(c) 2018 Mark Hertzberg / Book cover (c) 2018 Brad Norr Design
Sue and John Major, stewards of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fred B. Jones estate (Penwern) on Delavan Lake, Wisconsin asked me to write and photograph a book about Jones and about Penwern in 2013. The book is now finished and in the design stage, with publication next spring by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. We now have a cover to show you!
We never anticipated that this would be a five-year project, but it proved to be challenging to research the book, especially because there is no known extant correspondence between Jones and Wright. The book is based on as much original research as possible, and dispels a number of things that have been written about Penwern in the past (including the origin of the name of the estate). I found only a handful of photos of Jones, just one of him at Penwern likely taken when he was about 65, twenty-five years after Penwern was built. It was almost four years before I found any adjectives describing Jones’ affable personality, a quality I had guessed but could not document until Patrick J. Mahoney and Eric O’Malley unearthed obscure articles about Jones from 1888 and 1912 in a trade journal and in a newspaper article about his work.
Wisconsin Public Television videotaped an illustrated talk I give about Penwern at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Wade House last spring. It is an hour long and can be viewed here:
https://wpt4.org/wpt-video/university-place/penwern-a-frank-lloyd-wright-summer-place-utz1yf/
But of course you need to buy the book to see many more contemporary and historic photographs and read much more about this wonderful estate and its stewards since 1900!
The birthday cake is presented.
Minerva Montooth greets guests at her home…Taliesin.
Stuart Graff, president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, describes his concrete (really!) bowtie to guests.
Jack Holzhueter, left, Mike Lilek (Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block, Inc.,) and Steve Sikora (Malcolm Willey House)
The tables are turned on the photographer.
Courtesy of John Hime
The unidentified people in the historic photos are presumably relatives and family friends of Schacht’s grandparents. Jones is not in any of the photos.
Some of the upper windows have been opened, as seen in this photo.
The carport is removed after the Majors acquired the gate lodge in 2000. Photo courtesy of Bill Orkild.
Libby Garrison of the Marin County Civic Center tells how their mobile app was created.
Michael Ditmer (Still Bend) and Heather Sabin (Monona Terrace) confer. Ditmer is the new president of Wright in Wisconsin. Mike Lilek, left rear, of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block talks with John Waters Preservation Programs Manager of the Building Conservancy. Kathryn Burton (Gordon House) is also at the table.
Stuart Graff, President and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, contributes to the discussion after a presentation. Jim Ladwig, center, (SC Johnson and Son) and Don Dekker (Meyer May House) take notes and listen.
Jeffrey Herr (Hollyhock House) and Carrie Rodamaker (Taliesin Preservation)
Mike Lilek of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block in Milwaukee.
“The House,” built in the mid-1950s adjacent to Wingspread, became the home of Mr. and Mrs. H.F. Johnson Jr. before they donated Wingspread itself to the newly-created Johnson Foundation in 1959. It has more space for conferences than the Wright-designed Wingspread. It has been said that Mrs. (Irene Purcell) Johnson was never comfortable in Wingspread because it was designed for another woman…Johnson’s wife who died during construction. National Public Radio, the National Endowment for the Arts, the International Court of Justice – and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy – are among the entities that evolved from Johnson Foundation conferences. 
There are numerous tributes to Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer who died yesterday in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am grateful to him for his friendship and for the Foreword he wrote for my book about the SC Johnson Research Tower in 2010.
Bruce and OsKar Munoz at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Bruce greets Floyd and Caroline Hamblen.
Bruce and Keiran Murphy.
Bruce is flanked by portraits of H.F. Johnson, Jr. and Frank Lloyd Wright before giving his remarks to the conferees.
Bruce signs books for Ann MacGregor from Wright on the Park (Mason City, Iowa), above, and Mike Lilek and Denise Hice from Wright in Wisconsin, below.
Wright in Racine 