© Mark Hertzberg (2024)
I have written before that I always challenge myself to see something new even on my umpteenth visit to a given Frank Lloyd Wright – designed building. I was blasé today as I took my friend Robert Hartmann on a tour of the Thomas P. Hardy House on Main Street in Racine, Wisconsin, as he prepared for Wright in Wisconsin’s forthcoming “Wright and Like” tour scheduled for September 7. Hartmann expects between 300 – 500 guests and wanted to figure out the best way for guests to wind through the compact house, and how many docents he would need.
The light was less than spectacular and there was nothing new to see. I had biked to the house so my only camera was my smartphone. I think phone cameras sometimes oversaturate colors, but that camera was all I had when I unexpectedly saw this in the second floor windows above the south stairs:
So much for being blasé!
Here is a link for more information about the tour:
https://wrightinwisconsin.org/wright-and-2024
I served on Wright in Wisconsin’s board for 14 years. They are the only statewide Wright group, originally founded in cooperation with the state Department of Tourism to promote Wright tourism in Wisconsin.
Please scroll down for previous articles or blog posts.
SC Johnson Administration Building, Racine (1936)
Roland and Ronny working with Wright on the design of their Wright home
Roland was honored as a founding member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy by Janet Halstead and Richard Longstreth at the 2014 conference in Phoenix.
The Reisley House was the topic of a discussion at the 2014 conference. Susan Jacobs Lockhart moderated.
Roland and Neil Levine chat at the conference.
Roland and Ginny Kazor at the Phoenix conference.
Roland greets conference attendees in his living room during the 2017 conference.
Barbara and Roland, 2011
Mr. and Mrs. Wright and their guests sat in the seats to the right.
From Wright’s “An Autobiography:” When I was a small child I used to lie awake listening to the strains of the Sonata Pathetique—Father playing it on the Steinway square downstairs in the Baptist minister’s house at Weymouth. It takes me back to boyhood again when I hear it now.” [FLLW: Collected Writings, v. 4, p. 147.]
The Buddha statues will be put back in their original places flanking the stage.
A dining chair from Taliesin (c. 1925) frames a view of the library table for the Edward C. Waller House Remodeling (1899).
The library table, in turn, frames the Taliesin chair and an “origami chair” from Taliesin West (1946).
Hanging lamp, William R. Heath House (c. 1905) – the lines are distorted by the camera angle.
Minerva, her daughter, Margo, and son, Andrew
There was a video slide show
Granddaughter Divina Allan and great-granddaughter Eliza Harry-Ray, 4
Olivia Dubson, a special friend of Minerva’s
Margo reads from Minerva’s baby book…Minerva, a surprise twin, was late, setting the stage for a lifetime habit, Margo said with a chuckle.
Indira Berndtson
Yes, Happy B/day Minerva! Indeed!
Safina Uberoi – photo courtesy of Safina Uberoi
Lukas Ruecker at the Bagley House
Lukas Ruecker, right, and Safina Uberoi with Jeff and Jeannette, Goldstone, the previous owners of the Bagley House – photo courtesy of Safina Uberoi
Some of the original siding is under the aluminum siding.
Before the aluminum siding was put on – Courtesy Hinsdale Historical Society
The addition to the rear of the house will be taken off.
Safina Uberoi with Jay Deguchi and George Suyama – Photo courtesy of Safina Uberoi
The “Finding Grace” exhibit at the Bagley House
The Stephen Foster Cottage
The Mitchell House in 1895 – 
The Bagley House library
Wright in Racine 