Speaking Volumes | Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s work can be found in Florida

Frank Lloyd Wright was an innovative architect born in Wisconsin in 1867.

He has been credited with creating the first truly American architecture style – the Prairie Style.

He was born in Richland Center, Wis., and spent his early years travelling from place to place as his father changed ministry positions. Eventually, in 1878, he and his family settled in Madison, Wis., where he lived until he moved to Chicago in 1887.

In Chicago, he began working for two different firms until finding his place at Adler and Sullivan, where he remained for six years. He married Catherine Lee Tobin in 1893 and, as his family began to expand, so too did his expenses. He began taking extra commissions outside of the firm, and although he did not work on these projects on company time, he was charged with breach of contract and subsequently departed from the firm. Opening his own office, Wright was finally given the opportunity to develop his own architectural style and create the designs he wanted.

Of all of the projects Frank Lloyd Wright has completed throughout his career, two of them can be found in Florida. The Lewis Spring House was built for George Lewis II in 1954, in Tallahassee. It is the only private residence he had constructed in the entire state and is one of only two pod-shaped homes that he designed.

George and his wife, Clifton, approached Wright to build a home for their large family in 1950. He finished the designs in 1952 and set one of his representatives to work finding a contractor willing to make his plans a reality. Construction on the home began in April 1954 and was completed in December of that year, and the Lewis family moved in before the new year. The Lewis family moved out of the home in 2010, and to this day the Spring House Institute preserves this historic property.

The second property in Florida designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is part of Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Wright originally planned out 18 structures to create an 80-acre network of buildings and walkways. Of those 18 designs, 12 were constructed between 1938-1958 and one more was built after his death. It is the biggest collection of Wright’s architecture in the world that is located at a single site and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012.

To learn more about the designs and constructions of this famous architect, stop by your local library for a copy of “Frank Lloyd Wright” by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer or “Frank Lloyd Wright: A Visual Encyclopedia” by Iain Thomson.

The library also holds several DVD documentaries on the architect including “Frank Lloyd Wright” from 2001, “America’s Castles: The Homes of Frank Lloyd Wright” from 2005, and “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West” from 2007.

Kids can check some books off their reading list this summer with educational titles such as “Who Was Frank Lloyd Wright” by Ellen Labrecque or “Frank Lloyd Wright: Rebel in Concrete” by Aylesa Forsee.

Your library is online: www.mymanatee.org/library. Free face masks are available at all library locations. Manatee Libraries are fine free! Please note that lost/damaged fee still apply.

Speaking Volumes is written by staff members with the Manatee County Public Library System. Sylva Osbourne is a librarian at the Central Library.

This story was originally published June 11, 2021 at 7:00 AM.