Book Review: "Frank Lloyd Wright: The Architecture of Defiance"

[DavidC]

Review: Frank Lloyd Wright – The Architecture of Defiance by Jonathan Adams


David

[SDR]

I don't know if another Wright biographer has gone into the Welsh background of the Joneses to the extent that this one has; there are several hints in the review of depths previously unplumbed. Have we heard before of Iolo Morganwg, or the name of the trident symbol Wright occasionally used, ‘Nod y Cyfrin’ ?

Was he really the "best-paid draftsman in the city," at Adler & Sullivan ?

S

[Tom]

Glad to be introduced to this forthcoming book.
In the intro to this book (excerpts available on Amazon) Adams indicates that Unity Temple had strong precursors in the a certain chapel in Wales called: Llwynrhydowen in Ceregigion.
Here's an interesting website. Seems like a typical Wales chapel interior (Unitarian or otherwise) does resemble Unity:

https://welshchapels.wales/hen-dy-:cwrdd/

Had Wright traveled to Wales? I can't remember.
Also, Adams' intro says there is a Welsh BBC production on Wright.

Also found something on Iolo Morgannwg - click on link and scroll down:
https://welshchapels.wales/nonconformity/unitarian/

[SDR]

That church interior with the big square three-sided balcony is interesting.

And I can never forget the Welsh rock formation I saw in a photo, once; the natural striations, deep clefts between irregular layers of sedimentary rock, so reminiscent of Wright's tweedy Taliesin stonework . . .

S

[Roderick Grant]

Wright did visit Wales ... in the 1950s, long after designing Unity Temple.

I think FLW's father had much more influence on the architectural work than his mother did,

[SDR]

Okay. Example ?

S

[DavidC]

Frank Lloyd Wright's Little-Explored Welsh Roots and His Green Architecture


David

[SDR]

Does Jonathan Adams assert---and is it possible---that Wright saw, in person or otherwise, the Welsh chapel that is said to have influenced the design of Unity Temple ?

S

[Roderick Grant]

FLW had not been in Europe until 1909, 5 years after designing UT. And on that trip, he did not go to Wales.

[SDR]

Thanks. So, the chapel in question must have been published, in order for Wright to have been influenced by it. Or perhaps the process was some sort of osmosis ?

What do we think of the assertion that Unity Temple is "the first modern building" ?

S

[Reidy]

Siry's book on Unity Temple shows that the square, balconied layout was a pattern for Unitarian churches in the UK as far back as the 18th century. Wright wouldn't have seen them, but he could easily have heard about them from his family. He'd used the layout in the Abraham Lincoln Center.

[Roderick Grant]

...and for the theater ln the Imperial Hotel.

[SDR]

"Wright’s mother Anna was Welsh and had visited the chapel in her family’s ancestral home shortly before Wright began designing Unity Temple, and presumably brought word of it back to Wright." From a piece on the book in today's Wright Society update #338 . . .

S

[Roderick Grant]

Did Anna visit Chichen Itza and report back as FLW began designing Hollyhock House?

[daisymaria]

The game is designed with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to catch the fish.
moto x3m