Food and Photos in Vermont: Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin

      I am a huge history buff. Where ever and when ever we travel, we love to visit at least one historical site or go on a tour of a famous place. Our spring trip to California afforded us a chance to visit the Hearst castle and on this trip I jumped at the chance to visit, arguably, America's most famous architects studio, Franklin Lloyd Wright's Taliesin. I won't go into alot of detail, but what a life this man led. Three wives, one mistress, the murder of said mistress and her children by a deranged employee, feast or famine in his business which saw him go from nothing to world famous and back several times and finally settling down with a woman 30 years his junior. This is a man, who never got an engineering degree by the way, who truly was larger than life. Oh and less we forget, Taliesin burned down twice, (once by said deranged employee), and then some nasty business with Frank's body being dug up, as he was buried next to the mistress and not the final wife, and his remains disappearing forever. Read the book, it's fascinating.

      Taliesin started as a home for Frank and his mistress, after he left his wife in the Chicago area with their six kids, (OK, he was a visionary but really, not a very nice guy). but eventually turned into an architect school where students had the privilege of paying to become indentured servants and learning architecture from the master (while working on his farm and building his houses for him). Enough talk, more pics.

                                          Eyebrow not top of head.

You start your tour across the road at the visitors center. This is an original Frank Lloyd Wright building also. Originally a high end restaurant and bar, it has been transformed into a visitor's center, gigantic gift shop (just like Disney except you walk through before you start instead of after you finish), and a restaurant/coffee shop serving expensive lunch food in a really cool setting. Dean was wise to call for tickets before we left the house, as tours on summer weekends sell out fast (just a word to the wise). Here are a few pictures showing the visitors center;
The Visitor's center

Stacked stone a Wright trademark

This beautiful set can be yours for $12,000

Once your tour is called you are loaded onto a small bus for the long trip across the road . Some more interesting (or boring, depends on your point of view) facts about Frank and Taliesin. First, one reason Frank embraced the Arts and Crafts movement is long straight lines. Frank was only 5 ft 4 after all, (also the reason he insisted on wearing capes). Over the years Taliesin has been expanded to over 37,000 square feet and some students and board members live there today. They do not live in the main house, as this is a museum but in separate apartments off the main house,(must be fun, as Frank thought bedrooms and bathrooms were wasted space). Back to the tour, as you turn into the driveway, you notice a beautiful little pond and waterfall. Seems Frank damned up the local creek and built himself a little hydro electric plant, thus becoming the first house in Spring Green with electricity.

Once you reach the top of the driveway you notice the house is not sitting on the top of the hill. That's because Frank believed houses should blend with the landscape, not overwhelm it. So his house is at "eyebrow" level not "top of head level". Of course, being he was not an engineer, the house is now sliding down the hill and costing millions of dollars to anchor properly, oh well can't win them all. Some pics of the house;

By now I am sure you are all bored to death. So I will leave you with a few more pictures of the view, (Frank was a visionary, buying up all the land around the house so the view would never be interrupted) and a bit of the incredible Asian art collection Frank bought with his commission of the Royal Tokyo hotel (two full railcars sent back home). Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos in the house itself, that you have to be here to experience. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend this tour, enjoy;