© Mark Hertzberg
There is good news on several fronts in the World of Wright.
Tower Tumult:
In August I posted a piece about the Frank Lloyd Wright’s endangered Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The post includes a variety of interior photos of the structure, then having been repurposed as a boutique hotel:
https://wrightinracine.net/2024/08/14/tower-tumult-in-bartlesville/
I updated the story in February:
https://wrightinracine.net/2025/02/02/updates-tower-tumult-ann-macgregor/
The final chapter in the saga is expected Tuesday May 6 when McFarlin Building LLC will buy the building for $1.4 million. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, which has been active in the effort to save the Tower, has posted a link to a story in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise:
The sun rises behind Price Tower at 5:42 a.m., April 30, 2011.
Wright in Wisconsin
Wright in Wisconsin logo and typography © Robert Hartmann
Wright in Wisconsin is the nation’s only statewide organization devoted to Wright’s architecture. It was founded in the 1990s in concert with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. The annual “Wright and Like” tour encompasses the work of organic architects, in addition to Wright’s work.
I was proud to serve on the board from 2004 until 2020, including eight years as newsletter editor. The board’s accomplishments in those years included purchasing some of the American System-Built properties in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block in Milwaukee, beginning in 2004, and working with the Department of Tourism and state highway department to establish the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail of public Wright sites in 2017.
H. Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and Stephanie Klett, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation formally dedicate the state’s Frank Lloyd Wright Trail in a ceremony in the Great Workroom of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin, Wednesday May 10, 2017. / Mark Hertzberg for SC Johnson
I resigned from the board and as newsletter editor when negative board dynamics made it impossible for me to continue in either role. I am pleased that there is an energetic new board in place, and I have happily rejoined the revitalized group as a member.
Much credit goes to George Hall who did yeoman’s service navigating the board problems as President, Past President, and Interim President. The organization would have been relegated to the dust heap if not for his work.
John Macy is the new board president. Other members are organic architect Ken Dahlin (Genesis Architects), Henry St Maurice (steward of Wright’s E. Clarke and Julie Arnold House with his wife, Mary Arnold, daughter of Wright’s clients), Trish Dulka, and Anne Hasse. Bill Swan continues as office manager and Jill Hartmann is the accountant. Dulka and Hasse are the newest board members. Dulka will be producing the newsletter, a member benefit that has been absent for several years.
I am particularly pleased that Hasse has joined the board. She is an educator at Wakanda Elementary School in Menominee, Wisconsin, in the far western part of the state. That breaks up the usual geographical cast of characters all from southeastern Wisconsin. I met her many years ago during my daily bicycle ride in Racine, a ride which takes me past Wright’s Thomas P. Hardy House. I wondered why there was a tour bus in front of the house.
Hasse began her teaching career in Racine. Hasse and Sally Johnson teach a unit to their fifth graders about “Breaking the Box” and pre-pandemic did a two-day road trip with their students to Wright commissions in Madison and Racine. We became friends. I introduced her to the late Gene Szymczak, who became steward of the Hardy House in 2012 and rehabilitated it, and he invited the students to tour the inside of his home:
Hasse and Johnson were honored with a prestigious Wright Spirit Award from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy at the annual conference in 2014, held at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix:
Hasse, center, and Johnson accept the award from Scott Perkins
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
In December I posted photographs of the work being done at Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, outside Milwaukee:
https://wrightinracine.net/2024/12/10/greek-church-roof-resplendent-again/
Maria Pandazi has sent me an update about their work: “About $2.3 Million in projects – and more to come. We were awarded a Save America’s Treasures grant last year and will soon begin another phase of restoration. My friend Norm and I did a little presentation about the projects online for the Building Conservancy”
https://savewright.org/event/preservation-talk-annunciation-greek-orthodox-church/
Pandazi has the closest ties possible to the church: her uncle, the late Christ Seraphim, a Milwaukee County judge, was instrumental in securing the design commission for Wright. I worked with her on the board of Wright in Wisconsin when she served as president. I look forward to seeing the latest restoration work when I have the first of four visits there in two weeks, when I help lead the first of four week-long Wright tours for Road Scholar for 2025.
Roland Reisley Grant Program
Roland Reisley with a picture of he and his late wire, Ronnie, working with Wright on the design of their home in Usonia, Pleasantville, New York, in 2017.
Roland Reisley, the last living Wright client, has endowed a grant program with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. “Calling educators, artists, researchers, and all people with creative ideas: you have just 15 more days to apply for our inaugural Roland Reisley Grant! This award supports efforts to examine the intangible power of Wright’s architecture on mood, feelings and inspiration. Successful applicants will produce work or research examining or interpreting what it means to have a deeply personal experience in Wright-designed spaces. The deadline to apply is May 15:
Minerva Montooth:
I had the pleasure of lunch with Minerva in April:
The other luncheon guests were Kathy Virnig and her friend Stephen Gochenaur, a docent at Taliesin.
Other links:
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy:
Wright in Wisconsin:
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block:
Genesis Architecture:
Illinois / Wisconsin Frank Lloyd Wright tour with Road Scholar:
https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22976/Architectural-Masterworks-of-Frank-Lloyd-Wright
Please scroll down for previous posts on this website…thank you
Wright in Racine 