Taliesen West

A coincidence of sorts sent two of our number out West to Scottsdale Arizona to visit Taliesen West, the winter home and studio of FLW in his last decades and the current home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  Volunteer Coordinator Phyllis Spears and myself took separate trips to that area within a couple weeks of each other to visit the location.  I was making a trip to the Phoenix area to visit with my stepdaughters and Phyllis is just plain dedicated to FLW and planned a weekend trip out West for just that purpose.  I personally got tired of doing tours at Graycliff and having guests ask if I have ever visited Taliesen West.  I had to hang my head and say with extreme guilt and shame that I had not, so I was not going to pass up the opportunity to correct that situation. 

I did the basic tour which was $30.  (Yes, we are a bargain at Graycliff.)  It lasted about an hour and a half and was more of an outside tour of the buildings with several come in and sit down stops to see interiors of larger rooms which also afforded get out of the sun and sit down time. However, a lot of that is because that is how the compound is designed with rooms being more like separate buildings opening to connected outdoor walkways, bringing the outside inside. The guide was excellent and even my stepdaughter who has no interest in FLW or architecture admitted she enjoyed the tour.

Phyllis did the Behind-the-Scenes  tour which was $60., gets into significantly more areas, allows guests to meet and speak with some of the principals of the working establishment and includes refreshments.  It is also twice as long of a tour.  She was very pleased with it.

The place is natural organic architecture at its zenith.  The place was built with rock found at the site and utilizes various natural elevations to produce the levels of the buildings.  Ponds and trellis covered outdoor walkways are used to counter the desert heat to good effect.  Rooms are more accessible from the outside walkways than from any connected interior passages.  To say the buildings are perfectly designed and suited to the site would be an understatement.  They blend completely into each other.

When FLW bought the property he purchased 600 acres in the middle of an empty desert.  He wanted the beauty and solitude that the isolated location provided him and his apprentices to work without intrusion.  However, the City of Scottsdale now completely surrounds the parcel.  Satellite photos of a 600 acre tract of mostly undeveloped desert sitting in the middle of a thriving upscale city seem very strange.  FLW waged a war in his lifetime to protect the site from encroaching development without success.  When power poles and lines appeared on the road to the site he instructed his apprentices to tear them down as he felt it all should have been buried underground.  Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and kept FLW from a significant altercation with authorities.  But it is an example of how he valued and guarded the privacy of the site.  Even now one can drive right by the heavily fenced compound and not know it is there.  The GPS I was using to route to the site kept insisting I turn right where there was nothing but fence guarded desert, no access point.  We had to search around for it and eventually found just a small sign on a driveway.

As to the photos above; the first is of the entrance walkway into the compound after leaving the gift shop  (much bigger than ours, but if you visited, you would really appreciate the design and items Ryan has crammed into our small shop.)  The second photo is of the common living room of the compound where everyone could and does congregate in the evening.  The next photo is FLW's bedroom and work area.  The wall to the left, right where the camera shot is taken from, is actually movable screens that completely open the wall up to an open courtyard outside.  The guide indicated that FLW did not sleep at night, but chose to work instead and often just took short catnaps during the day on the bed to the rear of the photo behind the screen.  The last photo is the one almost everyone visiting the site snaps as it shows part of the work area of the compound as well as the the area that was the original dining room and portico between them.  It is probably the most photogenic spot of the compound as behind the cameraman is also the most glorious view over the desert from a raised patio area.

The place still trains architects as it did when FLW was alive.  Originally he charged apprentices $600. a year to train there.  Now the cost is $30,000. a year.  These facts are courtesy of our guide.  Of course, now the school is accredited so that makes the sticker price sting more manageable.  Anyone want to go sign up?

In a summary I bet you thought I would never get to; the place is great and certainly well worth the visit if you are ever in Arizona.  Phyllis and I both enjoyed our tours and being there definitely supplied me with more insight and understanding of America's Greatest Architect and therefore more about Graycliff itself.  And the next time a tour guest asks me if I have ever been to Taliesen West I will be able to smile and say "Well, yes, of course I have."    George Struebel