Taliesin West is a look over the rim of the world.

                                                                                            – Frank Lloyd Wright, 1943

I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.

 

In 1937, when Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) sought a winter home, he chose Scottsdale, AZ. It became the bustling home of the Taliesin fellowship, built solely by his apprentices. Even today, the FLW School of Architecture students maintain this decades old tradition as they pack up and journey to Wisconsin in Spring to their summer home in Taliesin East and retrace their path to Scottesdale, AZ for the winter months.

I think I have talked often about my interest in Architecture over the years on my blog. So it should not come as any surprise to followers of my blog, that as  I started to plan my vacation to Phoenix AZ, that Taliesin West would somehow factor into the planning. Having visited several FLW homes in California, Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, including visiting Taliesin East some years back. Visiting Taliesin West has long been overdue.

As I planned my trip, I checked programs and tours on FLW Foundation website. A three hour behind the scenes tour is offered on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. There are other details and insights tours offered on other days and times of the week.  There are also night tours for those who prefer that. Feel free to check the FLW Foundation website for more information.

While Falling Water will forever remain my most favorite building, after thinking about it for so long and finally visiting Taliesin West was both inspiring  and invigorating.

Here is some information from the FLW website:

“Taliesin West is a National Historic Landmark nestled in the desert foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale, AZ. It is also the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the School of Architecture at Taliesin.

Wright’s beloved winter home and the bustling headquarters of the Taliesin Fellowship, was established in 1937 and diligently handcrafted over many years into a world unto itself. Deeply connected to the desert from which it was forged, Taliesin West possesses an almost prehistoric grandeur. It was built and maintained almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices, making it among the most personal of the architect’s creations.”

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See Also:

SEZ, Who?
Taliesin East
Falling Water
Oak Park
FrankLloydWright.org