2 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses (Wright at a Glance Series).

1. Although the entire Wright at a Glance Series is wonderful, this book is especially good. It gives good examples of what made Wright's Prairie home distinctive. The photographs are very fine and the text supports them well.



2. "Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses," by Carla Lind, is one of a series of mini-books dedicated to the work of this important architect. This volume focuses on Wright's Prairie Houses. As Lind notes, the Prairie School of architecture was inspired by the "spacious, horizontal feeling" of the American prairie. This book pays particular attention to several of Wright's Prairie masterpieces built between 1900 and 1908.

   This book shares many of the admirable characteristics of other volumes in the series: a profusion of superb full-color photographs (both interior and exterior), Lind's interesting text, illuminating sidebar quotes from Wright and others, and a brief but useful bibliography. Houses pictured include the Bradley House of Kankakee, Illinois; the Darwin Martin House of Buffalo, New York; the Stockman House of Mason City, Iowa; and many more.

   The only flaw in the book is the lack of any legible floor plans. Although floor plans are not a focus of this series as a whole, author Lind does call attention to the distinctive features of the Prairie House floor plans several times in the text. Thus, one or two representative plans would have really enhanced this volume. Actually, one floor plan is included, but it is used merely as a decorative background element: the plan is printed in a pale blue ink and has text superimposed on top of it, so it is not very legible. This matter aside, however, this is a fine volume in an excellent series.

1 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright (Design Monograph).

1. The photos fill about 58 straight pages with only a few taking up less than the full page. At the back there's 6 pages with miniture sized versions of the photos in the book with an accompanying informational couple of sentences. The photos are excellent with most being exterior shots but a few of specific furniture items, about 5 of chairs. There's a 12 page text only introduction that does a nice overview of the subject. I'm not sure why anyone makes a color photo book of FLW buildings that isn't 11" or larger but this is one sweet book. It's the quality of the photos and the full use of most of the pages with photos with no white paper borders to shrink the photos. It's a nice compliment to a big FLW photo book collection. Not essential, but pleasant.

2 comments about Hometown Architect: The Complete Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park And River Forest, Illinois.

1. This is a very good book on the best years of Wright's work. It's a shame some of the houses were lost, but it's refreshing to know that so many have survived and are treated like the treasures they are. The text is highly informative and the images are crisp and well presented. I appreciated the guide at the back of the book, that informs the reader how to locate these buildings. Wrights work is so unique and elegant, yes he was a narcissistic, control freak, with a serious God complex, but his buildings are 100 percent his creation, he would exept nothing else. He made the clients use his designed furniture and his fixtures, but in the end, he was always on the mark, though many of the beautiful chairs look very uncomfortable, at any rate..good book, highly recommended.



2. Although he died in 1959, almost fifty years ago, Frank Lloyd Wright is probably still the most famous architect in America. Fifty years before his death, say from 1890 to 1910 he was living in a Chicago suburb and was designing a series of houses that are usually called his 'Prairie Style.'
   
   This style was the first of his breakaway styles from the traditional European and East Coast styles to develop something that fit into his vision of the prairie. To be sure, sometimes other influences came into play, such as a short Japanese period.
   
   While Prairie Style houses were built all across the country, the Chicago suburbs of Oak Park and River Forest are home to the largest concentration of prairie houses. This book describes 27 of his homes in this area. Most of them are available for tours. And in looking at these houses, it is hard to believe that they are a hundred years old.
   
   The book is beautifully printed and cloth bound and supplied in a slip case. Another recommended book on a Wright Prairie House is Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House which describes the house, but also the effort that it took to restore the house ot its original form.

1 comments about Quilts in the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright.

1. This comprehensive book of quilt patterns using the stained glass window designs of Frank Lloyd Wright is a treasure. As a quilter and stained glass craftswoman, this book is a dream come true. The extensive explanations which accompany each design are easy to understand; the step-by-step illustrations make these complicated designs feasible for anyone. These deceptively simple-looking geometric designs make beautiful quilts (I've seen them in quilt shows), wallhangings, windowcoverings or they could be used to try your hand at stained glass. Jackie Robinson really did her homework, and her resulting book is one I use often.

2 comments about California Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.

1. This book is a wonderful in it's reviewing of specific buildings by FLLW. The book is full of wonderful color photographs of the structures as well as short articles on each. This is the book that puts all of FLLW's architecture in the state of California into one volume. This demonstrates how the architect could adapt an architectual language to fit uniquely into a particular region. Their is also a complete list of all the buildings Wright designed the be built in California that were never erected. This is a must read for anyone deeply interested in the architecture of FLLW.



2. This book is an excellent source of photographs of Wright's architecture. While it contains only minimal supplimental text, the pictures are stunning displays of one man's vision.

2 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright's Fireplaces (Wright at a Glance).

1. "Frank Lloyd Wright's Fireplaces," by Carla Lind, explores one particular facet of the work of this great architect. This book is part of a series of "mini-books" devoted to Wright. But despite the book's small scale (5.25 by 5.25 inches, 57 pages), Lind has packed in a wealth of words and images.

   The book contains Lind's insightful text, as well as a wealth of illuminating sidebar quotes from Wright and others. There are many detailed, full-color photographs of stunning fireplaces. There is even a delightful historic black-and-white photo of Wright himself playing the piano near one of his fireplaces.

   Houses represented in the book include the Hollyhock house, the Hanna house, Fallingwater, and many others. Each fireplace is a beautiful work of art which seems like an organic, integral part of the home. This book will surely delight fans of Wright, and of home design in general.




2. It is 4" X4" or so and about 1/8 inch thick so I was surprised at how small it is.
   
   The content was ok.

1 comments about The Early Work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

1. All I could say is that this book changed my knowledge of Frank Lloyd Wright.

5 comments about Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright's Romance With Nature.

1. I have found that developing an interest in architecture is principly one of exposure to excellence. This book does that with a minimum of text(although very concise and informative) and a beautiful arrangement of photographs in a manageable size. The brief history of the family and Wright's involvement is excellent! Thank you, Lynda S. Waggoner.



2. Fallingwater is considered by many to be Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest home design, and by many others to be one of the very finest American homes ever built. Perched atop a waterfall in southwestern Pennsylvania in the Allegheny mountains, the site is visually stunning . . . and the home's organic connection to the site will astonish you.

   Fallingwater was designed for the Edgar Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh to be a weekend retreat away from the bustle of city life. One of Frank Lloyd Wright's comments about homes is that they must be "integral to site; integral to environment; integral to the life of the inhabitants." Judged by that standard, you will agree, if you are like me, that Fallingwater is his best work. The Kaufmanns wanted to have a romantic experience in the house, and he certainly provided them with one. The siting allows a Southern exposure for almost all of the rooms, a view of the waterfall and/or woods, and the constant sound of the waterfall. The final design captures nicely his sense of Nature's dual character, "unrestrained . . . power in contrast to its subtler, ordered beauty." The material and colors are drawn from the area as much as possible, and in some views, the home seems like simply part of the rocks it is perched on.

   The quotes are usually attached to specific photographs that catch the various views you see of Fallingwater from any ground position or perspective and the views from Fallingwater. They capture ideas from Wright and nonarchitectural thinkers as diverse as Thoreau and Ruskin.

   The photographs are the best part of this book. Since you will probably not be one of the 160,000 visitors who come in most years, these images are the way you can know the home. Almost all are in color, and are nicely distributed throughout the four seasons. My only complaint is that the book's page size should have been larger to permit a stronger connection between the viewer and these remarkable scenes. If you are like me, you will hear the water as you commune with the images.

   Through the essay and quotes, Fallingwater curator and administrator Lynda S. Waggoner does a marvelous job of using Fallingwater to also demonstrate the essential concepts of all Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and interior design.

   After you read and enjoy this book, think a little about where you live. How have you made nature more accessible? What else could you do to make your living there to be more relaxed and natural, and to balance the rest of your life?

   Feel connected to all the life and natural objects around you . . . and be refreshed!




3. My family went to see fallingwater, and all of my dad's film was ruined! I bought this book for him, and it serves as the perfect reminder of our trip. It includes gorgeous photographs, fitting quotes, a plan of fallingwater, and a bit of the history. If you're looking for tons of information, this is definitely NOT the book for you. But if you're looking for beautiful pictures and a precious keepsake, this is a wonderful book. ENJOY!



4. My objectives in reading and collecting books about domestic architecture generally focus on gathering information about how I might approach the design of the internal and external details for use in my own (dream) home.

   Frank Lloyd Wright is a constant source of inspiration in my endeavours as he designed and built many wonderful houses... and one of his most famous works is the subject of this book.

   My initial impressions of this book were good, although I was probably taken-in by the wonderful photo on the cover of the book more than anything else. Upon having a quick flip through the book, I found there were some lovely photos of the house and it's surrounds and there was some mention made of how the house was created to suit its environment and how it was an example of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Organic Architecture".

   However, upon a detailed reading of the book, although I found a few more interesting photos and some thought-provoking philosophical quotations, the detail was practically non-existent and the book was ultimately unsatisfying. No mention was made of what sort of thinking went behind the design of the house and why things were done the way they were... and there weren't even any significant diagrams or floor plans of the house included, except for a simple site layout on the last page of the book, which looked like it was added more as an afterthought than as something that would be informative to the reader.

   In short, although the book gives me about a dozen new photos of Fallingwater, it doesn't really add to my knowledge of Frank Lloyd Wright's design philosophies and, given the price of this book, I would suggest this book belongs on the corner of a coffee table, rather than in an amateur architect's reference bookshelf.




5. Lynda S. Waggoner presents an alluring collection of photographs and commentary that will interest the architect or anyone who's had an eye for the artistical-architectural renderings of the legendary work of Frank Lloyd Wright. As curator and administrator, Waggoner's first hand accounts of Fallingwater provides the reader with an up-close narrative behind and inside the home with the basic origins of the construction and inspiration that led to the inception of Wright's American masterpiece; he blended both nineteenth century natural observations that derived from Walt Whitman to Henry David Thoreau with landscape.
   
   FALLING WATER provides insight to Frank Lloyd's inspiration of constructing Fallingwater. In essence, he wanted to reconnect with nature and the nineteenth century romanticism of the wilderness, but with the natural expressions that were innate and organic; one may suggest he possessed an inkling of eastern inspiration. The several quotes throughout the book from Whitman, Thoreau, Emerson, Rushkin, and as well Wright and Edward Kaufmann, Jr. will provide a perfect poetic composition that complements the beautiful photographs of the house and the outlining natural landscape. Wright says it best: "In the realm of organic architecture human imagination must render the harsh language of structure into becomingly humane expressions of form instead of devising inanimate facades or rattling bones of construction. Poetry of form is as necessary to great architecture as foliage is to the tree, blossoms to the plant or flesh to the body" (23).
   
   So, if you are looking for a coffee table book that does not leave a lot of clutter, FALLING WATER: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S ROMANCE WITH NATURE will definitely provide the balance. It is a little book packed with much content. And most likely, it will leave you wanting to share it with others.

2 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House: The Illustrated Story of an Architectural Masterpiece.

1. Dieses Buch, wie sein Thema, wird wie ein Ziegelsteinouthouse aufgebaut. Unassailable Forschung. Gute Arbeit, Don.



2. This book is an excellent study, in marvelous detail
   and analysis, of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpieces
   of architecture. Too often the words "artist" and
   "genius" only dimly suggest the true nature of the
   person or work being discussed; but this book with
   its keen and accurate delineations about Robie,
   the client and his desires, Wright, the architect/
   artist/genius and his desires, and the work of art
   itself -- the Robie House -- help one to fully
   understand the harmonious combination of elements
   which can come together in producing a masterpiece.
   The author of this work is Donald Hoffmann, and
   he has himself produced a work of magnificence
   in this full presentation of the design and execution
   of a "dream house." Hoffmann gives full and interesting
   accounts of Robie and of Wright as their two psyches
   come together to promote an "idealized" artwork which
   pleases both client and architect.
   The book also has wonderful footnotes filled
   with insightful comments and quotes. Here is
   an example of one:

   Louis H. Sullivan at the end of his life wrote
   quite beautifully that Wright was gifted with
   "an apprehension of the material,so delicate as
   to border on the mystic, and yet remain coordinate
   with those facts we call real life." (p. 31)

   The text itself is filled with suggestive and
   provocative commentary:

   Wright's ideal was the comprehensive and unified
   work of art, the *Gesamtkunstwerk. German culture
   fascinated him. He spoke of Bach and Beethoven
   as the two greatest architects, and he confessed
   his love for the old Germany of Goethe, Schiller,
   even Nietzsche. (p. 14)

   Wright stood almost alone in his intuition of
   the prairie. * * * Everything about the site
   suggested a long, low, stream-lined, ship-like
   house: the prairie, the nearby lake, the new
   sense of speed, * * * and the shape of the lot ,
   three times as long as it was wide. (p. 17)

   Radical and masculine, the Robie house would be
   built in a part of Chicago characteristically
   stern and urbane. (p. 13)
   -------------
   The book is filled with "160 carefully selected
   illustrations" --which include architectural
   drawings and many photos, both of the house,
   of Robie and his family, of Wright, and of some
   of Wright's other previous houses leading up to
   the Robie House. Hoffmann also did excellent
   research by gaining access to complete
   taped transcripts by Robie, and interviews with
   Robie's son, and others.

   There is something very compelling and involving
   to my sense perceptions about Wright's long, sleek,
   tiered approach to architecture, as well as the
   various designs of lamps and chairs and lights
   which he included in the house. But on seeing the
   photos of the dining room...and the rigid but
   beautiful "Gothic" like chairs, as well as the
   photos of the "stuff" that the Robie family
   cluttered the Spartan rooms with in their
   attempts to "customize" it to their living
   desires...the house seems incredibly beautiful,
   but not incredibly utilitarian: idealized, abstract,
   geometric beauty and organic harmony with the
   beauty and structure of Nature, but not necessarily
   "organic" in its relation to people and "common
   creature" comforts.

5 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright Mid-Century Modern.

1. The description:
   
   "With lavish, new, previously unpublished color photographs and detailed plans"
   
   is not quite accurate. And while there are some new photographs, there are no detailed plans of any kind. And most of the photographs are really no different in content than can be found in some other books. In additon, there is practically no technical information in any of the photo captions.
   
   It would been nice to have other houses covered in this book that have not appeared in countless other books. Many of the subjects here have been beat to death.



2. Very comprehensive with new photos not shown before. As new owner of the Dorothy Turkel House in Detroit I was pleasantly suprised with 6 pages on our house. There is so much interest in Mr Wrights houses i cant believe it. Very timely.



3. Wow what great photographs and the essay's are great too. What really put me off - infact it angered me, the incorrect name used not once but twice for Harold Price - it is listed as Herbert. I just cannot believe that through all the proof readings and all the eyes writing this book that this attrosity was not found. Bad publishing. Other wise the information and photos are great - just wish there was alittle more care put into the proof reading.



4. I approached this book with some trepidation, as I suspected there would be much duplication of the material presented in "Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses". As approximately 60% of the houses presented here were given to us in the earlier title, these suspicions proved to be correct, yet I am giving this book 4 stars. Why?
   
   This time, unlike what was done in "FLW: Prairie Houses", there has been some effort made to present different views of the repeated houses. However, be advised that there is reuse of the identical photos in many cases. What redeems this book are the seldom published houses that are presented. To those very familiar with Wright the names Buehler, Hughes, Neils, Pearce, Brown, Berger, et al will ring a bell, but may not bring a clear image to mind. Now the images are provided and great images they are. Often full page views of this wonderful architecture.These photos will draw you into serene spaces that are at one with nature. Almost 50 years after his death the artistry of this man still amazes. So, pick up a copy, settle into a comfy chair and prepare to be amazed.



5. Comprehensive photos of the interiors and exteriors of Wright's homes.
   One is able to see the materials used, arrangement of furniture and colors he chose. Just what I was looking for. Beautiful book.