekend are two events that are of particular interest. Friday, March 11 at 3:00PM , Thomas L. Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright’s grandson is giving a presentation, “Frank Lloyd Wright: A Family Legacy” . Thomas Wright spent summers at Taliesin in the 1940s, and he lived in on of Wright’s hemicycle homes. The lecture will be held in the Lubar Auditorium, and is free with museum admission.

On Saturday, March 12,at 1:30PM journalist, author and Wright expert, Mark Hertzberg will discuss Wright’s work in Racine, Wisconsin. Hertzberg is the author of Wright in Racine, Frank Lloyd Wright’s SC Johnson Research Tower_ , and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hardy House. He will be availiable after to sign copies of his books. The talk will be held in the Lubar Auditorium, and is free with museum admission.

Wright in Racine in Milwaukee

Events, Wisconsin Comments Off

Feb 242011

Mark Hertzberg, journalist, author, photographer and resident of Racine, Wisconsin has written about Racine’s connections to Milwaukee Art Museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture in the 21st Century. SC Johnson’s Administration building and Research Tower make notable appearances in the exhibit.

Included in the article is this bit of news: “The show generated one of the highest attendance opening weekends at the Milwaukee Art Museum in recent years, Anderegg adds, “This is a great testament to the continuing relevance of Frank Lloyd Wright, and public fascination with him and his work and his life.”

Mark wrote about his visit in his Wright in Racine blog as well, and included more photos, including Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer’s visit to MAM.

Event: Mark Hertzberg at the CAF Feb. 16

Chicago, Events Comments Off

Feb 152011

Tomorrow, February 16, at 12:15 author Mark Hertzberg will discuss Frank Lloyd Wright’s SC Johnson Research Tower. The free lecture is offered by the Chicago Architecture Foundation and will be held in the Lecture Hall Gallery at 224 S. Michigan Ave (the Sante Fe Building).

It’s part of the CAF’s Lunchtime Lecture series. It is planned to last 45 min. and Mark will sign copies of his book Frank Lloyd Wright’s SC Johnson Research Tower after.

The lecture is free, open to the public and no RSVP is required. Seating is limited, so an early arrival is recommended. You are welcome to bring a bag lunch.

Edgar Tafel, 1912-2011

History, News 1 Response »

Jan 242011

Sadly,Mark Hertzberg is reporting the passing of Edgar Tafel. He was one of the earliest apprentices at Taliesin, along side William Wesley Peters and John Howe. He worked on Fallingwater, Wingspread and the SC Johnson Administration Building. Despite some tension when Tafel left the Fellowship, Wright is known to have praised him after he left.

Mark also reprints a profile he wrote in 2002.

Edgar Tafel was present the morning that Wright designed Fallingwater as Kaufmann drove to Taliesin. You absolutely must listen to this conversation between Edgar Tafel and Franklin Toker (author of Fallingwater Rising) — Tafel not only demolishes on of Toker’s pet theories (known at the FLW Newsblog HQ as “The Great Toker Takedown”), he also sings the Taliesin fight song (“We love Motzart! We hate Beaux Arts!”).

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