Customer Reviews

Frank Lloyd Wright

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Oustanding commentary, well researched and insightful. The text here is mighty different from other commentaries on Wright, and feels much more substantive. Ony con: not enough images + some floorplans are reproduced too small to read clearly. - not a photo overview, a study on the man.

This is a great book, not only as a reference for FLW's work, divided into sections of building type, containing hundreds of great photographs and drawings of his works (about 20 on Fallingwater alone), by which you can really get to know his work in detail. Because it's so visually rich, it is also a reference for constrution techniques and details (and, as you know, FLW is a very echletic architect). The text is very well written and covers everything related to each work, like clients' reviews, technical specifications, the story of the building, and so forth. I recommend it to anyone interested in architecture and FLW.

As a non-specialist who is admittedly rather ignorant of architectural history, this book was perfect for me. It avoids both excessive detail and incomprehensible jargon, yet covers the principal steps in Wright's 60-year career. I really got an idea of what he did and accomplished and what was so unique about it, which was exactly what I hoped to find. (McCarter's other book on FLW is huge with such long descriptions of interiors that I felt intimidated to open it.)

Essentially, Wright approached his buildings as personal works of art designed for the purchaser after long conversations on their desires (with a few glaring exceptions, due to a sudden excess of FLW's arrogance). He designed them from the inside out, with the greatest attention to detail as total works of art down to the furniture and even the clothes of residents, kind of like Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk, but for living space and quality of life. He also strove to orient them wrt the sun and other natural contours of the landscape. The range of buildings is far too complex and varied to describe here, of course, and I could have used more pics in the text to supplement McCarter's wonderful descriptions (easily available on the internet). I finally get it and will study his legacy in greater detail. Also, many of his homes were designed for the middle class, rather than exclusively for an aristocracy of the rich.

The wider context is also covered in just the right detail, that is, how Sullivan mentored Wright; how Wright rebelled against the neo-classical fashion as exemplified by the great Burnham; how he hated Corbusier, Mies van der Rowe, and Gropius. Finally, Wright's establishment of the two Taliesin campuses and their unique apprenticeship environment is covered, as are his many writings - a huge part of his legacy as passed on to students. (It makes me wish I had studied architecture.)

While McCarter obviously loves the man and his work, he does not shy from criticizing him, particularly as his self-critical sense seemed to fail him late in life, partially as a result of the constant sycophantic praise of his entourage and the strange domination that his third wife exerted. It is a very rounded portrait that appears fair to me. He also covers Wright's bitterness at what he felt was a lack of recognition, particularly as some of his greatest triumphs came late in life.

Warmly recommended. This book is a wonderfully light though substantial meal, as a preparation for deeper inquiry. It is an ideal intro.

This big book closely examines 3 of Wright's buildings, the Unity Temple, the Barnsdall (Hollyhock) House and the Johnson Wax Administration Building and Research Tower. There are about 5 floor plans for each building as well as 1 or 2 architectural drawings. Many of the photos are of details of each building and most are interior shots. There are a few full exterior shots of each building. There are about 60 pages with b&w photos. There's about 19 full page photos and about 7 of those are b&w. One color photo takes up 2 full facing pages. There's about 42 floorplans and about 60 architectural drawings. There's 2 pages of text only in the Introduction and about 52 pages with maybe half text, half color or b&w photos or floorplans or drawings. The text reads very much like a textbook.

It's certainly uncommon to find so many floor plans and having the book focus on just three buildings gives the author a real opportunity to go into great detail on each. With everything combined that this book offers, you get a much better grasp of the many details of each building, far more than you can with a book that spends 1 to 4 or even 10 pages on a single building. The photos are quite nice, the floor plans are all very clear and the drawings are well defined, not too light. In fact, it appears that some of the naturally lighter drawings have been slightly darkened for better viewability. It's a good book to own, if you don't mind a lot of floor plans, drawings and some b&w photos.

the building is beautiful.the columns used in johnson's wax company is mushroom type which give it a nice look and quite stable.in this columns there is no need of beams since the flange is working as beam.it is aesthetically very good.