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by shooker435 14 days ago
> Wright left Oak Park and separated from Tobin Wright in 1909. Before leaving, he divided the studio and the home, allowing Tobin Wright and the children to live in the studio wing and rent out the house for income. Wright sold the property in 1925 and later owners divided the building into six units and neglected to preserve the historically significant property.

This is a really generous interpretation of what happened... He ran off to Europe with one of their neighbors, and his ex-wife (not divorced yet, though!) was left high and dry with no money and was forced to turn the studio into apartments for income.
3 comments
chasil 14 days ago
You are omitting the murders.

Wright ended his marriage and took Mamah Borthwick Cheney to Europe. This scandal ended his Chicago career.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamah_Borthwick

After bringing her to his Talesin estate in Wisonsin, she and her children perished in the events explained in the wiki.

This particular home is not itself stunning. The Dana Thomas house in Springfield, IL is far more impressive.

In Chicago, the Robie house is the must see, followed by Unity Temple, leaving the Home & Studio a distant third.

I have personally stayed at the Cheney house (twice), which was a bed & breakfast for a time.

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frantathefranta 14 days ago
FLW almost always gets very generous interpretations of his intentions. I've been to 5 of his houses (including this one) and I've not heard anything negative about him on the tours. I say this as someone who likes his houses a lot (and considers themselves as someone who's gotten over the "FLW is overrated" hump).
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shooker435 14 days ago
Agreed. I'm a huge fan of his work and have spent some time in Oak Park as well.

That being said, the most accurate/honest depiction I've seen is a 2-part series on PBS. I think it does a great job of capturing the genius alongside the troubled hubris.

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brandall10 14 days ago
He's had a wild life with an arc similar to Steve Jobs. Taliesen West was basically an architecture cult where he frittered away for nearly a decade before landing Falling Water for his big comeback... at 70 years old.
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hypercube33 14 days ago
Actually more similar than most let on too I believe. I think it's been accused that he didn't even come up with some of the designs either by others. History is weird like that. Griffin is his woz
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dnemmers 14 days ago
It really would be nice if there were much less hero worship of FLW. He was quite the imperfect man, who did some terrible harms.

He also made some buildings.

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