The Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright

Many of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous buildings are houses. Wright wanted to design houses that could be built cheaply using inexpensive materials. In the 1920s, he began to design a new system to build affordable homes using concrete blocks. He called these modular parts "textile blocks." They were somewhat similar to the idea of Lego blocks. Several of his textile block houses were constructed in the Los Angeles area in the early 1920s. Among these is La Miniatura, built for Alice Millard in Pasadena, California.

Many of Wright's masterpieces derive their unique look from his belief that architecture must fit into its natural surroundings. Wright felt that individuals - and the buildings they occupy - must exist in harmony with nature. As a Midwesterner, he was familiar with the flatlands of the Great Plains. Given the word, flatland, how do you think his houses looked?

Wright's houses are known for being long, horizontal, and usually one story tall - in other words, fairly flat. They are called "prairie" houses, after the flat expanses of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

Perhaps Wright's most striking and successful attempt to combine structure and nature is Fallingwater, a home in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. The rectangular sections that make up the house are built over a running stream and waterfall. More than 60 years after the building was completed, it still appears modern. Have you ever seen a Frank Lloyd Wright building? Can you see his influence in any of the houses or buildings in your neighborhood?

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