FLW's Involvement With The Arizona Biltmore?

[Wrightgeek]

This story was part of an article on mydesert.com about several of Wright's works in the Phoenix area. I've not heard this version of the situation before. Anyone else?

Not Wright

The Arizona Biltmore, which opened in 1929, was designed by Albert Chase McArthur. He mistakenly believed Wright to be the patent holder on a technique he wanted to use called “textile block construction� and offered Wright $10,000 to license the patent.

Wright leased him the patent, despite the fact that he wasn't the true owner of the patent. What is more, Wright came down to Arizona to oversee its use as an unasked consultant and got in the way of construction until being asked to leave. (He was later sued by the true owner of the patent.)

Wright told conflicting stories for the rest of his life about his part in the design of the Biltmore — everything from disavowal for a design he called “lacking even the most primitive elements of good design� to a wink-and-nod assertion that the design was really his.

It was not the first time Wright prevaricated, nor the last.

[pharding]

IMO Albert Chase McArthur was the Architect with Frank Lloyd Wright as Associate Architect.

[Roderick Grant]

Albert Chase McArthur was the son of FLW's early client Warren McArthur, a long-time friend of Wright's who introduced him to E. E. Boynton. Albert worked at the Oak Park Studio from 1907 to 1909, receiving the only training in architecture that he had. His college degree was in engineering. Albert's brothers, Charles and Warren, Jr., were the developers of the hotel, and they hired their brother to do the design. McArthur's plan for the Biltmore was done by 1927. Upon asking Wright for assistance in 1928, FLW joined McArthur as a consultant on the job and was paid $10,000 for use of the textile patent, which McArthur believe FLW owned, but did not.

Analysis of the structure (pre-1972 when TAA worked on the hotel after a disastrous fire) shows signs of FLW's influence, primarily in the "Aztec Room" -- a the delightful multi-faceted dining room near the entrance -- and the tower nearby. But by 1928, just a year before the hotel opened, the plan was more or less set, and FLW's contribution was more in detailing and instructions in how to use the block than in planning. Much confusion persists about who should get credit, Olga commandeering credit for FLW in the 70s. Truth is, most of the design was McArthur's. The best source for accurate information is in Bob Sweeney's book, "Wright In Hollywood" pages 120-140.

[m.perrino]

I am in agreement with Roderick. It has always been my opinion, from what I have read and heard, that Wrights involvement was limited to the design, fabrication and application of the textile blocks, which indeed we all are now aware, he held no patent. To what extent he inserted himself into the total design, past being that of a 'consultant on the project', we may never be certain. Despite some nods and sly winks by others, to my knowledge, Wright never claimed the Biltmore as his own.

[Rood]

It has always been my opinion, from what I have read and heard, that Wrights involvement was limited to the design, fabrication and application of the textile blocks ... . To what extent he inserted himself into the total design, past being that of a 'consultant on the project', we may never be certain. Despite some nods and sly winks by others, to my knowledge, Wright never claimed the Biltmore as his own.

If you could see and compare the original plans for the Biltmore Hotel with Mr. Wright's total revamping of MacArthur's backward looking 19th Century design, you'd understand at first glance that Wright's contribution goes way beyond the mere design of concrete blocks. Still, Wright's control over the design was limited ... he opposed the construction of a third floor, for instance. But just enter the original upstairs "smoking room", with its skylight and vertical, pierced-block fireplace, and you are transported into the real thing.

[Reidy]

Have the original plans ever been published? Could you post some of them? The fact that they changed is not proof that Wright changed them.

Did Wright ever do a perforated-block fireplace? Ennis has some perforated blocks in the ceiling above the main fireplace, but that's the closest I can recall.

[Rood]

Have the original plans ever been published?
Not to my knowledge.

Could you post some of them?
No. I don't have access to them.

The fact that they changed is not proof that Wright changed them.
True, but if he didn't who did? I briefly saw what I took to be the original drawings at Taliesin West during the reconstruction of the Biltmore in the early 70's, after the destructive fire. That's nearly 40 years ago, now, but I'll never forget my astonishment at seeing MacArthur's design ... so utterly different from the building that was built. Had the hotel been constructed from those drawings, I'm fairly confident that the building would have been torn down long ago. They are absolutely pedestrian.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph 1924-1936 features six pages of drawings and photographs of the Biltmore Hotel. The seven drawings are clearly in Wright's hand. How much of the basic plan and layout is Wright and how much is MacArthur may be debatable, but those drawings, those spaces, are pure Frank Lloyd Wright.

Did Wright ever do a perforated-block fireplace?
Other than in the Biltmore? I'm searching my memory, but let me get back to you on that one. Essentially, the Biltmore "smoking room" is a vertical space ... two stories high, and the fireplace was designed as a vertical feature of that room, with logs meant to stand upright, so that flames could be seen dancing through the perforated blocks.

Vertical spaces and vertical fireplaces are somewhat rare in Mr. Wright's work. Offhand, I can think of only a few ... The balcony fireplace at Wingspread, the living room fireplace in the Clinton Walker house in Carmel, and the fireplace for the penthouse office of the Price Tower. Perhaps someone will be able to recall a few more.

The outer block wall of the main Biltmore stairway is also perforated. I believe some of those blocks can be seen from the street, but obviously Mr. Wright was having fun when the designed the "smoking room".

Ennis has some perforated blocks in the ceiling above the main fireplace, but that's the closest I can recall.

The Ennis fireplace has always puzzled me ... For some reason it appears almost an afterthought, tucked away in the hall ... but then I've never been in the house to experience those rich spaces, so perhaps it works as a unifying feature.

[Paul Ringstrom]

The Ennis fireplace has always puzzled me ... For some reason it appears almost an afterthought, tucked away in the hall ... but then I've never been in the house to experience those rich spaces, so perhaps it works as a unifying feature.

I certainly agree with you on that. From what I understand Ennis, in many ways, was not built as designed.

[Roderick Grant]

The patterned blocks in the ceilings above all three Ennis fireplaces were to have been perforated, but are solid. They all relate to FLW's system of ventilation to help the fireplaces draw properly. The gallery fireplace was designed to hold logs upright.

I suppose most people think of the fireplace as a place around which to huddle on cold and stormy nights. In California, that's hardly a concern. Here the fireplace is a design conceit, and if used only when weather demanded, would stand cold about 360 days a year. Since Ennis was a Jazz Age house, with large-scale entertaining in mind (the dining room is the biggest room in the house), the fireplace was off to the side so it would not be too hot for the cocktail set, one might imagine.

Another 'vertical log' fireplace is the one in the court of Harold Price, Sr. House in Phoenix. I can tell you that when that fireplace is going full-throttle, it emits enough heat to make getting past it to enter the bedroom wing a hellish experience.

[Roderick Grant]

Paul, that's correct. So many changes were made to Ennis that FLW disowned the house and wrote unflattering things about Mabel Ennis. For one thing, white marble does not belong anywhere in the house. Visiting the house when a famous radio personality (not Nesbit) owned it, FLW was almost apoplectic when he saw the marble. He also did not design the art glass windows.

(The radio personality was Gayelord Hauser, a nutritionist.)

[Wrightgeek]

Graycliff has a "vertical-log" fireplace, and I believe that the Fawcett Residence does as well.