Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen - Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 2nd Edition

Copyright 2014 by Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen

All rights reserved

Second edition

Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 978-1-61374-474-1

Cover and interior design: Sarah Olson

Cover photos: Front cover: Frank Lloyd Wright, Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images; Guggenheim, courtesy of the author; Fallingwater, Paul Rocheleau; Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Authors collection; Unity Temple, Paul Rocheleau Back cover: Dining room and playroom grill, Greg Allegretti, A.I.A; Wright family, The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust; Christmas illustration, Delineator Magazine, December 1912 Cover and interior illustrations: James Spence

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thorne-Thomsen, Kathleen.

Frank Lloyd Wright for kids : his life and ideas / Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen. Second edition, revised and expanded.

pages cm (For kids series)

Summary: An engaging, kid-friendly exploration of Americas leading architect and his work This revised and updated edition of a longstanding classic, Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids, details the life, times, and work of the celebrated architect. Through simple, kid-friendly prose and anecdotes, author Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen describes the influences of Wrights Wisconsin childhood filled with nature, music, and close family ties; his struggles to find work as a young architect; the unique style that led him to the top of his profession; and masterpieces such as the Robie House, Hollyhock House, Fallingwater, the Guggenheim, and many others. Also discussed are Wrights sometimes controversial private and public life and the people and times that influenced him and vice-versa, with new sidebars on topics such as the Chicago and Bauhaus schools of architecture, Friedrich Froebel and his toy blocks that enchanted Wright as a child, and the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. Budding architects will delve into architectural and design concepts while having fun through 21 hands-on projects, such as creating an edible model of Fallingwater, making a miniature Japanese kite, reading an architectural plan, and much more. A time line, glossary, bibliography, and list of houses to visit are also included Provided by publisher.

Summary: Revised and updated edition of a longstanding classic that details the life, times, and work of Americas most celebrated architectProvided by publisher.

21 activities.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61374-474-1 (paperback)

1. Wright, Frank Lloyd, 18671959Juvenile literature. 2. ArchitectsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. I. Title.

NA737.W7T56 2014

720.92dc23

[B]

2014006951

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

For Graham and James, who grew up with the first edition; for Paul Rocheleau, who contributed his fine architectural photography; and for Mark.

With special thanks to Elaine Rocheleau, Greg Allegretti, A.I.A., David Bagnall, Lisa Marine, and Lisa Reardon.

CNTENTS

Index

Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio, Oak Park, Illinois. Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record collections/Wikimedia Commons

INTRDUCTIN

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT WORKED on his last architectural projects in 1959more than 50 years ago. A few years after his death, a song written by Paul Simon called So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright became very popular. The songs lyrics spoke of missing Frank and the inspiration he offered to everyone, especially the singer, who said that Frank could change ones point of view.

Frank Lloyd Wright lived a long and productive life. He worked on more than 400 architectural projects and was flexible enough to change his own point of view many times over the 70-year span of his career. His work morphed from Victorian Shingle style to Prairie (his own brand of Arts and Crafts) style, to Textile Block (his own brand of Art Deco) style, to Usonian (his own brand of Modernism) style to, in his final years, his very own wildly creative, very geometric, internationally famous Frank Lloyd Wright style. With each change, he incorporated his original idea of basing his architecture on the basic geometric shapesthe circle, square, and triangleand the inspiration he found in nature.

Frank was only one of a dozen well-known American architects who were working at the same timefrom the late 1800s through the mid-1900s. Architects Henry Hobson Richardson, Louis Sullivan, William Le Baron Jenney, Daniel Burnham, Charles and Henry Greene, Walter Gropius, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe made significant contributions to American architecture. But no one has ever written a popular song about them. Not one of them changed their point of view as many times as Frank Lloyd Wright did. Read the story of his life to answer the question: Why does Frank Lloyd Wright continue to be Americas best-known architect?