He single-handed created the only American architecture style. Drummond et al copied him. After prairie, he mastered Usonian, which is still in vogue today. He can even lay claim to popularizing the ranch home.
Visit Unity Temple, Fallingwater, Taliesen(s), Gugenheim and Winslow House. None of the architects you mention designed anything that had a lasting impact other than as decent copies of houses Wright previously created.
Well, creating a truly American architectural style started with H.H. Richardson and Louis Sullivan, Wright was just continuing on that path. Plus the Prairie School was not started by one person. Wright shared offices with Dwight Perkins, Robert C. Spencer, Marion Mahoney etc. who all worked together and were committed to experimenting with new ideas. Mahoney herself wrote that Sullivan was where the Prairie School began. Maher of course was part of this, though at a distance, and it feels a bit disrespectful to say he was just copying Wright. Hardly at all. I think he was influenced more by Sullivan and Arts & Crafts and went his own way.
I really enjoyed your "rant"--it takes nothing away from FLW's work to say his ego and self-promotion has wrongly overshadowed many other excellent Prairie-school architects.
He single-handed created the only American architecture style. Drummond et al copied him. After prairie, he mastered Usonian, which is still in vogue today. He can even lay claim to popularizing the ranch home.
Visit Unity Temple, Fallingwater, Taliesen(s), Gugenheim and Winslow House. None of the architects you mention designed anything that had a lasting impact other than as decent copies of houses Wright previously created.
Well, creating a truly American architectural style started with H.H. Richardson and Louis Sullivan, Wright was just continuing on that path. Plus the Prairie School was not started by one person. Wright shared offices with Dwight Perkins, Robert C. Spencer, Marion Mahoney etc. who all worked together and were committed to experimenting with new ideas. Mahoney herself wrote that Sullivan was where the Prairie School began. Maher of course was part of this, though at a distance, and it feels a bit disrespectful to say he was just copying Wright. Hardly at all. I think he was influenced more by Sullivan and Arts & Crafts and went his own way.
I really enjoyed your "rant"--it takes nothing away from FLW's work to say his ego and self-promotion has wrongly overshadowed many other excellent Prairie-school architects.
Thank you! This has been my go to topic to discuss with strangers at parties, wedding tables, 4 am bars etc since the ‘70s. Best ice breaker ever.