Tag Archives: Frank Lloyd Wright

FLW’s house in Pawtucket

Frank Lloyd Wright would be 155 years old if he were alive on this June 8 date of his birth. A hundred and fifty years ago he spent the age of five in Pawtucket, where for a year his family … Continue reading

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The other Frank as “outsider”

In the runup to Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday on June 8 – he was born in 1867 – Frank O. Gehry is being touted as the world’s most famous architect. Frank Lloyd Wright will never take second billing, in my … Continue reading

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Betsky barks at the Bauhaus

Some might not realize that Aaron Betsky has added to his role as critic for Architect magazine that of director of Taliesin West, the architecture school founded in 1932 by Frank Lloyd Wright and his third wife, Olgivanna. Amid the … Continue reading

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Carlo Scarpa’s modernism

The identity of my favorite modernist architect has always eluded me. I am not familiar with the work of every modernist. But modern architecture is by its nature inferior to traditional architecture. At its heart is a rejection of the … Continue reading

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Each state’s “ne plus ugly”

Architecture is a form of art. When a city constructs a new building, it should add beauty to its streetscape. The above quote, unattributed, introduces an article in MSN.com’s Business Insider entitled “The Ugliest Building in Every US State, According … Continue reading

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Gaudi’s Manhattan tower

That Gaudi had considered erecting a New York skyscraper is not widely known. William O’Connor writes of it in “Gaudi’s Lost Manhattan Tower” for the Daily Beast. O’Connor prates absurdly of Gaudi’s modernism – more than any other major architect, … Continue reading

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Zaha, FLW & arrogance

Far be it from me to defend Zaha Hadid. Any ammo you can blow up under her reputation might rock her architecture – its reputation if not its actual existence. Let ‘er rip! I have defended Zaha from accusations that … Continue reading

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Architect, bury your mistake

Yesterday I ran some passages from the late critic Lewis Mumford and thought I recalled having written a column on him years ago after reading a biography. I cannot find it. But here is one column from June 1994 in … Continue reading

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Betsky at Taliesin . . . Duck!

Amusing to hear that modern architecture’s ranter-in-chief, Aaron Betsky, has been hired as dean of the School of Architecture at Taliesin West – in Scottsdale, Ariz – where Frank Lloyd Wright spent his final years as an architectural provocateur. How … Continue reading

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Wings: Frank Lloyd Wrong

Here is episode 129 of the TV show Wings, “Good-bye, Frank Lloyd Wrong,” about when a couple is offered a free house shaped like a 7 by a famous architect. The episode is here.

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