Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin

 In the nineteenth century a number of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Welsh ancestors settled in the Wyoming Valley of Wisconsin.  Born in 1867, Wright grew up spending summers on this land often working on an uncle’s farm there. As a young adult he began to buy land from his relatives from whom he also inherited land.  Eventually he owned 2,700 acres.

He began building a home there and in 1911 moved there with his lover, Mamah Borthwick.  Named “Taliesin,”  a Welsh word meaning something like “the brow of the hill,” Wright lived and worked there for the remainder of his life.

Yesterday, Trish and I spend a lot of the day visiting the estate and the home.

The home is so large, and its arms and wings encircle the top of the hill, that it is impossible to photo the whole thing.  Wright measured the total of Taliesin at 37,000 square feet, but, he included the enclosed garden spaces in that measurement believing that, done right, the outdoor space was part of the building.

You enter the house through small doors and low hallways designed to prevent lingering.  After the small entryway, the large rooms seem bigger than ever once all the way inside.

As we moved through the house, it was clear that this was space in which to live, not just look at.  There are 22 fireplaces and little nooks within rooms that make you want to hide out with a book.

Windows are everywhere truly blending outdoors with indoors everywhere.  The grounds feel very intimate rather than sprawling.  The overall effect of the total site is restfulness.  We last visited the huge studio where Wright taught dozens of students at a time. 

Overlooking the whole is the windmill Wright built.  Nicknamed “Romeo and Juliet” it has withstood storms that flattened conventional metal windmills. The design makes the wind circle the structure rather than blow against it.

This was a wonderful day of eye-filling education!