Lloyd Wright

For the world-renowned architect and Lloyd Wright's father, seeFrank Lloyd Wright.For the American attorney, seeLoyd Wright.

Lloyd Wright
c. 1910
Born	Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. (1890-03-31)March 31, 1890 Oak Park, Illinois,U.S.
Died	May 31, 1978(1978-05-31)(aged 88) Santa Monica, California,U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Architect
Spouses	Kyra Markham ​ ​ (m.1922;div.1925)​ Helen Taggart Pole ​ ​ (m.1926; died 1977)​
Children	Eric Lloyd Wright
Parent(s)	Frank Lloyd Wright Catherine Lee Tobin
Buildings	Taggart House, Oasis Hotel,John Sowden House,Lloyd Wright Home and Studio,Samuel-Novarro House,Joshua Tree Retreat Center,Wayfarers Chapel
Projects	Millard Houselandscaping and studio,Hollyhock Houserenovation
Design	Hollywood Bowl(1926-1928)

Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.(March 31, 1890 – May 31, 1978), commonly known asLloyd Wright,was an Americanarchitect,active primarily inLos AngelesandSouthern California.He was alandscape architectfor various Los Angeles projects (1922–1924), provided the shells for theHollywood Bowl(1926–1928), and produced theSwedenborg Memorial Chapel(or Wayfarers Chapel) atRancho Palos Verdes, California(1946–1971).His name is frequently confused with that of his more famous father,Frank Lloyd Wright.

Early years

Born on March 31, 1890, Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. was the eldest son of renowned architectFrank Lloyd Wrightand Wright's first wife, Catherine Lee "Kitty" Tobin Wright. He spent his early years at hisfather's home and studioinOak Park, Illinois.Wright briefly attended theUniversity of WisconsininMadisonfor two years of coursework inagronomyandengineeringbefore traveling extensively through Europe after his father moved to Italy in 1909.

In 1911, Wright joined the landscape firmOlmsted and OlmstedinBoston, Massachusetts,where he specialized inbotanyandhorticulture.Wright would be later sent toSan Diego, Californiato assist with the landscape design of the1915 Panama-California Expositionwith architectsBertram Goodhue,Carleton Winslow,andIrving Gill.The exposition's principal buildings and gardens still remain inBalboa Park.Landscape design led him to work with Los Angeles architectWilliam J. Dodd,and in San Diego with Irving Gill, the latter another master architect and mentor to his design career. In the mid-1910s, Wright formed a landscape partnership withPaul Thiene,a colleague from the Olmsted firm, before opening his own practice in 1916.Beginning in 1919, his father, working in Japan on theImperial Hotel,delegated some of the responsibilities to him and architectRudolf Schindlerto supervise construction of theHollyhock House,while Wright worked on the Imperial Hotel in Japan.The house was commissioned by the oil heiress and philanthropistAline Barnsdall.

Wright began his independent career in 1920. In 1922, he was a production designer atParamount Studios,responsible for the extensive castle and 12th-century village sets for theDouglas Fairbanksversion ofRobin Hood.In December 1922, Wright prepared plans for the Henry Bollman House in Hollywood that included a repeated pattern of concrete blocks, a precursor to his father's more famous"textile block" housesin the Los Angeles area.From 1923 through 1926, the younger Wright was drawn into the realization of these four houses, and the ambitious attempt to evolve the "textile block" system into a patented construction technique. The first was the 1923Millard HouseinPasadena, Californiawhere Lloyd designed the grounds, and contributed an adjacent studio building in 1926. Lloyd served as construction manager for the other three: theStorer House(1923), theSamuel Freeman House(1923), and theEnnis House(1924). By all accounts Lloyd's work was difficult as he shuttled back and forth between sites, communicating with his father via telegram, and receiving little constructive support fromTaliesin.

Independent work

Wright designed and built a number of houses in the Hollywood and Los Feliz districts of Los Angeles in the mid- to late 1920s. Lloyd Wright's first residential commission, the Taggart House was built for the mother of his second wife, Helen Taggart, a registeredLos Angeles Historic-Cultural Monumentlocated next to the city'sGriffith Park.Another significant project was the hillside house for the manager of film starRamón Novarro,and then a renovation and enlargement when Novarro himself acquired the residence. The dramaticand theatricalMayan-inspiredJohn Sowden Househas become his most iconic structureand is usually regarded as his best work.He also designed and built his own home with a ground floor studio and second floor residence, using concrete blocks, inWest Hollywoodin the 1920s.

Wayfarers Chapel on the coast at Rancho Palos Verdes, 1951

He also designed the second and third band shells at theHollywood Bowl.The original 1926 shell, designed by the Allied Architects group, was considered unacceptable both visually and acoustically. Wright's 1927 shell had a pyramidal shape and a design reminiscent of southwestNative Americanarchitecture. According toCharles Willard Moore,it was built from leftovers from theRobin Hoodproduction. Its acoustics generally were regarded as the best of any shell in Bowl history. But its appearance was considered too avant-garde, or perhaps only ugly, and it was demolished at the end of the season. His 1928 wooden shell had the now-familiar concentric ring motif, covered a 120-degree arc, and was designed to be easily dismantled. Unfortunately it was neglected and ruined by water damage, making way for the 1929 Allied Architects shell, which stood until the end of the 2003 season.

In 1927, Wright built a residence for himself, made of two units – one for living and one for work. The 2,413 square feet (224.17 square meter) of living space has an upstairs residence with a living room, a fireplace and wooden floors. Interlocking blocks with a stylizedJoshua treedesign overlay some of the windows.TheGreat Depressionstalled Wright's firm as he was reaching his artistic and professional peak. As for many architects, remodellings, rather than total designs, were the scope of 1930s work. His post-war designs became more expressionistic and less aligned to previous modernist architectural themes. He also promoted the wordUsonia.

The largest collection of Lloyd Wright buildings in the United States was built in phases (1946–1957) for theInstitute of Mentalphysics,located on a largeMojave Desertsite next to the town ofJoshua Tree,to the east ofJoshua Tree National Park.

Later work

His best-known project is theWayfarers Chapel,also known as "The Glass Church", an indoor/outdoor structure made almost entirely of glass and built in 1951 for theSwedenborgianchurch, overlooking thePacific Oceanon thePalos Verdes Peninsula.The site planning and planting design express his talent and experience as a landscape architect. He had an embracing grove of Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) planted to achieve this.The Wayfarer's Chapel is listed in theNational Register of Historic Places.

When the trees that surround the Chapel grow up, they will become the framework, become a part of the tree forms and branches that inevitably arise from the growing trees adjacent to it. I used the glass so that the natural growth, the sky, and sea beyond became the definition of their environment. This is done to give the congregation protection in services and at the same time to create the sense of outer as well as inner space.

Among his last projects was the 1963 John P. Bowler house, known as the "Bird of Paradise" House, inRancho Palos Verdesusing blue fiberglass for projecting roof fins, and the master plan and building designs for a 1970 shopping center inHuntington Beach,at Warner and Springdale streets south ofLong Beach.

Personal life

In 1922 Wright married the actress and artist Elaine Hyman (known asKyra Markham).They divorced in 1925.

The following year, Wright married Helen Taggart, the daughter of a client (Her then seven-year-old son,Rupert Pole,would later marryAnaïs Nin). In 1929, Lloyd and Helen became the parents of architectEric Lloyd Wright,who has consulted on the restoration of many of his father's and grandfather's works, as well as being independently creative. Lloyd Wright died in 1978 in Santa Monica, California. A comprehensive monograph on Lloyd Wright and his work, "Lloyd Wright, the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.", has extensive vintage and contemporary photographic documentation of his projects.

Selected works

Vintage image of the Sowden House

• 1921, William Weber House, 3923 West 9th Street,Los Angeles, California
• 1922, Otto Bollman House, 2200 Broadview Terrace,Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
• 1922–1924, Martha Taggart House, 5423 Black Oak Drive,Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
• 1923, Henry Bollman House, 1530 N. Ogden Drive,Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
• 1923, landscape design forMillard House,645 Prospect Crescent,Pasadena, California
• 1923–1925, Oasis Hotel, 139 South Palm Canyon Drive,Palm Springs, California(partially razed)
• 1925, Harry and Alice Carr House, 3202 Lowry Road,Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
• 1925,Herbert HoweHouse, 513 Roxbury Drive,Beverly Hills, California
• 1926,John Sowden House,5121 Franklin AvenueLos Angeles, California
• 1926, Millard House Studio, 645 Prospect Crescent,Pasadena, California
• 1926, Farrell House, 3209 Lowry Road,Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
• 1927,Lloyd Wright Home and Studio,858 North Doheny Drive,West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
• 1928, Samuel-Novarro House, 2255 Verde Oak Drive,Los Angeles, California
• 1926–1928,Hollywood BowlShells, 2301 North Highland Avenue,Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California(destroyed)
• 1935,Claudette Colbertresidence, 615 North Faring Road, Beverly Hills (razed)
• 1942,Ramona Gardens,Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California(with others)
• 1946, renovation of theHollyhock House,4800 Hollywood Boulevard,East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
• 1946–1957, Joshua Tree Retreat Center, 59700 Twentynine Palms Highway,Joshua Tree, California
• 1948,Jascha HeifetzHouse and Teaching Studio,Beverly Hills, Californiathe studio reconstructed as part of theColburn Schoolin downtown Los Angeles
• 1949, Dorland House, 1370 Mirada Place,Altadena, California
• 1951,Wayfarers Chapel,5755 Palos Verdes Drive South,Rancho Palos Verdes, California
• 1951, Swedenborgian Church,El Cerrito, California
• 1959, Moore House,Palos Verdes Estates, California(demolished, 2012)

Bibliography

• Weintraub, Alan; Hines, Thomas; and Wright, Eric Lloyd:Lloyd Wright, the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.;United Kingdom publisher: Thames and Hudson, 1998; and United States publisher: Harry N. Abrahms, 1998. 595 illustrations, 275 pages, (ISBN9780810939967)

External links

• laokay: Directory of L.A. region project locations.
• Institute of Mentalphysics
• Edward Weston, R. M. Schindler, Anna Zacsek, Lloyd Wright, Lawrence Tibbett, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood and Their Dramatic Circlesfor much on Wright's early relationships with his first wife Kirah Markham, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood, William J. Dodd and others.
• Tina Modotti, Lloyd Wright and Otto Bollman Connections, 1920for much on Wright's early projects for Otto and Harry Bollman and connections with Tina Modotti.
• Irving Gill, Homer Laughlin and the Beginnings of Modern Architecture in Los Angeles, Part II, 1911-1916for much on Lloyd Wright's early mentorship by Irving Gill and William J. Dodd.