Sightseeing Day:
- Taliesin Home
- Taliesin School of Architecture
Today was a long-awaited visit to Taliesin (pronounced “tăl-ē-ĕs-in”)--the summer home and architectural school of Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW). Taliesin is Welsh for "shining brow." FLW believed you should never build on top of a hill because you lose the hill. If you build into it at the "brow" you can enjoy the view up and the view down. (This picture was taken from the crest of the hill that is above the house.) I have been dreaming of going to this home for years. So, I was eager to begin the day.
We stopped for a drive-through meal at Mickey-Ds and began the trip to Spring Green. We had driven by his home and school on our way to the House on the Rock, so it was a pretty direct drive. We were surprised to see that the flooding situation had not subsided yet.
I did forget to mention that on our first trip to Spring Green, we had seen these “cages” with metal cone roofs. We couldn’t quite figure out what they were; then, we spotted their intended use--corn cribs. I had heard of them, but had never seen one.
We arrived at 11 AM for our noon tour. We walked around the gift shop and grabbed a cup of java at the café while waiting. The café overlooks the Wisconsin River, so it was quite peaceful. FLW designed this building as well.
We were taken by van-bus to the home. We could take pictures of the outside. But, of course, none on the inside (I have included some stock photos from their site). This home was quite different from the Dana-Thomas home in Springfield, IL, or from FLW’s first home in Oak Park, IL. FLW’s philosophy of creating affordable homes and merging your daily life into something beautiful was unique a 100 years ago. Today we'd call it "going green."
He felt that even the animals should enjoy their surroundings. For example, the chicken houses and pig sties were elaborate—and too close to the living quarters for my taste.
Here's a picture of the current "farm" wing where the chickens and pigs used to live. Now, it's living quarters for the "fellows" (you'll read about those later on in this blog entry). The light colored horizontal structure on the right side of the picture was the hay loft. The historical picture shows their relative closeness, but the hayloft connected the two structures. The taller structure is the farm wing.
He did create some beautiful spaces in which to merge with nature, such as patios and a landing the jets out above the trees called “the bird walk.” It’s just a narrow walkway. Dave was in heaven dreaming of those spaces in which to just chill with the birds.
When we went inside, a cat greeted us. She has taken up residence in the home and no one wants her to leave. She has her own area in an alcove in the living room. You can't see it from the living area, but it's above a fireproof safe that used to house all of FLW's priceless Japanese artwork. When we went into the bedroom, which is in a state of being preserved, she had crawled up into the eaves and was soundly sleeping there. Of course, I think we annoyed the guide because we kept talking to the cat. So, there ya go.
In this picture, you can see that the windows "frame" the outdoors as if pieces of artwork; hence, merging with nature in his architecture.
FLW built this home for the woman he left his wife and 6 children to be with--Mamah Cheney. She also left her husband and two children to be with FLW. FLW's wife, Catherine, wouldn't give him a divorce to be with Mamah (FLW was with Mamah for 3 years). Mamah only lived in the house for 6 months before she and her children and 4 other servants (some say guests) were murdered by a disgruntled servant. The story goes that he set the house a blaze with gasoline and killed them with an axe as they tried to get out of the house. Gorey story! FLW was in Chicago at the time this happened. The house was mostly destroyed. He rebuilt it. Then about 30 years later, it caught fire again. And, he rebuilt it again.
His philosophy was that it was a good opportunity to make changes. He was constantly making changes to the houses he built as they were his "laboratory" for trying out new ideas and techniques. He would have his architectural students do the building for him as he felt they should learn by doing. Pretty clever. They paid to go to the school and had to provide the labor for the farm 4 hours a day and also did FLW's construction!
We then returned to the café and had lunch. Dave gave the waitress a bad time because all they had was organic food, including organic hamburgers. Dave asked if she could leave out the organic. She was completely thrown. She wanted to know what part of the burger he wanted left out. I had to explain to her that he wanted a non-organic burger as opposed to an organic one. She didn’t find that funny at all.
The second tour was of FLW's studio school. In the 40s this school was not accredited. But, after his death, his third wife continued the school and sought accreditation. There are currently 25 students still living and working at the school (they don't do farm work any longer, but are expected to help with things like cleaning and cooking).
One of the perks of the school is that as a “fellow” in the school, you can live on the premises for life, if you so choose. There is one remaining fellow from the original school. He’s in his 90s now and lives there with his greyhound dog. One of the students lives there with his wife and 3 young boys. They just go about their daily lives while tours are going on.
FLW accidentally burned down his school one day. He was burning some leaves and the cedar-shingle roof caught fire. He found this an opportunity to change the gymnasium into an auditorium and create a new wing for the drafting area.
Dave was quite impressed with the massive room that houses the drafting area of the school. It has ceiling sections that slant upward and between the slant and the next portion of the roof are windows that all face north for the best natural light.
At least twice a month the auditorium is used for concerts. The curtains were created for FLW's 90th birthday by his students. It’s quite amazing to think that this all was created over a hundred years ago and looks like it was built (in style) just a few years ago. The school was first built in 1903.
It was kind of weird to be touring the property and having people live at the house. It didn't seem as weird to have students milling about in the school and dormitory. I guess they all get used to us tourists. Our tour was quite expensive, so I guess they put up with us because the tour fee pays for the upkeep and renovations of the property, their home, and their school!
On our way back to the campground, we stopped at Culver’s (the frozen custard / hamburger joint I have fallen in love with). This frozen custard is so incredibly delicious and creamy. I told Dave today that I don’t EVER want to know how many calories are in it!
We had to give up on three attractions that we wanted to do because of the flooding. So, we left a few things to come back to see in the future: the state capitol, the Circus Museum, and the Swiss Historical Village. We could have stayed longer to see them, but we were getting anxious to move onward.
We have done a lot of walking while here in The Dells. And, although I thought I had escaped the midnight leg cramps, I woke up with one at about 2 AM and moaned for about 15 minutes. I finally was able to walk it off and crawl back to bed drinking heavily—--water, that is.
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