Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, a Frank Lloyd Wright Design

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church and Entrance

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last architectural designs, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Designed by Wright in 1959 shortly before his death, the building was completed in 1961. The church is located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee just west of the city, though often the site is incorrectly given as Milwaukee.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church with Rose Garden

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church with Rose Garden © 2011 Bo Mackison

We visited the church in June of this year, during the Wright and Like 2011 Tour, and were able to tour and photograph both the exterior and the interior of the building. All Greek Orthodox churches have domes, and this church is no exception. I think this dome is especially lovely, matched against the bright blue summer sun.

Detail of Dome of Annunciation Church

Detail of Dome of Annunciation Church © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Church is beautifully done, both the exterior and the interior. The dome’s support is very modern in style and part of its weight rests on a concentric concrete form.

In 1958, when the leaders of the church went to Spring Green to discuss the plans of the church with Wright, they were sent away several times without any definitive answers. Finally, in desperation, the men said they had to have information about the church or they would have to consider hiring a different architect. So the story goes, Mr. Wright looked at the assembly of church leaders before him, took his coffee cup and saucer, drank the last of the coffee, and then turned the cup upside down and placed it on the saucer.

“There,” Wright said. “There is your church. Your church will resemble this cup and saucer.”

Evidently, that was enough of a plan for the men from the church, Wright went ahead with the commission, and the next time they met, Wright had plans drawn up that they could examine.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gateway to Taliesin

Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center in Spring Green Wisconsin

Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center © 2010 Bo Mackison

Frank Lloyd Wright designed this building, now the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, in 1953. Wright designed the building, located next to Taliesin, Wright’s summer home, to be the “Gateway to Taliesin.” With a restaurant and meeting rooms, Wright planned to use the center when entertaining his potential clients.

Wright began construction in late 1953, but the building was not completed before his death in 1959. Eventually a former apprentice finished construction and operated a restaurant, the Spring Green, on the premises for over 25 years.

In Red, Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center Sign in Spring Green Wisconsin

In Red, the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center Sign © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Wright Foundation purchased the building in 1993 and converted it into a visitor center and bookstore/gift store. A restaurant, the Riverside Terrace Cafe,  also operates in the building.

It is also the hub for the Wright building tours in the Spring Green area. All visits to the Wright buildings — Taliesin, the Hillside School that Wright designed for his aunts, the Unity Chapel used by the maternal side of Wright’s family, the Romeo and Juliet Windmill Tower, and Tan-yi-deri, the home Wright built for his sister — leave on bright red buses from the reception area.

Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, Wisconsin River View, in Spring Green Wisconsin

Wisconsin River View of Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center © 2011 Bo Mackison

The building commands a lovely view, perched on a bluff overlooking the Wisconsin River. The visitor center is open daily to the public from late April through the end of October, and on weekends in November and April. It is located on Wisconsin County Highway C, only a minute’s drive across the Wisconsin River from Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Taliesin, and Wisconsin, are celebrating the centennial of the Taliesin Estate this year with museum offerings and special tours throughout the state. I plan to take photographs of all the Wright buildings in Wisconsin that are open to the public during 2011 in honor of the Centennial. This is the second building in the Wright Centennial series. The Seth Petersen Cottage was the first in the series.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She will be visiting and taking photographs of all the Wright designed buildings in Wisconsin that are open to the public in 2011.

Daydreaming in The Garden Room

Taliesin West - Garden Room

Taliesin West – Garden Room

I would like to be relaxing in this room – right this very moment! Maybe with a book in hand, or a notebook filled with words that flowed easily from mind to paper, and so now my writing project is neatly done.

Maybe I’m drinking an iced tea, or even better, indulging in a fudge brownie and a glass of cold milk. And while I’m daydreaming, I’ll go all out – the sunlight is streaming through the windows, and warming my face. Warming my soul.

A Nice Place to Relax

A Nice Place to Relax

Say, this is a daydream, right? Maybe Mr. Wright will walk through the door, in an amiable and expansive mood, and share a few of his theories on architecture, or better yet, tell stories of the happenings of his boyhood, about the land he lived on and loved, and where he built the other Taliesin, the home and studio where he spent his summers, Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Taliesin West, Scottsdale Arizona

Blue Seating in the Garden Room

This is in the Garden Room at Taliesin West, Mr. Wright’s winter home and studio on Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s a sprawling complex, now the winter home for the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. The school moves east to summer in Wisconsin from May through October, just as Wright and his family did when they were alive.

Amusingly enough, on a recent tour through Taliesin West, our guide was an architect and an instructor at the architecture school. He had made the acquaintance of Wright several times. He mentioned that one of Wright’s express wishes was “Don’t ever attach my name to anything having to do with a school.” Though Wright appeared to get his way much of the time, seems no one paid attention to that request (or demand) once he was no longer around to speak up.

Taliesin West is a wonderful space to visit, the tour guide was knowledgeable and witty, and had a rather genius way of passing on Wright’s heritage and philosophy.

Taliesin West – Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home in the Desert

Pool and Courtyard

Pool and Courtyard

One of my first stops was to see Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. I took many photographs – the tour guide was most kind and accommodating – and I will have more to post. More info about the architecture, too.

John and Ruth Pew House, A Frank Lloyd Wright Design

On the Shore of Lake Mendota

On the Shore of Lake Mendota in Madison

The Pew House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1938-40, is seldom available for public tours, so it was with great enthusiasm that I explored this home, inside and outside, during the Wright and Like Tour held last June. Even dodging rain drops for most of the day didn’t dampen the spirit of the day. It was a good day for photographs – no bright mid-day sun – but the home is positioned neatly over a ravine on the shores of Lake Mendota, and taking any kind of photos requires gymnastics and compromises. To get a lake view, I hiked down the path towards the dock, but could never really take a photograph that truly captures the lines and beauty of this structure. There simply wasn’t enough space to get a photo of the entire home, even with my wide angle lens, and vegetation partly hides the part of the home I was able to shoot.

Hidden from View

Hidden from View, Lake Side

Not much of a view from the dock, or from Lake Mendota. The view from a boat would give you no clue that a Wright home was tucked into this hillside.

The home is a two-story Usonian design, unusual but delightfully compact and full of Wright’s built-ins. In one of the small bedrooms, tiny in size, the room worked well because everything was built into the room – bed, desk, storage. No photos were allowed of the interior of the house, but it is full of charm typical of Wright’s style.

I read a delightful story about an interview with Ruth Pew who voiced unhappiness with the home for the first two years she lived there. It seems she felt that Mr. Wright did not take her wants and needs into consideration when he designed the home, and she was nearly ready to put the home on the market. Instead, she decided she would “give the house a year without struggling with it.” And in that year, she discovered that the home had been built not for the woman she was, but for “the woman I could become.” Talk about self-discovery!

View from Deck into Living Room

View from Deck into Living Room

The Pew House is referred to as a “poor man’s Fallingwater,” because it was built straddling a ravine (instead of Fallingwater’s stream) and on a tight budget with salvaged materials. According to a docent on the tour, one of the windows in the living room had to be replaced because the faint logo of a local establishment became evident after the house was inhabited.

The Wright and Like Tours are held annually, in a different Midwest city, each June. 2010’s tour will be in Racine, Wisconsin. If you are a Wright fan, it’s a great opportunity to see a half dozen or so buildings designed by Wright and his contemporaries.