Click *photo tour*; it's truly amazing; **The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright on the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, is a little known Central Florida treasure. Florida Southern College (FSC) has the largest concentration of Wright designed structures anywhere in the world with 10 buildings and two additional structures on campus, and is in the National Register of Historic Places.**
I've never visited it but have seen photos. As with all Wright's work, I'm sure it must be striking in person. I have to add it to my itinerary for my next trip to Florida.
I want to live in a FLW world.
Been there lots. My parents lived in Lakeland from 1981 the rest of their lives. Both my sister and her daughter got their degrees from Florida Southern. My niece was married in one of the chapels on campus. So I was on that campus often. There are found also more Wright creations in the residential areas.
And, BfloGuy, as you know, Buffalo, NY also has quite a number of turn-of-the-20th century Wright archetypes. One of them, the Heath house on Soldiers Place, was only a few moment's walk from my folks' home on Argyle Place, where I wrote my PhD thesis back in 1972-3. There were some more Wright houses not far away, up near the Buffalo Zoo.
Coincidentally, two of my boys lived in a house in Oak Brook, IL which (probably not designed by FLW) certainly was directly inspired (or copied) in its design in both exterior and interior influences and furnishings -- an impressive home in which to dwell and be comfortable. One somehow just felt ... well ... rich .. by the surroundings. Wright's home was not far away in Oak Park.
In grade school, I had wanted to become an architect, but later wound up as a research scientist. However, in the college libraries, I spent a lot of time scanning through the art and architecture periodicals in what little leisure was available. Wright was certainly a visionary (and perhaps a creator) of the lean, economical forms to come -- not a very moral person, but a shaper of futuristic amoral lifestyles emerging, bad or good ---
Thanks for the post that stirred reminiscing - of the implementation of his forms in ranch-style and split-level residences that really took hold after WWII - that is so markedly associated with a sea-change of styles and morality. (Interesting that the name "Wright" of the same era was connected with a new age of transportation --) Also interesting that the Prairie concept predated the beginning of the auto and aircraft age!
That was stunning .. thank you ! :-)