Frank Lloyd Wright Mid-Century Modern

by Alan Hess, Alan Weintraub (Photographer), John Zukowski (Contributor)

The mid-twentieth century was one of the most productive and inventive periods in Wright's career, producing such masterworks as the Guggenheim Museum, Price Tower, Fallingwater, the Usonian houses, and the Loveness House, as well as a vast array of innovative furniture and object design. With a variety of shapes and forms-ranging from honeycombs to spirals-this period is an important contribution to mid-century modernism. Mentoring such talents as Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler among others, Wright was one of the most influential proponents of the simplicity, democratic designs, and organic forms that characterize Mid-Century Modern. With lavish, new, previously unpublished color photographs and detailed plans, Frank Lloyd Mid-Century Modern is a comprehensive examination of an underserved period in Wright's career.

Genres: Architecture

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 2007

About the author

Born in California in 1952, Hess received his BA at Principia College, a Master's degree in architecture from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and is a licensed architect. After working with architects William Coburn, and Callister Payne and Bischoff, Hess started his own firm specializing in residential work and historic preservation. His first book, Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture (Chronicle Books 1985) focused on a neglected and popular Modern form. Following books continued to explore overlooked chapters in twentieth-century architecture and urbanism. He is responsible for qualifying several landmark buildings for the National Register of Historic Places, including the oldest operating McDonald's in Downey, Stuart Company Plant and Office Building and Bullock's Pasadena in Pasadena, and the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Reviews

[Timbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy is complicated, but the designs he created for his mid-century houses were purely unparalleled.