BACKSTORY: From the Frank Lloyd Wright website: What is architecture anyway? Is it the vast collection of the various buildings which have been built to please the varying tastes of the various lords of mankind? I think not. No, I know that architecture is life; or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived…So, architecture I know to be a Great Spirit.
— Frank Lloyd Wright
To Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) architecture was not just about buildings, it was about nourishing the lives of those sheltered within them. What were needed were environments to inspire and offer repose to the inhabitants. He called his architecture “organic” and described it as that “great living creative spirit which from generation to generation, from age to age, proceeds, persists, creates, according to the nature of man and his circumstances as they both change.”
BACKSTORY: The Charles & Mabel Ennis House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is from 1924. It has been used in the movies “Blade Runner,” “The Day of the Locust,” “Grand Canyon,” and the TV Series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” In July 2011, The Ennis House Foundation announced the sale of the Ennis House to Ron Burkle for just under $4.5 million. “We are excited that Mr. Burkle has purchased the Ennis House and is committed to complete the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable icon,” says Marla Felber, Chair of the Foundation. “Mr. Burkle has a track record of preserving important historic homes, and we know he’ll be an excellent steward of the Ennis House.” As part of the transaction, Burkle will provide some form of public access to the house a minimum of 12 days per year, according to the terms of a conservation easement held by the Los Angeles Conservancy. The easement stipulates this access for future owners of the home as well. For more information, visit the website: ennishouse.com.
BACKSTORY: Frank Lloyd Wright began building this desert masterpiece in 1937 as his personal winter home, studio, and architectural campus. Located on the beautiful Sonoran desert in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains in northeast Scottsdale, the site offers a broad range of guided public tours. Visitors experience Wright’s brilliant ability to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces. For more information, visit the Taliesin website.
