Monthly Update
OA+D Monthly News and Updates
The OA+D Archives online catalog continues to develop the core structure necessary to present the legacy of Taliesin Architects. The majority of known Taliesin Architects projects have been listed under the name of the designing architect or architect of record. The past few weeks have concentrated on entry of projects related to earlier work by Frank Lloyd Wright.
These subsequent works include additions, renovations, and furnishings for Wright-designed residences like the Maximillian Hoffman House (Rye, New York). and the Lodge for Arnold Friedman (Pecos, New Mexico; known as “The Fir Tree”).
Taliesin Architects also continued to service the ongoing needs of Wright commercial buildings such as the S. C. Johnson and Son campus (Racine, Wisconsin, and the Building for H. C. Price known as the “Price Tower” (Bartlesville, Oklahoma).
A major commission for the First Christian Church (Phoenix, Arizona) undertaken by Taliesin Architects in 1969 revived a design done earlier by Wright for Southwest Christian Seminary. Taliesin Architects also did further work on Wright-designed churches like the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and the Unitarian Meeting house (Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin).
Later Taliesin Architects works said to be based on designs by Frank Lloyd Wright have also been added to the catalog. A presentation drawing for a largely unknown project, the Medical and Imaging Center for Dr. Alexander Metherall (Costa Mesa, California) done in 1985, proudly claims to be “designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.”
Several residences also are based on earlier Wright designs. The House for Eugene Van Talenen (Woodside, California), 1964 references the Prefabricated House 1 for Erdman Homes designed by Wright in 1955. The House for Charles Klotsche (Santa Fe, New Mexico), built in 1982 was based on an unbuilt design done by Wright in 1942 for the “Pottery House”.
Other helpful additions to the catalog include links to external resources directly related to the Taliesin Architects collection. These include original Frank Lloyd Wright drawings available from the ArtStor website — e.g., 714 drawings are linked for the Guggenheim Museum. Apparently John Howe took many of his drawings with him when he left Taliesin in the 1960s, because these are now in his papers at the University of Minnesota Libraries — e.g., the Medical Center for George Ablin and Associates in Bakersfield, California.
The online catalog is not only a portal for researchers to examine OA+D Archives holdings, but is also the main tool by which the collections are being inventoried. By using the Collective Access software in this way, catalog information is provided immediately for public access. But we need YOUR help to continue this exciting work!
Your tax-deductible donations to OA+D help fund the ongoing effort to process, digitize, and make these remarkable materials accessible to the public. If you'd like to become part of this exciting archival adventure, please consider making a donation HERE.
From The Archives
2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright's lost masterpiece, the Imperial Hotel. Throughout the year we'll be featuring some of the hundreds of items OA+D is fortunate enough to have in its collections that are connected to the building.
This month we feature a c.1920s real photo postcard showing a street-side view of the Imperial Hotel. it's remarkable to see the building in its relatively new state as it looked to passers-by from the dirt road. The people and early cars help give a sense of scale to the hotel, as well as provide a way for us to narrow the date that this image was taken. It's one of the hundreds of postcard images of the hotel that showcase the building throughout the decades of its existence that are in the OA+D Archives.
If you have other materials related to the Imperial Hotel (or any other organic architectural or design items) that you're interested in donating to join other items like these, please let us know by contacting us at info@oadarchives.org.
OA+D NEWS & EVENTS
Re-New Your Subscription Today!
Summer is here and it's the perfect time to renew your subscription to the Journal of Organic Architecture + Design Archives. The next issue of the journal coming out in late summer will be a special one marking the 100th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel. Special guest editor Kathryn Smith—noted architectural historian and an expert on Wright's lost hotel — will curate the publication by exploring "100 years in 100 objects" as selected from the vast amount of material held in the OA+D Archives collections. More will be announced as we get closer to publication, but to ensure you don't miss this (or any other) upcoming issues of our flagship publication, be sure to renew today by following the link.