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Frank Lloyd Wright

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Frank Lloyd Wright

“.......having a good start not only do I fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. Yes, I intend to be the greatest architect of all time.” - Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959

CHILDHOOD

Born in Richland Center, in southwestern Wisconsin, on June 8, 1867 (sometimes reported as 1869), Frank Lincoln Wright, who changed his own middle name to Lloyd, was raised under the influence of a Welsh heritage. The Lloyd-Jones family, his mother’s side of the family, had a great influence on Wright throughout his life. The family was Unitarian in faith and lived close to each other. Major emphasis within the Lloyd-Jones family included …show more content…

Impatiently moving forward, Wright got a job at one of the best known firms in
Chicago at the time, Adler and Sullivan. Sullivan was to become Wright’s greatest mentor. LOUIS SULLIVAN: LIEBER MEISTER

Wright referred to Sullivan as “Lieber Meister” (beloved master). He admired his talent for ornamentation, and his skill of drawing intricate plans and designs. Wright picked up on the ways of Sullivan and soon became ahead of Alder in importance within the firm. Wright’s relationship between him and his employer caused great amounts of tension between Wright and his fellow draftsmen, as well as with Sullivan and Adler. Wright was assigned the residential contracts of the firm. His work soon expanded as he accepted jobs outside of the firm. When Sullivan found out about this in 1893, he called Wright on a breach of contract. Rather than to drop the “night jobs”, Wright walked out on the firm. When Wright left the company, Sullivan’s quantity of contracts declined quickly. Sullivan soon ran into economic troubles and his international reputation dwindled by 1920. Sullivan was soon regarded as worthless to the architectural world. He resorted to alcoholism and died in 1924 without regaining the glory of what was held in his early years in Chicago.

LIFE AFTER THE FIRM

Wright quickly built up a practice in residential architecture. At one point in his career,

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