Taliesin

This estate was inherited by Frank Lloyd Wright from his two aunts who started a school on the property. Frank, at the age of 20, designed the building for the school when it expanded and eventually located his school for architectural students in the building.  Some additions to the building were designed and built by his students, and a portion of the place did burn because of their inexperience.

The Wright house was built up the hill above the school and barn and overlooked the whole valley.  Taliesin (pronounced Tally-eh-sin) is a Welsh word meaning ‘shining-brow’ since it was built on the brow of the hill. It was completed in 1911.  In 1914 a disgruntled employee set fire to the living quarters and murdered Wright’s mistress and six others.  Another fire in1925 was the because of electrical problems.   Wright lived here until his death in1959.  He left the house and the 600 acre estate to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  

The tour started at the Architectural school, then we rode up the hill past The Romeo and Juliet Windmill, across the small dam and past the Midway barns to the house.  In most of Wright’s homes, he designed all the furniture but his wife wanted more comfortable seating and she won out.  One piece that I found interesting was the wooden music stand that was created for a quartet of stringed instrumentalist.