Building Taliesin

by Ron McCrea

Fig. 11. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Figs. 12, 13. Photographs by author

  Fig. 14. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Fig. 15. Photograph by author

  Fig. 16. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Fig. 17. Author’s collection

  Fig. 18. Photograph by author

  Figs. 19, 20. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Fig. 21. Author’s collection

  Fig. 22. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Fig. 23. Author’s collection

  Fig. 24. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum/photograph by Vladimir Terebenin Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets

  Figs. 25–27. Courtesy of Claes Von Heiroth, all rights reserved

  Fig. 28. Craig Wilson, Kite Aerial Photography

  Fig. 29. Spring Green, George Mann Niedecken, oil on canvas, 1912, Jody and Dick Golsman Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum

  Fig. 30. Craig Wilson, Kite Aerial Photography

  Fig. 31. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25569)

  Fig. 31.a. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25568)

  Fig. 31.b. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25566)

  Fig. 31.c. Montage by Roger Daleiden

  Fig. 32. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25567)

  Fig. 32.a. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25571)

  Fig. 33. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25570)

  Fig. 34. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25565)

  Fig. 35. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25559)

  Fig. 36. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25564)

  Fig. 37. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25558)

  Fig. 38. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–85168)

  Fig. 39. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–30463)

  Fig. 40. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–3879)

  Fig. 41. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–4010)

  Fig. 42. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–4009)

  Fig. 43. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–10204)

  Fig. 44. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–33372)

  Fig. 45. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–40006)

  Fig. 46. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25560)

  Fig. 47. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–4008)

  Fig. 48. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25548)

  Fig. 49. © Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona

  Fig. 50. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–25556)

  Figs. 51–53. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Figs. 54–64. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved

  Fig. 65. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Fig. 66. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29066)

  Fig. 67. Special Collections department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Fig. 68. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29071)

  Figs. 69–79. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved

  Fig. 80. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–290777)

  Figs. 81–86. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved

  Fig. 87. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29058)

  Fig. 88. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29048)

  Fig. 89. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29051)

  Fig. 90. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–28951)

  Fig. 91. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29056)

  Fig. 92. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29054)

  Fig. 93. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29053)

  Figs. 94–96. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved

  Fig. 97. © Pedro E. Guerrero

  Fig. 98. Courtesy of Elizabeth Catherine Wright

  Fig. 99. Collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust

  Fig. 100. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Fig. 101. Maginel Wright Barney, artist. Catherine Wright and Children, ca. 1905, pastel on paper, 29.625 x 22.187 in. (in frame), Collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, gift of Thomas and Mary Wright, 1976.07. Photographer: Philip Mrozinaki

  Fig. 102. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  Figs. 103–105. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved

  Fig. 106. Author’s collection

  Fig. 107. Courtesy of Butch Kmet

  Pages 109–113: Combined thumbnails of Taylor A. Woolley photographs courtesy of Utah State Historical Society, Wisconsin Historical Society, and J. Willard Marriott Library Department of Special Collections, University of Utah

  Fig. 108. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–23788)

  Fig. 109. Floyd Dell in 1914, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; gift of John Sloan Dickey, Class of 1929

  Fig. 110. Wright, Frank Lloyd (1867–1959) © ARS, NY. Living room from the Little House, Wayzata, Minnesota. 1912–1915. H. 13ft. 8 in. (4.17 m), L. 46 ft. (14 m), W. 28 ft. (8.52 m). Purchase, Emily Crane Chadbourne Bequest, 1972 (1972.60.1). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY and © 2013 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.

  Fig. 111. © Pedro E. Guerrero

  Fig. 112. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Figs. 113, 114. Courtesy of Carla Wright

  Figs. 115–117. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Fig. 118. Frank Lloyd Wright, American, 1867–1959, Avery Coonley Playhouse: Triptych Window, 1912, Clear and colored glass in oak frames. Art Institute of Chicago

  Fig. 119. New York Times obituary photograph

  Fig. 120. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Fig. 121. Author’s collection

  Fig. 122. Lake County (Illinois) discovery Museum, Curt Teich Postcard Archive

  Fig. 123. From the collection of Brian Spencer / Architect

  Fig. 123.a. Frank Lloyd Wright (American, 1867–1959), Plate from Midway gardens (Chicago), 1913, Porcelain, 7 5/8 in. (19.37 cm.), Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of George Talbot, Madison, WI M1978.259, Photograph credit John R. Glembla

  Fig. 124. Lake County (Illinois) discovery Museum, Curt Teich Postcard Archive

  Fig. 125. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Fig. 126. Courtesy of Hedda Jansson, Strand

  Fig. 127. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–29074)

  Figs. 128, 129. Courtesy of Hedda Jansson, Strand

  Fig. 130. Einar Nielsen, Ellen Key, © Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden

  Fig. 131–133. Courtesy of Björn Sjunnesson

  Fig. 134, 135. Author’s collection

  Fig. 136. Courtesy of Björn Sjunnesson

  Figs. 137–141. Author’s collection

  Fig. 142. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

  Fig. 143. Author’s collection

  Fig. 144. Ellen Key Archive, Royal Library of Sweden, Stockholm

  Fig. 145. Wisconsin Historical Socie
ty (WHI–25065)

  Figs. 146, 147. Courtesy of Björn Sjunnesson

  Fig. 148. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–72185)

  Fig: 149: Library of Congress, negative No. LC USZ 62 90042

  Fig. 150: Library of Congress, negative No. LC USZ 62 106490

  Fig. 151. Home News, Spring Green, Wisconsin

  Fig. 152. General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Washington, DC. www.gfwc.org

  Fig. 153. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83126)

  Fig. 154. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83017)

  Fig. 155. Department of Rare Books and Collections, University of Rochester

  Fig. 156. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83018)

  Fig. 157. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83114)

  Fig. 158. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83119)

  Fig. 159. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83010)

  Fig. 160. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–35055)

  Fig. 161. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83113)

  Figs. 162, 163. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–83123)

  Fig. 164. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–55871)

  Fig. 165. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–55872)

  Fig. 166. Wisconsin Historical Society (WHI–55870)

  Fig. 167. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Fig. 168. Courtesy of Patrick Mahoney

  Figs. 169–175. Office of the Iowa County Clerk, Dodgeville, Wisconsin

  Fig. 176. Dodgeville Chronicle, Dodgeville, Wisconsin

  Figs. 177–178. Ellen Key Archive, Royal Library of Sweden

  Fig. 179. Hedda Jansson, Strand

  Fig. 180. Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University). All rights reserved.

  Fig. 181. From Edna Meudt, The Rose Jar (Madison: North Country Press, 1990), reprinted with permission

  Fig. 182. Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona

  Fig. 183. Author’s collection

  Fig. 184. Author’s collection

  Fig. 185. Author’s collection. Photograph by Mark Hertzberg

  Fig. 186. Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ron McCrea is a prize-winning journalist and former Alicia Patterson Fellow who worked on the news desks of New York Newsday, the San Jose Mercury News, the Washington Post, the Washington Star, the Boston Globe, and The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, where he served for a decade as city editor and also, previously, as editor of the Madison Press Connection. He appears in the E! Entertainment Network’s documentary Mysteries and Scandals: Frank Lloyd Wright and the BBC’s Frank Lloyd Wright: Murder, Myth and Modernism, and wrote the script for “The Making of Monona Terrace: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Last Public Building,” which took finalist honors at the New York Film Festival. He serves on the board of directors of AIA Wisconsin/The Wisconsin Society of Architects, as a professional affiliate member and was the communications director for Wisconsin governor Tony Earl. He holds degrees from Albion College and the Fletcher School of law and diplomacy at Tufts University and lives in Madison.

  INDEX

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations

  Abraham Lincoln Center (Chicago), 52

  Addams, Jane, 52, 56, 137

  adultery: Borthwick-Wright scandal as, 3, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 57, 123–29, 131–32, 136, 139, 158, 161, 162, 202–3

  African Americans: as Hillside Home School students, 54, 56; Jenkin Lloyd Jones on, 52; Julian and gertrude Carlton as, 192, 197; Richard Lloyd Jones on, 58n.32

  Aguar, Charles and Berdeana, 179

  air shows, 29, 29

  All Souls Church (Chicago), 52

  Alofsin, Anthony, 9, 10, 21, 25, 120n.2, 131

  Amadeus (Shaffer), 29

  The American magazine, 153, 157–58

  Amusements at Gotenyama (Hiroshige), 150

  Anderson, Margaret, 8, 56, 154, 160

  Arata Endo, 134

  Architectural Record, 4, 133

  The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (Levine), 9

  Arizona. See Taliesin West

  “The Art and Craft of the Machine” (Wright), 56

  Art Institute of Chicago: Wright’s Hiroshige print show at, 134; Wright’s 1914 show at, 11, 80, 104, 137, 141, 142, 144, 145, 162

  Arts and Crafts movement, 9, 36

  Ashbee, Charles, 23, 27, 133

  Ashbee, Janet, 23, 25

  The Atlantic Monthly, 158

  Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright. See Wasmuth Portfolio (Studies and Executed Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright)

  Autobiography (Wright), 114, 136; Borthwick’s absence from, 5–6, 8–9, 170n.71; on “natural” house, 114–19; on natural world, 35–36; reason for writing, 8; on Taliesin fire, 191; on Zona Gale, 166

  Avery Coonley Playhouse, 6, 35, 105, 135–37, 137–39, 144; model of, 145; as self-contained world, 131

  Baker, Ray Stannard, 157

  “balloons-and-confetti” designs. See “kindersymphony” design

  Bank of Wisconsin, ix

  Barney, Maginel Wright (Wright’s sister). See Wright, Maginel

  Barnsdall, Aline, 56

  Bauhaus style, 9, 134

  Baxter, Anne, 106

  BBC, 10

  Beauty for All (Key), 9

  Beauty in the Home (Key), 9, 149, 151

  Behrens, Peter, 133

  Bendix, Max, 143

  Berger, Victor, 54, 56

  Berlin (Germany), 17, 25, 154

  Bible, 50

  Blake, William, 118

  Bock, Richard, 74, 143, 145

  Boehm, Fraulein, 154

  Bogutslawsky, Auralis K., 155–56, 160

  Bohrer, Florence Fifer, 53–54

  Booth, Sherman, 123

  Borthwick, Elizabeth V. (Lizzie), 24–25, 161, 162

  Borthwick, Mamah (Martha) Bouton: background of, 56, 151; burial of, 7, 193; cemetery marker of, 8, 8, 193; children of, 3, 24–25, 57, 151, 154, 161, 170n.81, 184, 185; divorce of, 3, 8, 15, 25, 57, 123, 154, 202; in europe, 4, 5, 14, 15, 17, 25, 28, 29–30, 105, 153, 154; as feminist, 6, 8, 11, 51, 56, 166, 202; financial independence of, 132, 147, 155; Key’s criticism of Wright and, 3, 147, 149, 155, 168; as Key’s translator, 3, 8, 9, 11, 19, 56, 127–28, 131, 133, 147, 151, 153–58, 160–61, 166, 168; letters of, discovery of, 147; letters of, to Key, 3, 9, 11, 17, 19, 24, 27, 128, 136, 139, 156–58, 157, 160, 161–62, 195; murder of, 5, 68, 189, 192, 193, 197; names used by, 8, 8, 25–26, 31n.1, 32n.19, 147, 148; personality and character of, 156–57, 158, 160–61, 168, 202–3; photos of, 3, 61, 147, 197, 202; scandal of Wright’s relationship with, 3, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 57, 123–29, 131–32, 136, 139, 158, 161, 162, 202–3; stays at Tanyderi before moving to Taliesin, 3, 24, 35, 57, 161; at Taliesin, 3–5, 60, 123–29, 154, 161–62, 198; Taliesin I built for, 5, 10, 36, 192; visit to Key by, 146, 148, 149, 154; Wright’s lies about, 25; Wright’s omission of, in his autobiography, 5–6, 8–9, 170n.71

  Bossard, Marcus, 192

  Boyle, T. C., 12n.12

  Brodelle, Emil, 138, 141, 189, 192, 194, 196

  Browne, Maurice, 56

  Browning, Robert, 56, 151

  Brunker, Thomas, 189, 193, 194

  Bryn Mawr Hill (near Taliesin), 37

  “bungalow,” 175. See also Taliesin

  Burns, Ken, 10

  California: Woolley in, 60, 61, 133; Wright in, ix

  Canada: Borthwick with her children in, 23, 25, 154

  The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), 10

  Carbondale (Illinois) Daily Free Press, 126

  Carlton, Gertrude, 189, 192, 196

  Carlton, Julian, 5, 188–89, 191–94, 196–98, 201, 202, 207; death certificate for, 195; murder weapon used by, 18
8; photo of, 195

  Casa Ricci (Fiesole), 30

  Catherine Wright and Children (Barney), 105

  The Century of the Child (Key), 149

  Cheney, Edwin (Borthwick’s husband): Borthwick’s candor with, 21, 23; Borthwick’s divorce from, 3, 8, 15, 23, 25, 57, 123, 154, 202; Borthwick’s marriage to, 151; Borthwick’s sister as living in home of, 24–25, 161, 162; remarriage of, 25, 161, 202; Taliesin burial expenses of, 193; at Taliesin murder scene, 191, 201

  Cheney, Elsie Millor (the second Mrs. Edwin Cheney), 25, 162, 202

  Cheney, John (Borthwick’s son), 151, 170n.81; in Canada with Borthwick, 23, 25, 154; custody and care of, 3, 24–25, 57, 161; murder of, 5, 68, 189, 193, 202; summers at Taliesin, 25, 184, 185, 188, 189, 200, 202–3

  Cheney, Mamah Bouton Borthwick. See Borthwick, Mamah Bouton

  Cheney, Martha (Borthwick’s daughter), 151, 170n.81; in Canada with Borthwick, 23, 25, 154; custody and care of, 3, 24–25, 57, 161; murder of, 5, 68, 189, 191, 193, 193, 200–201, 202; summers at Taliesin, 25, 184, 185, 188, 189, 200, 202–3

  Chicago (Illinois): goethe Street townhouse plans for, 7, 25, 144; Hillside Home School students from, 51, 53, 57; Jenkin Lloyd Jones in, 52; press scandal in, regarding Wright-Borthwick relationship, 57, 123–25, 127–29, 131, 136, 161, 162, 202; Wright moves to, following Taliesin fire and murders, 198; Wright’s architectural office in, 60, 195. See also Art Institute of Chicago; Chicago Renaissance; Midway Gardens; Oak Park (Illinois); specific institutions, homes, and people in

  Chicago Architectural Club, 104, 137, 142, 144, 162

  Chicago Evening Post Friday Literary Review, 11, 127–28, 154

  Chicago Opera Theater, 6, 7

  Chicago Renaissance, 56, 127

  Chicago Tribune: on Midway Gardens, 143–44; and Wright-Borthwick relationship, 57, 123–25, 127–29, 136, 161, 202

  China, 177

  Christian Science, 137

  Civil War, 51–52

  Clementson, George, 197

  Cole, A., 132

  Collier’s magazine, 55

  The Common Lot (Herrick), 56

  Coonley, Avery, 135, 137

  Coonley, Prentiss, 137

  Coonley, Queen Ferry, 135, 137, 137–39

  Coonley Playhouse. See Avery Coonley Playhouse

  Corbeil, Karen, 170n.81

  Current Literature magazine, 154

  Dana, Susan Lawrence: house of, 16, 27, 74, 105