When I had toured Hillside at Taliesin it had exceeded my expectations. I'd feared I might be disappointed by finding the place tattered and rough, but to the contrary, its patina and raw character was very powerful, with an aura & wear of creative adventure. Most powerful, of course, was the drafting studio. Where the really, really good stuff happened.
On the way into that great room, one crossed a bridge from the original school building, passing the Call Building model en route. Before entering the great studio there is a little stretch of compression where the hallway passes by a pair of flanking room, each curiously accessed by descending a few stairs that are screened by a half height wall. Entrances hardly noticeable but for a bright patch of red color. And the signage -- each is adorned with Wrightian font: "Dana Gallery" and "Charles E Roberts Room".
It struck me as an unusual thing: Frank Lloyd Wright putting someone else's name on a room in his building. But if he was to thus dedicate a part of his sanctum, Susan Lawrence Dana's name figured plausible -- the Dana house being one of his major accomplishments. But, Charles E Roberts?
Looking at original designs, we find first the 1928 Hillside Home School of Applies Arts:
We see the connecting bridge from the original Hillside school pass thru flanking rooms, on axis with a courtyard surrounded by apprentice quarters.
The flanking rooms are labeled "Painting" and "Sculpture":
Four years later, we arrive at the 1932 Taliesin Fellowship :
Although the overall ambitious scheme is radically different, we find the same pair of rooms flanking the central passageway which leads this time, not to an empty courtyard, but to the holy of holies.
