Taliesin: Getting it Wright in the Driftless

 

Spring Green WI: There have been a few places in our travels that have left us speechless with an all caps "AWESOME!"... Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin certainly has been one of them.

"Taliesin is the former home and studio (for nearly 50 years!) of celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It is an 800-acre estate, which includes many structures, besides the house itself. The estate was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 and in 2019 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site."

Wright once wrote of the inspiration for Taliesin,  “The lines of the hills were the lines of the roofs, the slopes of the hills their slopes, the plastered surfaces of the light wood-walls, set back into shade beneath broad eaves, were like the flat stretches of sand in the river below and the same in color, for that is where the material that covered them came from.”

We marveled while touring his sprawling home (37,000 square feet) that the original structure was designed and built in 1911!  And while it was rebuilt in 1914 and 1925 due to destruction from fires - the vibe and artistry was seamlessly maintained. 

The landscape Wright was referring to is locally known as the "Driftless."  "The Driftless Area refers to the hilly landscape topography of southwestern Wisconsin. This area was left untouched by the last glacier that covered most of Wisconsin, resulting in its hillier and more rugged features. It is without the "drift" left by glaciers, so it is "driftless."

The artistry and architecture throughout the estate seem to blend into each other and the land.  Nearly all fixtures/furniture in every space was specifically designed by Wright - he even picked the type of cows that were allowed to roam in the pastures based on their color palates (he thought the Holstein cows looked like a crumpled-up newspaper on the landscape, and if you had to have them because they produce more milk, you should put them at the back of your property.” - which he did!).

Wright's Hillside Drafting Studio  meant to project an abstract forest, was built in 1932, where geometric trusses mimic trees, creating a serene and inspiring workspace.  

And as one approaches the studio, many are stopped in their tracks when they spot the most unique windmill one will ever encounter.  Designed by Wright in 1897 (his designs date back into the late 1800's), the Romeo and Juliet Windmill was commissioned by Wright’s aunts to pump water for their co-educational boarding school, and Wright offered them a striking observatory tower of wood. The design features two intersecting towers, with Romeo as a triangular storm prow, supported by the octagonal Juliet. The remarkable aerodynamic structure allows storm winds to pass around the structure without causing harm.

Since the start of Wright's Fellowship in 1932, the Hillside Theater evolved from a multipurpose room with a small stage and suspended running track to a dedicated playhouse for entertainment. On Sundays, Wright welcomed the public to enjoy movies, with admission and coffee by the fire priced at just 50 cents. From its earliest days to the 1955 structure that stands today, the theater has served as a gathering place for communities and a hub for shared appreciation of the arts.

In 1932, Frank Lloyd Wright wrote an article for Wisconsin Magazine in which he describes his feelings for the state he loved above all others...  

    "I love her because she has so few highbrows. They are men educated far beyond their capacity, so my old master Louis Sullivan used to say. And I love her because most of her was for the temperance of the Declaration of Independence instead of for the prohibition that violates temperance.

    Without taking myself too seriously, I hope I love her because I, too, am by birth and nature a Wisconsin radical. Radical is a fine word meaning “roots.” Being radical I must strike root somewhere. Wisconsin is my somewhere. I feel my roots in these hillsides and I know those of the oak that have struck in here beside me."

And though neither of us was born in Wisconsin... The Driftless Area and Frank's iconic Taliesin certainly has struck a radical cord to root in us!