Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House [Paperback]

Donald Hoffmann (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486271331
• ISBN-13: 978-0486271330
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,993,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Donald Hoffmann served as art and architecture critic of The Kansas City Star from 1965 to 1990. Born in Springfield, IL, in 1933, he was raised about two miles from Frank Lloyd Wright's house for Susan Lawrence Dana. He encountered Wright's house for Fred C. Robie when he entered the University of Chicago in 1949. After working for the City News Bureau of Chicago and the Illinois State Register in Springfield, he joined The Star in 1956. In the early 1960s he began independent studies of the architecture of John Wellborn Root and of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hollyhock Blame Game, December 24, 2007

By 

Patrick Curren "The no self" (The Happy Dream) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House (Paperback)

I have owned this book for well over 10 years and it is worn from the many times I have referred to it. My attraction to the Hollyhock House has been the Mayan temple aesthetics. I have within the last couple of days found the time to actually read it.

It is strictly a black and white book with no color at all. However, the photos are either from around the time it was built or post 1947 after FLW's son Lloyd Wright renovated it. This house was built during the construction of the Imperial Hotel which means that FLW did not spend much time in the States. The owner/contractor/architect team was very dysfunctional. A design this unique needed FLW to conduct site visits which he turned over to one of his draftsman, R. M. Schindler. Even Lloyd Wright avoided the house construction and spent his time landscaping Olive Hill. One of my favorite excerpts from one of his letters to the owner Arline Barnsdale in his explanation for why things went wrong or simply did not go at all is "Nobody really cared to protect the rich woman or understand the freak architect and his fool-work anyway......" In spite of such dysfunction, the house is clearly a Masterpiece! To add to the dysfunction, the owner never lived in the house.

Of further interest is how much the building aged/deteriorated in such a short period of time which can be clearly seen in the B&W photos. In such an arid climate, you would think that the building would hold up to the weather. To me this is proof that the wrong materials were used (IE plaster over concrete block vs. cast-in-place concrete). This might explain why the owner gave the house away to the city after construction. She could afford to build it but could not afford to maintain it!