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What We Can Learn About Historic Preservation from Frank Lloyd Wright

Though Wright designed over a hundred modest American System-Built Homes he quickly cancelled the program with only twenty or so built and filed away the drawings forever when he realized that his art would not be preserved if its occupants didn't themselves participate in the preservation.

Frank Lloyd Wright assumed that we would be kind to each other

Through features like the Place of Greeting, we can see that Wright assumed that working-class people - the people with modest means who would live in and visit his ASBH designs - were inherently kind, trusting and trustworthy.

Caring for the Forsaken

We bought Frank Lloyd Wright's Elizabeth Murphy House with a plan to restore and care for her, but quickly discovered a curious and unexpected form of stewardship. Like nuns in a 19th century orphanage, we find ourselves caring for the forsaken.

Three contemporaneous Wright draftsmen, three fates

Antonin Raymond and Rudolph Schindler escaped Frank Lloyd Wright's wrath when the American System-Built Program was summarily cancelled and covered up in 1917. Russell Barr Williamson did not.

Did you miss the tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Elizabeth Murphy House? Here is a recording.

zoom tour

Take a virtual tour of the Elizabeth Murphy House, Frank Lloyd Wright's American System-Built Model A203 and his last completed dwelling in the Prairie Style.

Correcting a Wrightian mistake – but at a cost

It is not a spoiler alert to say that after Frank Lloyd Wright sued Richards and cancelled the ASBH program in 1917, Richards and Williamson continued designing and selling Prairie Style homes around Milwaukee. Distinguishing those homes from Wright's ASBH work can be difficult. Here is a clue.