FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT One of the most striking person-
alities in the development of early-20th-century architecture was
Frank Lloyd Wright(1867–1959). Born in Wisconsin, Wright
moved to Chicago, where he eventually joined the firm headed by
Louis Sullivan (FIGS. 31-40and 31-41). Wright set out to create an
“architecture of democracy.”^63 Always a believer in architecture as
“natural” and “organic,” Wright saw it as serving free individuals who
have the right to move within a “free” space, envisioned as a nonsym-
metrical design interacting spatially with its natural surroundings.
He sought to develop an organic unity of planning, structure, materi-
als, and site. Wright identified the principle of continuity as funda-
mental to understanding his view of organic unity:
Classic architecture was all fixation....Now why not let walls, ceil-
ings, floors become seen as component parts of each other?... You
may see the appearance in the surface of your hand contrasted with
the articulation of the bony structure itself. This ideal, profound in
its architectural implications ...I called ...continuity.^64
Wright manifested his vigorous originality early, and by 1900 he
had arrived at a style entirely his own. In his work during the first
decade of the 20th century, his cross-axial plan and his fabric of con-
tinuous roof planes and screens defined a new domestic architecture.
ROBIE HOUSEWright fully expressed these elements and con-
cepts in the Robie House (FIG. 35-77), built between 1907 and- Like other buildings in the Chicago area he designed at about
the same time, he called this home a “prairie house.” Wright con-
ceived the long, sweeping, ground-hugging lines, unconfined by
abrupt wall limits, as reaching out toward and capturing the expan-
siveness of the Midwest’s great flatlands. Abandoning all symmetry,
the architect eliminated a facade, extended the roofs far beyond the
walls, and all but concealed the entrance. Wright filled the house’s
“wandering” plan (FIG. 35-78) with intricately joined spaces (some
large and open, others closed), grouped freely around a great central
35-76William van Alen,Chrysler Building, New York, New York,
1928–1930.
The Chrysler Building’s stainless steel spire epitomizes Art Deco archi-
tecture. The skyscraper’s glittering crown of diminishing fan shapes has
a streamlined form that was popular during the 1920s.
35-78Frank Lloyd Wright,
plan of the second (main) level
of the Robie House, Chicago,
Illinois, 1907–1909.
Typical of Wright’s “prairie
houses,” the Robie House has a
bold “wandering” asymmetrical
plan with intricately joined open
and closed spaces grouped freely
around a great central fireplace.Servants quartersN
0 10 20 3 0 feet
0 51 0 metersBalconyBalconyFireplaceKitchen BathPorch
Living room Dining roomDownDownDownUpDownGuest
roomRoof
Structures above or
below second level35-77Frank Lloyd Wright,
Robie House, Chicago, Illinois,
1907–1909.
The Robie House is an example of
Wright’s “architecture of democ-
racy,” in which free individuals
move within a “free” space—
a nonsymmetrical design inter-
acting spatially with its natural
surroundings.Architecture 965