Frank Lloyd Wright

In a 1952 article for Architectural Record magazine the self-proclaimed “greatest architect of all time,” Frank Lloyd Wright discusses, in his own cryptic way, Modern Architecture and that manner in which it is, or was at the time, falling into the “gutter of fashion.” Wright argues that the contemporary version of Modern Architecture is merely an offspring of his own Organic-Architecture and deviations run the risk of becoming styles—like the symmetrical brickwork of countless Georgian homes or the white stucco with dark brown half-timber of the Tudor homes.


Wright revered the American experience and believed that democracy was the best form of government. Throughout his life, he endeavored to create a new architecture that reflected the American democratic ideal, an architecture based solely on America's democratic values and human dignity. For Wright Organic-Architecture was far more than an aesthetic style, rather a new way to look at the structures in which society thrives. In a 1908 article for Architectural Record Wright lays out the integral parts of Organic-Architecture. One important attribute of Wright's principles of Organic-Architecture is a building’s relationship to its landscape, the nature of its materials, the use of a natural spectrum of colors.

The Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House. East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Photo Copyrights: Ben Pearson