Customer Reviews

The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion, Revised Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an expensive book but you need only buy it once and you will have readable plans and details of more than 470 Wright buildings. I love his work and have several books about the great man but I find that plans in other books are sometimes unreadable because of the reduction to fit on the page. William Storrer has redrawn them all and taken nearly all the black and white photos. These are to Wright's specification: exterior shots to be in a natural context and include foliage, interiors should be taken with natural light and from a seated position and as Storrer says, this last condition excludes most contemporary color photography of his work. Also included is a ZIP code index of the buildings if you want to visit and see the outside, lucky Illinois and Wisconsin have the most.

Brillliant though this book is I really wanted to see Wright's work in color and I can recommend 'The Vision of Frank Lloyd Wright' by Thomas A Heinz, an inexpensive 448 page book with a color photo of every building.

Both authors are experts on Wright and if you have these two books (and a table to support their weight) you will hardly need to buy any other books on America's greatest architect, then again I liked Doreen Ehrlich's 'Frank Lloyd Wright Glass' and Carla Lind's 'The Wright Style: the interiors of Frank Lloyd Wright' and......!

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I bought this book from Amazon.com based on the Star rating. I did not know if it was really valid. It is!

This book about Frank Lloyd Wright's designs give a conceptual overview to the evolution of his style. It is excellent for the novice, non architect (which I am). I have been able to visit three of his homes based on the directory in the back. It has also opened up other venues to help me arrive at a FLW inspired house that I am about to build. It is worth the cost if you are looking for the best single source of his work that I have been able to locate outside of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

My wife and I have made a hobby of studying Frank Lloyd Wright's residential architecture. We've visited Wright designed homes throughout the country and hope to build a Wright inspired Usonian-type retirement home. We have collected 20+ books depicting Wright's work to better inform ourselves and a yet to be selected architect and contractor of the proportions and details required to create "the look" we want to achieve. Of all the volumes in our collection, we find this one most useful--so useful that we will soon replace it because we've broken the binding lugging it around with too many pages of personal notes stuffed inside. It contains many things other works do not. Among them are the actual street address of every Wright-designed structure still standing and measured drawings of each construction. The drawings are important because the more commonly published original plans were often changed in the field to accommodate real world construction requirements. The structures are presented in chronological order and effectively demonstrate the refinement of Wright's design philosophy over time. This aspect is enhanced by insightful author's notes that succinctly describe the trend in Wright's evolving pursuit of a uniquely American architecture from era to era a single page that is often more informative than the chapter devoted to the same subject in other works. It isn't a "coffee table" book. Photos are black and white to better depict proportions and details without the distraction of color. For that reason, it is best used in conjunction with a more photographically-oriented volume and pairs well with Frank Lloyd Wright The Houses or, for those most interested in Wright's later works, Frank Lloyd Wright Mid-Century Modern. (Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses: Designs for Moderate Cost One-Family Homes also compliments this book for those primarily interested in mid-Century Modern design.) Cross referencing to Storrer's work is, however, key to getting the most out of these other volumes.

This is a very nice and important book about Frank Lloyd Wright,s architecture. High quality.

Excellent reference for all things Wright. Well organized and complete, contains many details about each home & traces Wright's evolution in his approach to design. Includes floor plans for many projects, as well as photographs for both existing & demolished works.

This book is indispensable for anyone serious about Wright or american or modern architecture. It contains detailed plans of every known work, and insightful commentary. If one could purchase only one book about Wright, to understand both the scope and detail of his whole work, this would be it.

This is the finest compendium of all built Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings and is a top ten book for any Frank Lloyd Wright Enthusiast. This wonderful book documents all of standing buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright with excellent photographs, floor plans, and well written commentary. As a Frank Lloyd Wright homeowner and architect I enjoy looking up the less well known Wright buildings. The author, William Storer, is a highly respected Wright scholar. This book is highly recommended for its breadth, accuracy, and scholarship on the work of America's Greatest Architect.

If you want a complete overview and Wright reference, get this. I have a growing large FLLW library and this is a great compliment to every book I have.

I found a lot of errors in the floor plans in the first edition of this book (which may have been corrected this time around). Also, I really object to the use of contemporary photos of buildings which have been heavily altered over the years. Other than that, this book is highly recommended and, in fact, essential.