The rugged beauty of the Scottsdale landscape near the foothills of the McDowell
Mountains inspired famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright to set up shop here in
1937. The home he built for himself he named Taliesin West. It became more well-known
internationally than any of the many townhomes, Toronto to Tokyo, could ever
hope to be. Since then it has become one of the premiere examples of desert
architecture and a popular tourist destination. If you're planning on
moving to Scottsdale or even just visiting, this historic site is definitely
worth a look, especially if you're planning on building your own home
and are looking for inspiration.
Over his lifetime, Frank Lloyd Wright designed more than 1,000 projects and
hundreds of famous buildings across the continent bear his distinctive stamp.
His designs focused on organic architecture, where building and nature would
exist alongside and in harmony with one another rather than simply plowing the
fields level and plonking down the same suburban boxes of Willowdale real estate.
He also designed furniture and interiors, wrote books, and taught. He was recognized
in 1991 as the greatest American Architect of all Time by the American Institute
of Architects.
The house at Taliesin West was designed not only as a personal home but also
as the headquarters of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, where
students would gather to learn to reach their full potential as designers. The
house and the surrounding desert landscape compliment one another. Wright extracted
gravel, sand and stone from the rugged mountain site and used them as construction
materials. Because the weather is so mild, Wright didn't need to use wall
mounted boilers to heat it. In fact, he used redwood and canvas to create a
light, tent-like roof that allowed the house to be lit naturally.
Frank Lloyd Wright used the house from 1937 until his death in 1959. He and
his students continually added to and expanded the building to suit their needs.
They designed many famous buildings from the studios at Taliesin West, including
the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The building is still used as the winter
home for the school to this day, and now also houses the Frank Lloyd Wright
Foundation, which maintains an archive of his work and protects the copyrights
on his designs so they're not used to hitch up Leaside
real estate for the tourism value. They're reserved for educational purposes.
Taliesin West is on the National Register of Historic Places and is an official
historic landmark. The private quarters of Mr. and Mrs. Wright have been restored
in recent years and the whole house is open to the public. If you're tired
of looking at Toronto real estate and are in Scottsdale for the winter, you
can easily book a tour of Taliesin West and its grounds, which include several
gardens. The National Park Service has also submitted the house and nine other
sites relating to Frank Lloyd Wright to the United Nations in a bid to have
them listed as World Heritage sites. |