“Wrightian architecture is derived from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie and Usonian styles of architecture. Wright’s style was undoubtedly popular during his lifetime, but a new wave of Wrightian architecture spread throughout the country in the 1950s and up to present day, influencing numerous ranch designs over the course of the last fifty years. Much of this remaining influence likely comes the founding of the Taliesin Fellowship, started in 1932. The original purpose of the school was to train architects to work with organic architecture. Yet, what was most transmitted to the students was Wright’s personal style based on an emphasis in horizontality with wide eaves, banded windows, and incorporation into the landscape. The style has been mimicked throughout the
country in new forms and with new materials, but always with the same characteristics.
This architecture emphasizes the horizontality of the structure through the use of deep, broad eaves, banded windows, and incorporation into the landscape. The use of natural materials such as stone is common and often coupled with horizontal or vertical wood siding. Wrightian designs include the roof as an essential characteristic in the overall form. When concrete or stucco is applied, it is most often used to smooth surfaces.16
Identifying Features:
- Emphasis on horizontality
- Emphasis on roof as part of design
- Use of horizontal wood siding is common
- Design is incorporated into landscape through low-sweeping lines
- Broad, deep eaves
- Use of battered walls
- Use of stone or simulated stone
- Concrete is finished or smooth and plastered”
Source:
- Alan Higgins, “Architectural Movements of the Recent Past: An Illustrated Handbook for Identifying Indiana’s Architectural Styles and Building Forms Since 1941,” http://alan-higgins.com/webportfolio/RP.pdf (Accessed March 1, 2010), pp. 11.