American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.
(March 31, 1890 – May 31, 1978), commonly known as
Lloyd Wright
, was an American
architect
, active primarily in
Los Angeles
and
Southern California
.
[1]
He was a
landscape architect
for various Los Angeles projects (1922?1924), provided the shells for the
Hollywood Bowl
(1926?1928), and produced the
Swedenborg Memorial Chapel
(or Wayfarers Chapel) at
Rancho Palos Verdes, California
(1946?1971).
[2]
His name is frequently confused with that of his more famous father,
Frank Lloyd Wright
.
Early years
[
edit
]
Born on March 31, 1890, Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. was the son of renowned architect
Frank Lloyd Wright
and Wright's first wife, Catherine Lee "Kitty" Tobin Wright. He was the eldest son of the couple, and spent his early years at his
father's home and studio
in
Oak Park, Illinois
. Wright briefly attended the
University of Wisconsin
in
Madison
for two years of coursework in
agronomy
and
engineering
before traveling extensively through Europe after his father moved to Italy in 1909.
[3]
[4]
In 1911, Wright joined the landscape firm
Olmsted and Olmsted
in
Boston, Massachusetts
, where he specialized in
botany
and
horticulture
. Wright would be later sent to
San Diego, California
to assist with the landscape design of the
1915 Panama-California Exposition
with architects
Bertram Goodhue
,
Carleton Winslow
, and
Irving Gill
.
[5]
The exposition's principal buildings and gardens still remain in
Balboa Park
. Landscape design led him to work with Los Angeles architect
William J. Dodd
, and in San Diego with Irving Gill, the latter another master architect and mentor to his design career. In the mid-1910s, Wright formed a landscape partnership with
Paul Thiene
, a colleague from the Olmsted firm, before opening his own practice in 1916.
[4]
Beginning in 1919, his father, working in Japan on the
Imperial Hotel
, delegated some of the responsibilities to him and architect
Rudolf Schindler
to supervise construction of the
Hollyhock House
, while Wright worked on the Imperial Hotel in Japan.
[6]
[7]
The house was commissioned by the oil heiress and philanthropist
Aline Barnsdall
.
Wright began his independent career in 1920. In 1922, he was a production designer at
Paramount Studios
, responsible for the extensive castle and 12th-century village sets for the
Douglas Fairbanks
version of
Robin Hood
.
[8]
In December 1922, Wright prepared plans for the Henry Bollman House in Hollywood that included a repeated pattern of concrete blocks, a precursor to his father's more famous
"textile block" houses
in the Los Angeles area.
[9]
From 1923 through 1926, the younger Wright was drawn into the realization of these four houses, and the ambitious attempt to evolve the "textile block" system into a patented construction technique. The first was the 1923
Millard House
in
Pasadena, California
where Lloyd designed the grounds, and contributed an adjacent studio building in 1926. Lloyd served as construction manager for the other three: the
Storer House
(1923), the
Samuel Freeman House
(1923), and the
Ennis House
(1924). By all accounts Lloyd's work was difficult as he shuttled back and forth between sites, communicating with his father via telegram, and receiving little constructive support from
Taliesin
.
Independent work
[
edit
]
Wright designed and built a number of houses in the Hollywood and Los Feliz districts of Los Angeles in the mid- to late 1920s. Lloyd Wright's first residential commission, the Taggart House was built for the mother of his second wife, Helen Taggart, a registered
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
located next to the city's
Griffith Park
. Another significant project was the hillside house for the manager of film star
Ramon Novarro
, and then a renovation and enlargement when Novarro himself acquired the residence. The dramatic
[
citation needed
]
and theatrical
[
citation needed
]
Mayan
-inspired
John Sowden House
has become his most iconic structure
[
citation needed
]
and is usually regarded as his best work.
[
citation needed
]
He also designed and built his own home with a ground floor studio and second floor residence, using concrete blocks, in
West Hollywood
in the 1920s.
He also designed the second and third band shells at the
Hollywood Bowl
. The original 1926 shell, designed by the Allied Architects group, was considered unacceptable both visually and acoustically. Wright's 1927 shell had a pyramidal shape and a design reminiscent of southwest
Native American
architecture. According to
Charles Willard Moore
, it was built from leftovers from the
Robin Hood
production. Its acoustics generally were regarded as the best of any shell in Bowl history. But its appearance was considered too avant-garde, or perhaps only ugly, and it was demolished at the end of the season. His 1928 wooden shell had the now-familiar concentric ring motif, covered a 120-degree arc, and was designed to be easily dismantled. Unfortunately it was neglected and ruined by water damage, making way for the 1929 Allied Architects shell, which stood until the end of the 2003 season.
In 1927, Wright built a residence for himself, made of two units ? one for living and one for work. The 2,413 square feet (224.17 square meter) of living space has an upstairs residence with a living room, a fireplace and wooden floors. Interlocking blocks with a stylized
Joshua tree
design overlay some of the windows.
[10]
The
Great Depression
stalled Wright's firm as he was reaching his artistic and professional peak. As for many architects, remodellings, rather than total designs, were the scope of 1930s work. His post-war designs became more expressionistic and less aligned to previous modernist architectural themes. He also promoted the word
Usonia
.
The largest collection of Lloyd Wright buildings in the United States was built in phases (1946?1957) for the
Institute of Mentalphysics
, located on a large
Mojave Desert
site next to the town of
Joshua Tree
, to the east of
Joshua Tree National Park
.
[11]
Later work
[
edit
]
His best-known project is the
Wayfarers Chapel
, also known as "The Glass Church", an indoor/outdoor structure made almost entirely of glass and built in 1951 for the
Swedenborgian
church, overlooking the
Pacific Ocean
on the
Palos Verdes Peninsula
. The site planning and planting design express his talent and experience as a landscape architect. He had an embracing grove of Redwoods (
Sequoia sempervirens
) planted to achieve this.
[1]
The Wayfarer's Chapel is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
.
[12]
When the trees that surround the Chapel grow up, they will become the framework, become a part of the tree forms and branches that inevitably arise from the growing trees adjacent to it. I used the glass so that the natural growth, the sky, and sea beyond became the definition of their environment. This is done to give the congregation protection in services and at the same time to create the sense of outer as well as inner space.
Among his last projects was the 1963 John P. Bowler house, known as the "Bird of Paradise" House, in
Rancho Palos Verdes
using blue fiberglass for projecting roof fins, and the master plan and building designs for a 1970 shopping center in
Huntington Beach
, at Warner and Springdale streets south of
Long Beach
.
[13]
Personal life
[
edit
]
In 1922 Wright married the actress and artist Elaine Hyman (known as
Kyra Markham
).
[14]
They divorced in 1925.
The following year, Wright married Helen Taggart, the daughter of a client (Her then seven-year-old son,
Rupert Pole
, would later marry
Anais Nin
). In 1929, Lloyd and Helen became the parents of architect
Eric Lloyd Wright
, who has consulted on the restoration of many of his father's and grandfather's works, as well as being independently creative. Lloyd Wright died in 1978 in Santa Monica, California. A comprehensive monograph on Lloyd Wright and his work, "Lloyd Wright, the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.", has extensive vintage and contemporary photographic documentation of his projects.
[15]
Selected works
[
edit
]
- 1921, William Weber House, 3923 West 9th Street,
Los Angeles, California
[16]
- 1922, Otto Bollman House, 2200 Broadview Terrace,
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
[16]
- 1922?1924, Martha Taggart House, 5423 Black Oak Drive,
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
- 1923, Henry Bollman House, 1530 N. Ogden Drive,
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
[16]
- 1923, landscape design for
Millard House
, 645 Prospect Crescent,
Pasadena, California
- 1923?1925, Oasis Hotel, 139 South Palm Canyon Drive,
Palm Springs, California
(partially razed)
- 1925, Harry and Alice Carr House, 3202 Lowry Road,
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
[16]
- 1925,
Herbert Howe
House, 513 Roxbury Drive,
Beverly Hills, California
[16]
- 1926,
John Sowden House
, 5121 Franklin Avenue
Los Angeles, California
- 1926, Millard House Studio, 645 Prospect Crescent,
Pasadena, California
- 1926, Farrell House, 3209 Lowry Road,
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
- 1927,
Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
, 858 North Doheny Drive,
West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
- 1928, Samuel-Novarro House, 2255 Verde Oak Drive,
Los Angeles, California
- 1926?1928,
Hollywood Bowl
Shells, 2301 North Highland Avenue,
Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California
(destroyed)
[17]
- 1935,
Claudette Colbert
residence, 615 North Faring Road, Beverly Hills (razed)
[18]
- 1942,
Ramona Gardens
,
Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California
(with others)
[4]
- 1946, renovation of the
Hollyhock House
, 4800 Hollywood Boulevard,
East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
[19]
- 1946?1957, Joshua Tree Retreat Center, 59700 Twentynine Palms Highway,
Joshua Tree, California
- 1948,
Jascha Heifetz
House and Teaching Studio,
Beverly Hills, California
the studio reconstructed as part of the
Colburn School
in downtown Los Angeles
[20]
- 1949, Dorland House, 1370 Mirada Place,
Altadena, California
[21]
[22]
- 1951,
Wayfarers Chapel
, 5755 Palos Verdes Drive South,
Rancho Palos Verdes, California
- 1951, Swedenborgian Church,
El Cerrito, California
- 1959, Moore House,
Palos Verdes Estates, California
(demolished, 2012)
[23]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Featured Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Jr"
. Hilton & Hyland
. Retrieved
2018-06-07
.
- ^
"Lloyd Wright paper, 1920-1978"
. Online Archive of California
. Retrieved
2018-06-09
.
- ^
"Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. (Architect)"
. Pacific Coast Architecture Database
. Retrieved
2018-06-07
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Lloyd Wright"
.
Los Angeles Conservancy
. Retrieved
2018-06-08
.
- ^
"Frank LLoyd Wright, Jr., aka Lloyd Wright(1890-1978)"
. USModnerist
. Retrieved
2018-06-08
.
- ^
"Frank LLoyd Wright, Jr., aka Lloyd Wright(1890-1978)"
. USModnerist
. Retrieved
2018-06-08
.
- ^
"Barnsdall, Aline, House, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA"
. Pacific Coast Architecture Database
. Retrieved
2018-06-07
.
- ^
"Lloyd Wright's Samuel-Novarro House"
. CelebHomes
. Retrieved
2018-06-08
.
- ^
Sweeney, Robert L. (July 18, 1994).
Wright in Hollywood: Visions of a New Architecture
.
MIT Press
.
ISBN
978-0-26-219337-5
.
- ^
"Lloyd Wright's live-work space in WeHo finds a buyer"
.
Los Angeles Times
. 16 February 2015
. Retrieved
2018-06-09
.
- ^
"Joshua Tree Retreat Center - Institute of Mentalphysics"
. Joshua Tree Retreat Center
. Retrieved
2018-06-09
.
- ^
"History"
.
Wayfarers Chapel
. Retrieved
2018-06-09
.
- ^
"A Surf City Mystery"
. Greetings from Huntington Beach
. Retrieved
2018-06-09
.
- ^
"Kyra Markham"
.
Terra Foundation for American Art
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
Weintraub, Alan (November 28, 1998).
Lloyd Wright: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr
.
Thames & Hudson
.
ISBN
978-0-50-034166-7
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Report - HPLA"
. Retrieved
2019-09-28
.
- ^
"The Hollywood Bowl Started as a Natural Amphitheater Named Daisy Dell"
.
Gizmodo
. Retrieved
2018-06-10
.
- ^
"Colbert, Claudette, residence"
.
Calisphere (University of California)
. April 1939
. Retrieved
16 August
2020
.
- ^
"Behind the Scenes of the Hollyhock House Renovation"
.
KCET
. 25 March 2015
. Retrieved
2018-06-10
.
- ^
"Jascha Heifetz Studio"
. Harold Zellman & Associates, Architects
. Retrieved
2018-06-10
.
- ^
"Lloyd Wright's Dorland House Lists in Altadena for $1 Million"
.
realtor.com News
. 23 October 2012
. Retrieved
21 June
2020
.
- ^
"Designers give Lloyd Wright's Dorland house in Altadena a colorful, personal spin"
.
Los Angeles Times
. 19 August 2016
. Retrieved
21 June
2020
.
- ^
"Modern Moore House in Palos Verdes Estates demolished"
. Mid Century Style Magazine. 27 April 2012
. Retrieved
2018-06-10
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Weintraub, Alan; Hines, Thomas; and Wright, Eric Lloyd:
Lloyd Wright, the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.
; United Kingdom publisher: Thames and Hudson, 1998; and United States publisher: Harry N. Abrahms, 1998. 595 illustrations, 275 pages, (
ISBN
9780810939967
)
External links
[
edit
]
- laokay: Directory of L.A. region project locations.
- Institute of Mentalphysics
- Edward Weston, R. M. Schindler, Anna Zacsek, Lloyd Wright, Lawrence Tibbett, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood and Their Dramatic Circles
for much on Wright's early relationships with his first wife Kirah Markham, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood, William J. Dodd and others.
- Tina Modotti, Lloyd Wright and Otto Bollman Connections, 1920
for much on Wright's early projects for Otto and Harry Bollman and connections with Tina Modotti.
- Irving Gill, Homer Laughlin and the Beginnings of Modern Architecture in Los Angeles, Part II, 1911-1916
for much on Lloyd Wright's early mentorship by Irving Gill and William J. Dodd.
|
---|
Alphabetically
| |
---|
By start year /
decade
| |
---|
|
|
---|
|
Private houses
|
- Adams, M.
- Adams, W. and J.
- Adelman
- Affleck
- Allen?Lambe
- Alsop
- Arnold
- Bach
- Bachman?Wilson
- Baird
- Baker
- Balch
- Baldwin
- Barton
- Bazett
- Beachy
- Becker
- Blair
- Blossom
- Bogk
- Boulter
- Boynton
- Bradley
- Brandes
- Broad Margin
- Brown
- Buehler
- Bulbulian
- Charnley
- Cheney
- Christie
- Cooke
- Coonley
- Copeland
- Crimson Beech
- Dana?Thomas
- Davidson
- Davis
- DeRhodes
- Dobkins
- Ennis
- Fabyan
- Fallingwater
- Fawcett
- Forest
- Foster
- Fountainhead
- Freeman
- Fredrick
- Fricke
- Friedman
- Fukuhara
- G. Furbeck
- R. Furbeck
- Gale, L.
- Gale, T.
- Gale, W.
- Gerts
- Gilmore
- Gillin
- Glasner
- Goetsch?Winckler
- Gordon
- Grant
- Graycliff
- Gridley
- Hanna?Honeycomb
- Hardy
- Haynes
- Heath
- Heller
- Henderson
- Heurtley
- Hickox
- Hills
- Hoffman
- Hollyhock
- Jacobs I
- Jacobs II
- Johnson
- Jones
- Kalil
- Keland
- Kentuck Knob
- Keys
- Kinney
- Kraus
- Lamberson
- Lamp
- Laurent
- Levin
- Lewis
- Lewis, L.
- Manson
- Marden
- D. D. Martin
- W. E. Martin
- May
- McBean
- McCarthy
- Millard
- Miller
- Millard, G.
- Moore
- Mosher
- Mossberg
- Murphy
- Neils
- Olfelt
- Palmer
- Pappas
- Parker
- Pauson
- Penfield
- Peterson Cottage
- Pew
- Pope?Leighey
- Rayward
- Rebhuhn
- Reisley
- Richardson
- Roberts
- Robie
- Roloson
- Rosenbaum
- Rudin
- Samara
- Sander
- Schaberg
- Schwartz
- Serlin
- Shavin
- Smith, G. W.
- Smith, M.
- Smith, R.
- Sondem
- Spencer
- Staley
- Stockman
- Storer
- Stromquist
- Sturges
- Sullivan
- Sunday
- Sutton
- Sweeton
- Tan-Y-Deri
- Thaxton
- Thomas
- Tomek
- Tonkens
- Tracy
- Trier
- Turkel
- Wall
- Walker
- Walser
- Walter
- Westcott
- Westhope
- Weltzheimer
- Willey
- Williams
- Willits
- Wingspread
- Winslow
- Woolley
- Wright, D. and G.
- Wright, D. and J.
- Wright, R.
- Wynant
- Yamamura
- Young
- Zeigler
- Zimmerman
|
---|
Housing systems
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|
Posthumous
| |
---|
Unbuilt
| |
---|
Personal homes
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Popular culture
| |
---|
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|