Frank Lloyd Wright

It's been an incredible day for us. We were given personal tours of two of the buildings commissioned by the Johnson (as in wax) family whose headquarters have been in Racine since the late 1800's. Both buildings were designed by legendary architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

I don't know that I've ever been presented with such photographic bounty of the architectural kind. Okay, yah, I do know. I know that I never have. Wow.

First, the home office of SC Johnson Company (also above). I was not allowed to take photographs of the inside of the office building designed by FLW and still in use today. The indoor office space was incredible. Fortunately, the outdoors wasn't too shabby either.

Next up, I got even lucker. Wingspread, the family home of the Johnsons designed and built at roughly the same time as the company headquarters, is also located in Racine. This time, I was given free reign to snap away at whatever took my fancy. It was a little much. But I did my best. Wright not only designed the home, he designed the furniture as well.

In an age where we're used to furniture being GIGANTIC, it was hard for me to get used to Wright's furniture which was designed expressely for the person well under six feet. We were continually reminded by our guides that Wright was only five feet seven inches tall. It was a delight to experience furniture made with an actual normal sized human being in mind.

The spaces themselves were beautiful, all warm wood, and dancing sunlight and entirely comfy even though the ceiling height was at least twenty feet in the common areas. Wright designed all his entrances to be small and spare of height in order to maximize the scale and impact of the family rooms. The hallways were tiny and narrow and would have been claustrophobic had it not been for the artfully placed windows that lined and lit them.

Surprisingly, the floors were stained concrete which somehow didn't seem the least cold or harsh or even industrial.

It was a rare priviledge to experience and photograph these two amazing spaces designed by the master himself.

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