Wright’s Own Homes Are Part of a Serial Nomination of 10 Private and Public Buildings Designed by Wright
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ — TALIESIN WEST — Taliesin and Taliesin West, the homes and studios that world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright constructed in Spring Green, Wis., and Scottsdale, respectively, for his personal use, are one step closer to attaining potential designation as World Heritage Sites along with eight other Wright-designed buildings — a move that the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation lauds as a testament to the enduring global importance and influence of Wright’s work.
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced recently the selection of 14 U.S. sites to be included on a new United States World Heritage Tentative List. The 14 properties are now eligible to be considered for nomination by the United States to the UNESCO World Heritage List, which recognizes the most significant cultural and natural treasures on the planet. The new sites can be considered over the next 10 years for formal nomination by the U.S. as World Heritage Sites.
Taliesin and Taliesin West, already National Historic Landmark properties, are owned by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the only organization that Frank Lloyd Wright himself established to protect and perpetuate his life’s work and the original organization to bear his name.
“We are delighted that Taliesin, Taliesin West and the other Wright buildings have been named to the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List,” said Phil Allsopp, president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. “It is a singular recognition for these iconic structures. I’d like to thank our colleagues at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy for coordinating all of the applications from ‘Wright sites’ around the country. Ron Scherubel’s team did a first class job. From our own experiences with Taliesin and Taliesin West, we have found that architects, designers, scholars, historians and, indeed, the general public, revere our two properties not only for their historical legacy, but also as exemplary embodiments of Wright’s passion for design innovation and experimentation. His visionary principles regarding the interplay between humanity and scale and between the built and natural environments still resonate today as we strive to create sustainable communities .”
Taliesin and Taliesin West are two of the 10 Wright-designed buildings submitted last year by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy as a serial nomination to the U.S. Department of the Interior to be considered for nomination to the United Nations’ World Heritage List over the next 10 years. The other eight buildings are: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Ill.; Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Ill.; Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, Calif.; Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pa.; S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research Tower, Racine, Wis.; Price Tower, Bartlesville, Okla.; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, N.Y.; and Marin County Civic Center, San Raphael, Calif. All 10 buildings are representative of Wright’s long, prolific and illustrious career.
Allsopp noted that, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, there are indications that Taliesin, Taliesin West and the other Wright buildings will be nominated soon, possibly as early as 2010. As a serial nomination involving both private and public Wright-designed buildings, legal work to establish buffer zones and protective easements still needs to be completed to enable the nomination to be ready for submission to the World Heritage Committee.
In addition to the 10 Wright buildings, other cultural sites named to the Tentative List include: civil rights movement sites in Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala.; aviation sites in Dayton, Ohio; Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio; extension of the Thomas Jefferson Buildings site to include the Poplar Forest and Virginia State Capital, Va.; and Serpent Mound, Ohio.
General information about the Tentative List process is posted on the National Park Service Office of International Affairs website at http://nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/tentativelist.htm.
About the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
In the cause of architecture and the arts, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation serves as a global forum for multi-disciplinary discourse about the future of the built and natural environments, promoting education, scholarship, design and research. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and established in 1940 by world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is the only organization that Wright himself established to protect and perpetuate his life’s work, and is the original organization to bear his name. The Foundation owns Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis., and Taliesin West in Scottsdale (homes and studios that Wright constructed for his personal use), the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. More information about the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is at www.franklloydwright.org.
About the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy is an international preservation organization whose mission is to facilitate the preservation and maintenance of the remaining structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright through education, advocacy, preservation easements and technical services.
Contact: Mark J. Lynch, A.L. Brourman Associates, Inc.
412-260-8451, mlynch@brourman.com
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Source: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
