Looking for Mr. Wright

We went to visit phine phriends in Phoenix.  Actually, they are renting a big house in Scottsdale.  When Becky was driving us there from the airport, I noted a sign on Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard pointing to Taliesin West.

"Taliesin?  Cool!" I exclaimed.  "Let's go."

"Sure," said Becky.  "What's Taliesin?"  Got to give her credit for being adventurous.  

As it turned out, Frank Lloyd Wright, America's best known architect, once spent winters in his residence that was practically their back yard.  

Mary and I popped in the next day.

One of the greeters.

The cacophony of rocks, cement, wood and cacti
that greet your approach.

Frank and I have rock collecting in common.
His don't fit in a suitcase.
They also have native petroglyphs on them.
His favorite was the "whirling arrow," which is the interlocking spirals.

He also liked these creepy ceramic scenes from Asia.

This is the outside wall of Mr. Wright's office.
He inserted local stone, flat side to the form, before he poured in the concrete.
Actually, his students did most of the work.

Our guide waxes poetic.
Our mass-produced doors are pathetically orthogonal.

I am holding the camera completely level inside Mr. Wright's office.
For many years, there was no glass in the window openings...only the canvas roof above.
Finally, his 3rd wife, Olgivanna, convinced him that cleaning up after the coyotes every year
was more objectionable than impeding airflow.

The odd little short-legged chairs.
He was 5' 9" tall...I don't get it.
Perhaps he liked talking down to people.

The main workroom is on the right.
That's where the students slave over their drawing boards, among other things.
Architecture schools everywhere are sadistic to their students.

A nice view of the compound.
Mr. Wright put in the lawn, against his general principle of using native flora,
so that his students would have a place to sit.
After lifting huge boulders for making walls.

Returning from Wisconsin one year, he was greeted by power lines fouling his view.
Understandably upset and unable to convince the politicians to move them, he put up walls
to change the predominant view to the opposite direction. 

The view of the McDowell Mountains is not bad either.

The bronze work of Heloise Crista is all over the place.

Ports allowing light and air into the structure.
Can you guess how much rain they get here?

The orange orchard is up the steps and down the lane.

The breezeway between the residence and dining room
shows the remnants of the rain we brought with us.

The small theater has multiple curious lighting systems.
Mr. Wright once watched John Wayne movies here.
With John Wayne.

More bronze from Ms. Crista.
She is one of Mr. Wright's apprentices still residing at Taliesin,
beginning her residence in 1949.

The woman of many faces.
Mary liked this one.

The cabaret is the smaller of two theaters on the property.
With no parallel surfaces in the irregular hexagon, sound propagates without reflection.
Would be a great place to see....er ah...Cabaret.

More shorty chairs with an equally short table.
I don't think John Wayne sat here.

Love the piano alcove.

The nicely trapezoidal exit from the cabaret.
Why not?
The upper portions of people are also wider.

Students at Taliesin are encouraged to stay in tents
or shelters of their own design.
"Learn by doing," said Mr. Wright, who never obtained any degree.

Our guide provided a parting anecdote.  While on the witness stand, Mr. Wright was asked for his occupation.  "I am the world's greatest living architect," he replied. 

Later, his wife protested.  "Frank, you should be more modest."

"You forget, Olgivanna, I was under oath."