Why Frank Lloyd Wright Is America's Best Architect

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  • Опубліковано 17 лис 2024
  • Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most revered architects in the world. Responsible for such masterpieces as Fallingwater and The Guggenheim Museum, architect Jonathan Adams travels around the US to see these works for himself.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 106

  • @hubertop1247
    @hubertop1247 7 місяців тому +13

    Thank you for this documentary!

  • @Thepourdeuxchanson
    @Thepourdeuxchanson 6 місяців тому +18

    As a small child in 1960 I saw a black and white photo of Fallingwater in a magazine in England. It stuck in my head for some reason. It took me nearly fifty years to visit, and when I did I realized even a child could see it's simply a perfect place and unforgettably beautiful.

  • @pleiades.puppets
    @pleiades.puppets 9 місяців тому +11

    Thank you, this is one of the best summaries of his work I’ve ever seen.

  • @sandrakennedy3527
    @sandrakennedy3527 Рік тому +10

    I love all of Frank Lloyd Wrights homes and other buildings. God bless him

  • @thebob01
    @thebob01 6 місяців тому +14

    Had the pleasure of visiting Fallingwater last Summer. It is absolutely breathtaking. Built in 1935 and still looks modern in 2024. Timeless classic. Wright was way ahead of his time.

  • @johnpotter8039
    @johnpotter8039 5 місяців тому +8

    I have been fascinated by architecture and architects for most of my 74 years. My grandfather, Dr. Kurt Meyer Radon, was a prominent architect, first in Germany, before and after WWI and then in Southern California. He knew Wright, along with Neutra, Schindler and Jock Peters. I read many books about Wright, and was particularly taken with a black-and-white photo book of Fallingwater, including scenes from the construction, released in the 1960s. I finally made my pilgrimages to both Taliesin Wisconsin and Fallingwater. We walked down the road from the visitors center, then, suddenly, through the trees, there it was. I first noticed the color- you have to see it with your own eyeballs. No photograph captures it. Second, it seemed smaller than I had pictured it. Third, I "got" the industrial red color of the windows and door frames. The oddest thing was the parapet walls around the cantilevered terraces. The terrance look robust and thick on the outside, but, when you are standing on them, the parapet walls are only about 2' high and rounded on the top. Absolutely terrifying! No way you could sit on the edge and look down at the stream. This is not a house for children.

    • @davido3026
      @davido3026 5 місяців тому

      You forgot Le Corbusier

  • @dedratiger806
    @dedratiger806 5 місяців тому +10

    In all these documentaries about Frank Lloyd Wright, I’ve never seen Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Price Tower was one of two vertical structures Wright designed. Price Tower is gorgeous and deserves a place in these documentaries more than a brief flash of narrative.

    • @Psalms20A21
      @Psalms20A21 2 місяці тому

      Yes, more insight on the less talked about, but equally important masterpiece! Price Tower was his only skyscraper.
      🧠Thank You for Your observation regarding!

  • @williambrady323
    @williambrady323 3 місяці тому +2

    I've stayed at the park Inn Mason city, Iowa, the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright designed hotel. Wonderful structure. The rooms themselves are modern, with the exception of one that they kept true to its original. And the Stockman house just down the street from the hotel is also worth seeing. And the entire neighborhood that was designed and built by Wright's students and studies. Magnificent. Again, that was Mason City, Iowa.

  • @randyrobinson934
    @randyrobinson934 5 місяців тому +2

    As a student of architecture 50 years ago, I spent a summer at Fallingwater. not long enough. Thanks for a great study /refection of Frank Lloyd Wright

  • @Corvus_I_am
    @Corvus_I_am 9 місяців тому +6

    FLLW was a man of the future and proponent of ergonomics.

  • @timkdiamond
    @timkdiamond Рік тому +6

    Superbly made documentary. Completely absorbing.

  • @marietjiehildebrandt1324
    @marietjiehildebrandt1324 Рік тому +4

    Fabulous homage to the genius of the mensch and his legacy

  • @robertgreen7926
    @robertgreen7926 8 місяців тому +2

    What a wonderful documentary. Beautiful video and thoughtful commentary. Thank you--I enjoyed every minute.

  • @elisciachristie6984
    @elisciachristie6984 4 місяці тому +1

    I honestly never knew the whole history of this man. I just knew when I came across his work in Ohio that it was different. Then I came across a book that had different buildings and homes.
    It's amazing how certain things just stand out and then come to find out it's famously well known to others. That's the beauty in art. It will stand out all on its own without any words being said.❤

  • @jilltagmorris
    @jilltagmorris 6 місяців тому +5

    Really enjoyed this program. Thank you 😊

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett5692 8 місяців тому +3

    I adore Frank Lloyd Wright, his energy, and his architectural successes. Influenced by Sullivan, a relative through my GGrandmother.
    I share Wright's Basque Welsh blood, through my Basque Irish lineage.
    🔑 41:50 What h8s statement further expresses to me: (Time to embrace our place in the whole, with Harmony.)

    • @themaskedman221
      @themaskedman221 5 місяців тому

      Basque blood? What are you blurting about you loon?

  • @mackpines
    @mackpines 6 місяців тому +1

    How I would’ve loved to meet Wright.
    What a fascinating person he was.
    The houses he did impress me the most.
    All of them are so beautiful and outstanding works of art.
    I particularly love the glass designs and furniture he did. Most of the homes had their own unique style of furniture.
    If you visit Oregon, definitely go on a tour of the Gordon House at the Oregon Garden.
    It’s a Usonian designed in 1956 and is one of four homes Wright built here in the Pacific Northwest and the only one open to the public.
    The house was moved from its original location and reassembled piece by piece at the garden.

  • @UPalooza
    @UPalooza Рік тому +3

    That was great. Thank you for a Welsh angle here and there.

  • @StrangeHistoryX
    @StrangeHistoryX Рік тому +6

    This is excellent! Thank you so much for this incredible production. It is a priceless contribution to continue sharing the brilliant contributions of this great genius.

    • @TheAmericanStoryHistory
      @TheAmericanStoryHistory  Рік тому

      Glad you enjoyed it!

    • @MorpheusOne
      @MorpheusOne Рік тому

      @@TheAmericanStoryHistory
      Are you aware if he ever made peace with his first wife or the six children that Wright abandoned?

  • @Quixoticscope
    @Quixoticscope 8 місяців тому +4

    The life of an architecture rock star!

  • @adityakeshore7310
    @adityakeshore7310 Рік тому +4

    That's great story telling ...thanks alot for this ..

  • @claudebregaint
    @claudebregaint 3 години тому

    Thanks sir for this wonderfull documentary about him 🤩🤩🤩

  • @donnapalmeri9573
    @donnapalmeri9573 3 місяці тому

    If I could pick one house as my own,it would be "Falling Water". Breathtaking,Beautiful,A Marvelous Feat of Nature Working With Man.

    • @brent2976
      @brent2976 9 днів тому

      No it's Feat of man working/following nature

  • @paulde6390
    @paulde6390 Рік тому +6

    Well done! Excellent storytelling.

  • @jkmsaturn
    @jkmsaturn Місяць тому

    Unity Temple, from 1905, is a life-changing structure. Fallingwater is a cantilevered masterpiece.

  • @spooln30
    @spooln30 8 місяців тому +1

    Excellent. Enjoyed every minute.

  • @LoisHarris-n8e
    @LoisHarris-n8e 5 місяців тому +1

    Looked him up because of reading "fiction" Loving Frank--was appalled both by someone writing such a fiction about a historical figure's adultery 59:47 and the devastating deaths. Then surprised to find out those parts were true after all. Thanks for clarification and showing his work.

  • @roniqueasia
    @roniqueasia 2 місяці тому

    beautiful documentary

  • @pimentoso
    @pimentoso 8 місяців тому +3

    Superb documentary. 👏🏼👍🏼
    On a personal and subjective note, I think the destruction of Taliesin, and the killing of FLW's wife and children, meet all the requirements to make you think it was a plot. It was ordered. It's so weird that nobody ever wanted to discuss it in depth.
    The American society of the Middle West in the late 19th and early 20th century was deeply conservative and rooted in Christian fundamentalist moral values. And here we have the well-known architect FLW, shocking his community when he fled to Europe with Mamah, the wife of one of his clients. This should've caused significant public humiliation and betrayal for Mamah's husband, E. Cheney, also a respected person in the community.
    FLW and Mamah then returned to America just a year after the scandal (!), now as a married couple (!), and settling in Spring Green, Wisconsin, not far from Oak Park, Illinois (!), further fueling the community's outrage and adding insult to injury for Cheney. This could've created the perfect conditions for a potential murder plot.
    In my opinion, the idea that a domestic male servant, who happened to be Black, suddenly went berserk and killed everyone seems highly implausible. Especially considering the environment of racial tensions and lack of civil rights for Black people during the 1910s. This would have made it easy to scapegoat a Black person without any questions asked, and close the case without proper investigation.
    I also think that FLW could've been assasinated as well, or perhaps they spared his life on purpose to send him a message. And he understood it, because he never protested. He never denounced anything. In a few years, nobody ever mentioned it again. And then they left him alone, because they thought this would destroy him. And it almost did.
    But they were wrong. Thanks to the support of some of his friends and former clients, the love of his third wife Olgivanna, his unbreakable will and his genius intact, FLW was able to prevail and conquer the world again. He was able to overcome sorrow, fear and hatred. To unifiy the best of America, the best all American arts and crafts and become one of the greatest architects of the 20th century. The Greatest American Architect of all time.
    Some day the true story of this horrifying moment will come out.
    Cheers!

  • @banjoeypicks
    @banjoeypicks 8 місяців тому +1

    Excellent !!!!!

  • @thomascarey2941
    @thomascarey2941 6 місяців тому +1

    Several points: 1. Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O'Keeffe were from rural Wisconsin, and from their beginnings, art flowed from their beings. Yet, no book has ever been written about their similarities. 2. Louie Sullivan hired Wright in Chicago and was famous for the principle "Form follows function." Later, Wright said form and function were the same. 3. Wright and Ernest Hemingway lived in Oak Park at the same time. Yet, no book was ever been written about their common rejection of the city. Hemingway referred to Oak Park as a city of wide avenues and narrow minds. Wright would agree. 4. Last, I took high school students to Chicago and Oak Park to see architecture and there was not a single student who stood in awe. It takes maturity to create a love and reverence for architecture.

    • @lovly2cu725
      @lovly2cu725 5 місяців тому

      why dont you write it?

  • @orfy123
    @orfy123 Рік тому +1

    Thank you.

  • @RobTSLA
    @RobTSLA 3 місяці тому +1

    Interesting stuff

  • @RMMomma4Eva
    @RMMomma4Eva Місяць тому

    Well done! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

  • @andreewert1925
    @andreewert1925 8 місяців тому +1

    interior sacrators rimes with inter designers...lol... The BMW Museum in Munich, next to its Factory, also has this Rotunda Guggenheim ...Vatican or FLW-inspired Rotunda that spirils 6 stories upwards..

  • @macsmiffy2197
    @macsmiffy2197 5 місяців тому

    Up there with the world’s best imo.

  • @MOliveira-m5h
    @MOliveira-m5h Місяць тому

    That no one in america copies at all. You can tell that he is studied engineering in school because he spends a ton of time on building orientation and fitting windows into light which is fenestration. and then he also can read the site plans well and orients the house or building to the specific lot. People used to do that on just ordinary houses. as builders we used to walk the lot and pick what trees to keep. Spend time picking a plan and orienting it to the lot. Now it's massive subdivision where they clear everything like an airport and all of the plans and everything are selected and not changing. That and they also have HOA's where people who know nothing put in their five cents on crap.
    I worked for a very large united states builder doing energy star inspections, and they had a problem with one of the furnaces being placed in the garage of a townhouse and it wasn't going to work because it was outside of the space, and it was the type of furnace made to not be airtight and inside the home. I told the dude that you have to talk to the architect or something about this, and i told them they put sealed units in the attic, and they did that. I don't even think they have architects on staff or working for them. Then they changed it back and the guys above me cheated for them, and signed off on it. As long as I didn't get in trouble for fraud on government rebates. They don't care because it's all lawyers and no technical people running the construction companies. But at the same time that's ethics and not just liability. It's tort law and it's beyond the scope of their legal practice.

  • @briansieve
    @briansieve 10 місяців тому +2

    Did you call that Oak Park mansion a small cottage?

  • @markfairbanks6601
    @markfairbanks6601 Місяць тому

    Fantastic!!!

  • @cngreen2950
    @cngreen2950 5 місяців тому +1

    Teşekkürler 🇹🇷🌹❤️🌷

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett5692 8 місяців тому

    🔑 41:50 What h8s statement further expresses to me: (Time to embrace our place in the whole, with Harmony.)

  • @torbenretboll2841
    @torbenretboll2841 Рік тому +16

    Notice the marker at the end of the film: Frank Lloyd Wright 1869-1959. This is not true! He was born in 1867. He lied about his age! In 1959, when he died, he was almost 92 years old. Not 90, as the marker says.

    • @ImranIshak-qg8hy
      @ImranIshak-qg8hy 8 місяців тому +1

      Tidak beza jauh cuma dua tahun

    • @torbenretboll2841
      @torbenretboll2841 8 місяців тому

      @@ImranIshak-qg8hy please write your message in English

    • @ImranIshak-qg8hy
      @ImranIshak-qg8hy 8 місяців тому

      @@torbenretboll2841 only 2 years differnt

    • @torbenretboll2841
      @torbenretboll2841 8 місяців тому +3

      @ImranIshak-qg8hy he lied about his age, because he wanted to be younger than he was.
      Only two years, you say. Yes. A small lie. But it was a lie. A sign of vanity.
      If he had claimed to be ten years younger than he was, it would have been a big lie.

    • @gawkersmamhe
      @gawkersmamhe 7 місяців тому +3

      ​@@torbenretboll2841damn bro what u mad about

  • @galaxieafr
    @galaxieafr Рік тому +1

    -- de la rigueur totalitaire à la liberté des formes de l'architecture de FLW; un beau voyage,

    • @galaxieafr
      @galaxieafr Рік тому

      -- from the totalitarian rigor to the freedom of forms of FLW architecture; a beautiful trip,

  • @melaniamonicacraciun9900
    @melaniamonicacraciun9900 6 місяців тому +1

    It's a matter of FAITH friends, God decided for human specie to have the sense of beauty, to be creative and seek for the perfect happiness, for having engineering skills and create the best environment to live in, we just have to follow the pure... human nature. Some genius minds instead show us the way and learning from such genius architects is never enough. Looking back in time we understand how much gifted architects already changed the world and we still have to do more. We can invert modern architectures to green lungs, to eat pollution and release oxygen and that's the biggest challenge of our times, the environmental revolution we need the most, living in perfect harmony with the Holy Creation

  • @fynbo1007
    @fynbo1007 5 місяців тому

    It’s not house’s he build, but palace

  • @cindyplutnicki8930
    @cindyplutnicki8930 Рік тому +1

    Wonderful documentary. Unfortunately commercials are obnoxious and ruin the whole thing.

    • @hoobaguy
      @hoobaguy 6 місяців тому

      Revanced is your friend

  • @tomharvey6961
    @tomharvey6961 4 місяці тому

    It's amazing that there are so many incredible houses that deserve an hour or two just on their own that they didn't even have time to mention. But does anybody actually like Taliesin West?

  • @CatherineAnnRoeGehring
    @CatherineAnnRoeGehring 4 місяці тому +1

    12:30 The baby is Marilyn Monroe in the picture and she worked with her future name on her face by her without any reason why she didn't get the same number as she said she would drive Lenexa to Vanguard as an authorized owner to use the JP MORGAN CHASE BANK WOULDN'T TELL me anything about my pension plans with MGM former contributing employer along with Pimco collective Return class II American Funds European Pacific R6 AND HARRIS OAKMARK INTL 3

  • @youtubeillusions
    @youtubeillusions 4 місяці тому +1

    Who is the best architect ? In reality , nobody knows him

  • @marceloalejandroganon3631
    @marceloalejandroganon3631 8 місяців тому

    Para el resto de las Américas seria, FLLW EL HOMBRE QUE CONSTRUYO USA o ESTADOS UNIDOS.

  • @kangaroo1814
    @kangaroo1814 5 місяців тому

    The canal is called The American story, video is called Why Frank Lloyd Wright Is America's Best Architect. And the narrator is from Welsh, like wtf

  • @lovly2cu725
    @lovly2cu725 5 місяців тому

    Guggenheim looks like a parking garage in Los Angeles. which came first?

  • @geraldthomas8948
    @geraldthomas8948 5 місяців тому

    Aztec, mixed with churches. Aztec outside, church inside.

  • @GentlemanLife-Beyotch
    @GentlemanLife-Beyotch 6 місяців тому +1

    His work was unsatisfactory to put it mildly.

    • @hoobaguy
      @hoobaguy 6 місяців тому +3

      That's your opinion, and it's wrong, but you can just sit away from everyone else.

    • @lovly2cu725
      @lovly2cu725 5 місяців тому

      to whom?

  • @torbenretboll2841
    @torbenretboll2841 Рік тому +2

    Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to build houses .without walls and without doors. He wanted to have a grand open space.
    What can we see in this film? We see a large dining room and a large living room. A grand open space.
    What is not seen? What is not shown? We never see a bedroom, never see a room for children, never see a kitchen, never see a bathroom. Why not?
    When Frank Lloyd Wright designed a kitchen, it was small and traditional.
    When Frank Lloyd Wright designed a bathroom, it was small and traditional.
    He did not understand the need for a large kitchen. He did not understand the need for a large bathroom.
    In some ways he was ahead of his time. In other ways he was a product of the time in which he lived. Very traditional. Not able to break out of the traditional box.

  • @normbograham3
    @normbograham3 Місяць тому +1

    Franks buildings only last 30 years, before they need millions in repairs.

  • @snakeplisskin8696
    @snakeplisskin8696 7 місяців тому

    Nope. John Lautner. It did not take long for the student to surpass the master.

  • @TogetherinParis
    @TogetherinParis 5 місяців тому

    Pyro

  • @Nicksonian
    @Nicksonian Рік тому +3

    What’s with draping the flag over Wright? I have nothing against the flag except it’s excessive and unthinking use. And as a design element, Wright would not have approved.
    And, “The Man Who Built America,” is a silly title. FLW’s influence on architecture is enormous. He was a true genius. But the vast majority of building in the United States involves nothing of genius. Wright’s designs, even from nearly a century ago, still look radical in comparison to most building in the US being done more than a half century after Wright’s death. It would be a more beautiful country if Wright “built America,” but he didn’t.

  • @fredphilippi8388
    @fredphilippi8388 6 місяців тому +1

    I am not sure there is a single "best ever" American architect. He is one of them, to be sure, but not the only one. I personally do not like the Guggenheim Museum. Every picture displayed there looks like it is hung crocked because the floor is angled away from it. There are several other superb American architects, e.g. Richard Neutra.

  • @ker4all
    @ker4all 17 днів тому

    Ok Donny, let's get you changed into your nappy time diaper and off to bed old fella.
    VOTE a BLUE CRUSH

  • @WilliamQuintanilla-ik6uk
    @WilliamQuintanilla-ik6uk 7 днів тому

    HE DESING THE SKY KEAPER NEVER WAS BUILD IN AMERICA USS IT WAS DRAWING BY HEAN FOR A FEUTURE STRUCTURE IT WASBUILD IN ABBUDABBI LLOK AT THE FLOOR PLANS AND YOU WILL SEE THE SEMILITUD OF THE FLOOR PLANS

  • @anthonymccarthy4164
    @anthonymccarthy4164 Місяць тому

    His roofs notoriously leak, his buildings are often not very functional having more building to look at than buildings for what they were supposed to be for. His ideological stands overrode a more rational and realistic basis of drawing plans. An architect who is famous for those things isn't a great architect.

  • @bolindstrom9940
    @bolindstrom9940 Місяць тому

    FLLW DID NEVER BUILD ANY BUILDINGS, WHICH IGNORENT SPEAKERS OFTEN CALAIM.
    HE VISIONED HOW BUILDINGS COULD BE BUILT & DID DRAWINGS, WHICH CONTRACTERS, SITE SUPERINTENDENTS & CRAFTSMEN USED TO BUILD FROM.
    I DOUBT FRANK EVER PUT ONE NAIL OR SCREW OR BRICK INTO ANY OF THE BUILDINGS HE DESIGNED.
    THAT'S THE TRUTH
    24TH OF SEP 2024
    PS. WE ARE NOT TOO MANY WHO CAN BOTH DESIGN, DO DRAWINGS AND SWING A HAMMER, BUT I WAS ONE

    • @bolindstrom9940
      @bolindstrom9940 Місяць тому

      Yes, we know that year of 1869 is totally wrong, and is not important to enjoy his designs & drawings, which he was fortunate to find : good contractors, skilled craftsmen & the best materials, and clients who could pay his designs, despite Frank grossly failed in "meeting his stipulated too low budgets, which again verify Frank's inability to do correct calculations (estimates, bids)

  • @douglasfortin9711
    @douglasfortin9711 5 місяців тому

    But did he ever build a house that didn't leak?

  • @Alexander-rq9he
    @Alexander-rq9he 11 місяців тому +1

    FLW’s creations are goofy eyesores. The Guggenheim is a contest for the most absurd. America’s Best Architect was his mentor: Louis Sullivan. Forever!

  • @wadejnelson
    @wadejnelson 6 місяців тому +1

    I find most of his buildings ugly and repellent

  • @johnsavage6628
    @johnsavage6628 5 місяців тому

    He built homes for the rich. Now what?

  • @IG-kn6ne
    @IG-kn6ne 6 місяців тому

    Great documentary but he is not the greatest american arcthitect.