Editing Lloyd Wright

{{short description|American architect (1890–1978)}}
{{for multi|the world-renowned architect who was Wright's father|Frank Lloyd Wright|the American attorney|Loyd Wright}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox architect
|name = Lloyd Wright
|image = Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.jpg
|image_size = <!-- if image is smaller than 250px -->
|caption = c. 1910
|birth_name = Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|03|31}}
|birth_place = [[Oak Park, Illinois]], U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|05|31|1890|03|31}}
|death_place = [[Santa Monica, California]], U.S.
|nationality = American
|alma_mater = 
|spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Kyra Markham]]|1922|1925|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Helen Taggart Pole|1926|1977|end=died}}
}}
|children = [[Eric Lloyd Wright]]
|parents = [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]<br/>Catherine Lee Tobin
|awards = 
|practice = 
|significant_buildings = Taggart House, Oasis Hotel, [[John Sowden House]], [[Lloyd Wright Home and Studio]], [[Samuel-Novarro House]], Joshua Tree Retreat Center, [[Wayfarers Chapel]]
|significant_projects = [[Millard House]] landscaping and studio, [[Hollyhock House]] renovation
|significant_design = [[Hollywood Bowl]] (1926-1928)
|signature = 
}}

'''Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.''' (March 31, 1890 &ndash; May 31, 1978), commonly known as '''Lloyd Wright''', was an American [[architect]], active primarily in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] and [[Southern California]].<ref name="Hilton & Hyland">{{cite web|url=https://www.hiltonhyland.com/post/featured-architect-frank-lloyd-wright-jr/|title=Featured Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.|date=14 July 2015 |publisher=Hilton & Hyland|access-date=2018-06-07}}</ref> He was a [[landscape architecture|landscape architect]] for various Los Angeles projects (1922–1924), provided the shells for the [[Hollywood Bowl]] (1926–1928), and produced the [[Wayfarers Chapel|Swedenborg Memorial Chapel]] (or Wayfarers Chapel) at [[Rancho Palos Verdes, California]] (1946–1971).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0290036p/entire_text/|title=Lloyd Wright paper, 1920-1978|publisher=Online Archive of California|access-date=2018-06-09}}</ref> His name is frequently confused with that of his more famous father, [[Frank Lloyd Wright]].

==Early years==
Born on March 31, 1890, Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. was the eldest son of renowned architect [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] and Wright's first wife, Catherine Lee "Kitty" Tobin Wright. He spent his early years at his [[Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio|father's home and studio]] in [[Oak Park, Illinois]]. Wright briefly attended the [[University of Wisconsin]] in [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]] for two years of coursework in [[agronomy]] and [[engineering]] before traveling extensively through Europe after his father moved to Italy in 1909.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/293/|title=Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. (Architect)|publisher=Pacific Coast Architecture Database|access-date=2018-06-07}}</ref><ref name="Lloyd Wright">{{cite web|url=https://www.laconservancy.org/architects/lloyd-wright|title=Lloyd Wright|publisher=[[Los Angeles Conservancy]]|access-date=2018-06-08}}</ref>

In 1911, Wright joined the landscape firm [[List of Olmsted works#Olmsted Brothers|Olmsted and Olmsted]] in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], where he specialized in [[botany]] and [[horticulture]]. Wright would be later sent to [[San Diego, California]] to assist with the landscape design of the 1915 [[Panama–California Exposition]] with architects [[Bertram Goodhue]], [[Carleton Winslow]], and [[Irving Gill]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usmodernist.org/lwright.htm|title=Frank LLoyd Wright, Jr., aka Lloyd Wright(1890-1978)|publisher=USModnerist|access-date=2018-06-08}}</ref> The exposition's principal buildings and gardens still remain in [[Balboa Park (San Diego)|Balboa Park]]. Landscape design led him to work with Los Angeles architect [[William J. Dodd]], and in San Diego with Irving Gill, the latter another master architect and mentor to his design career. In the mid-1910s, Wright formed a landscape partnership with [[Paul Thiene]], a colleague from the Olmsted firm, before opening his own practice in 1916.<ref name="Lloyd Wright"/> Beginning in 1919, his father, working in Japan on the [[Imperial Hotel, Tokyo|Imperial Hotel]], delegated some of the responsibilities to him and architect [[Rudolph Schindler (architect)|Rudolf Schindler]] to supervise construction of the [[Hollyhock House]], while Wright worked on the Imperial Hotel in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usmodernist.org/lwright.htm|title=Frank LLoyd Wright, Jr., aka Lloyd Wright(1890-1978)|publisher=USModnerist|access-date=2018-06-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/1108/|title=Barnsdall, Aline, House, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA|publisher=Pacific Coast Architecture Database|access-date=2018-06-07}}</ref> The house was commissioned by the oil heiress and philanthropist [[Aline Barnsdall]].

Wright began his independent career in 1920. In 1922, he was a production designer at [[Paramount Studios]], responsible for the extensive castle and 12th-century village sets for the [[Douglas Fairbanks]] version of [[Robin Hood (1922 film)|Robin Hood]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.celebhomes.net/celebrityhomes/lloyd-wright-samuel-novarro/|title=Lloyd Wright's Samuel-Novarro House|date=23 May 2013 |publisher=CelebHomes|access-date=2018-06-08}}</ref> In December 1922, Wright prepared plans for the Henry Bollman House in Hollywood that included a repeated pattern of concrete blocks, a precursor to his father's more famous [[Textile block house|"textile block" houses]] in the Los Angeles area.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sweeney|first=Robert L.|date=July 18, 1994|title=Wright in Hollywood: Visions of a New Architecture|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0-26-219337-5}}</ref> From 1923 through 1926, the younger Wright was drawn into the realization of these four houses, and the ambitious attempt to evolve the "textile block" system into a patented construction technique. The first was the 1923 [[Millard House]] in [[Pasadena, California]] where Lloyd designed the grounds, and contributed an adjacent studio building in 1926. Lloyd served as construction manager for the other three: the [[Storer House (Los Angeles, California)|Storer House]] (1923), the [[Samuel Freeman House]] (1923), and the [[Ennis House]] (1924). By all accounts Lloyd's work was difficult as he shuttled back and forth between sites, communicating with his father via telegram, and receiving little constructive support from [[Taliesin (studio)|Taliesin]].

==Independent work==
Wright designed and built a number of houses in the Hollywood and Los Feliz districts of Los Angeles in the mid- to late 1920s. Lloyd Wright's first residential commission, the Taggart House was built for the mother of his second wife, Helen Taggart, a registered [[Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument]] located next to the city's [[Griffith Park]]. Another significant project was the hillside house for the manager of film star [[Ramón Novarro]], and then a renovation and enlargement when Novarro himself acquired the residence. He also designed and built his own home with a ground floor studio and second floor residence, using concrete blocks, in [[West Hollywood, California|West Hollywood]] in the 1920s.

[[File:Wayferers Chapel.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Wayfarers Chapel on the coast at Rancho Palos Verdes, 1951]]
He also designed the second and third band shells at the [[Hollywood Bowl]]. The original 1926 shell, designed by the Allied Architects group, was considered unacceptable both visually and acoustically. Wright's 1927 shell had a pyramidal shape and a design reminiscent of southwest [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] architecture. According to [[Charles Willard Moore]], it was built from leftovers from the ''Robin Hood'' production. Its acoustics generally were regarded as the best of any shell in Bowl history. But its appearance was considered too avant-garde, or perhaps only ugly, and it was demolished at the end of the season. His 1928 wooden shell had the now-familiar concentric ring motif, covered a 120-degree arc, and was designed to be easily dismantled. Unfortunately it was neglected and ruined by water damage, making way for the 1929 Allied Architects shell, which stood until the end of the 2003 season.

In 1927, Wright built a residence for himself, made of two units – one for living and one for work. The 2,413 square feet (224.17 square meter) of living space has an upstairs residence with a living room, a fireplace and wooden floors. Interlocking blocks with a stylized [[Yucca brevifolia|Joshua tree]] design overlay some of the windows.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-lloyd-wright-studio-20150216-story.html|title=Lloyd Wright's live-work space in WeHo finds a buyer|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=16 February 2015|access-date=2018-06-09}}</ref> The [[Great Depression]] stalled Wright's firm as he was reaching his artistic and professional peak. As for many architects, remodellings, rather than total designs, were the scope of 1930s work. His post-war designs became more expressionistic and less aligned to previous modernist architectural themes. He also promoted the word [[Usonia]].

The largest collection of Lloyd Wright buildings in the United States was built in phases (1946–1957) for the [[Edwin Dingle#Institute of Mentalphysics|Institute of Mentalphysics]], located on a large [[Mojave Desert]] site next to the town of [[Joshua Tree, California|Joshua Tree]], to the east of [[Joshua Tree National Park]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jtrcc.org/|title=Joshua Tree Retreat Center - Institute of Mentalphysics|publisher=Joshua Tree Retreat Center|access-date=2018-06-09}}</ref>

==Later work==
His best-known project is the [[Wayfarers Chapel]], also known as "The Glass Church", an indoor/outdoor structure made almost entirely of glass and built in 1951 for the [[Swedenborgian]] church, overlooking the [[Pacific Ocean]] on the [[Palos Verdes Peninsula]]. The site planning and planting design express his talent and experience as a landscape architect. He had an embracing grove of Redwoods ([[Sequoia sempervirens]]) planted to achieve this.<ref name="Hilton & Hyland"/> The Wayfarer's Chapel is listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wayfarerschapel.org/about/history/|title=History|publisher=[[Wayfarers Chapel]]|access-date=2018-06-09}}</ref>

<blockquote> When the trees that surround the Chapel grow up, they will become the framework, become a part of the tree forms and branches that inevitably arise from the growing trees adjacent to it. I used the glass so that the natural growth, the sky, and sea beyond became the definition of their environment. This is done to give the congregation protection in services and at the same time to create the sense of outer as well as inner space. </blockquote>

Among his last projects was the 1963 John P. Bowler house, known as the "Bird of Paradise" House, in [[Rancho Palos Verdes, California|Rancho Palos Verdes]] using blue fiberglass for projecting roof fins, and the master plan and building designs for a 1970 shopping center in [[Huntington Beach, California|Huntington Beach]], at Warner and Springdale streets south of [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hbdowntown.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/04/surf_city_myste.html|title=A Surf City Mystery|publisher=Greetings from Huntington Beach|access-date=2018-06-09}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1922 Wright married the actress and artist Elaine Hyman (known as [[Kyra Markham]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.terraamericanart.org/view/people/asitem/items$0040null:4/|title=Kyra Markham|publisher=[[Terra Foundation for American Art]]}}{{dead link|date=August 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> They divorced in 1925.

The following year, Wright married Helen Taggart, the daughter of a client (Her then seven-year-old son, [[Rupert Pole]], would later marry [[Anaïs Nin]]). In 1929, Lloyd and Helen became the parents of architect [[Eric Lloyd Wright]], who has consulted on the restoration of many of his father's and grandfather's works, as well as being independently creative. Lloyd Wright died in 1978 in Santa Monica, California. A comprehensive monograph on Lloyd Wright and his work, "Lloyd Wright, the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.", has extensive vintage and contemporary photographic documentation of his projects.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weintraub|first=Alan|date=November 28, 1998|title=Lloyd Wright: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.|publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]]|isbn=978-0-50-034166-7}}</ref>

==Selected works==
[[Image:Sowden house.jpg|thumb|250px|Vintage image of the Sowden House]]
* 1921, William Weber House, 3923 West 9th Street, [[Los Angeles, California]]<ref name=hpla>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicplacesla.org/reports/541f2a41-ad99-422b-b952-b27ace300b28|access-date=2019-09-28|title=Report - HPLA}}</ref>
* 1922, Otto Bollman House, 2200 Broadview Terrace, [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood, Los Angeles, California]]<ref name=hpla />
* 1922–1924, Martha Taggart House, 5423 Black Oak Drive, [[Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California]]
* 1923, Henry Bollman House, 1530 N. Ogden Drive, [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood, Los Angeles, California]]<ref name=hpla />
* 1923, landscape design for [[Millard House]], 645 Prospect Crescent, [[Pasadena, California]]
* 1923–1925, Oasis Hotel, 139 South Palm Canyon Drive, [[Palm Springs, California]] (partially razed)
* 1925, Harry and Alice Carr House, 3202 Lowry Road, [[Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California]]<ref name=hpla />
* 1925, [[Herbert Howe (journalist)|Herbert Howe]] House, 513 Roxbury Drive, [[Beverly Hills, California]]<ref name=hpla />
* 1926, [[John Sowden House]], 5121 Franklin Avenue [[Los Angeles, California]]
* 1926, Millard House Studio, 645 Prospect Crescent, [[Pasadena, California]]
* 1926, Farrell House, 3209 Lowry Road, [[Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California]]
* 1927, [[Lloyd Wright Home and Studio]], 858 North Doheny Drive, [[West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California]] 
* 1928, Samuel-Novarro House, 2255 Verde Oak Drive, [[Los Angeles, California]]
* 1926–1928, [[Hollywood Bowl]] Shells, 2301 North Highland Avenue, [[Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California]] (destroyed)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/the-hollywood-bowl-started-as-a-natural-amphitheater-na-1507816671|title=The Hollywood Bowl Started as a Natural Amphitheater Named Daisy Dell|date=17 April 2014 |publisher=[[Gizmodo]]|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
* 1935, [[Claudette Colbert]] residence, 615 North Faring Road, Beverly Hills (razed)<ref>{{cite web |title=Colbert, Claudette, residence |url=https://calisphere.org/item/8fe2fe446d03a129f5789fa6a4c2c3c8/ |website=Calisphere (University of California) |date=April 1939 |access-date=16 August 2020}}</ref>
* 1942, [[Ramona Gardens]], [[Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California]] (with others)<ref name="Lloyd Wright"/>
* 1946, renovation of the [[Hollyhock House]], 4800 Hollywood Boulevard, [[East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/behind-the-scenes-of-the-hollyhock-house-renovation|title=Behind the Scenes of the Hollyhock House Renovation|date=25 March 2015|publisher=[[KCET]]|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
* 1946–1957, Joshua Tree Retreat Center, 59700 Twentynine Palms Highway, [[Joshua Tree, California]]
* 1948, [[Jascha Heifetz]] House and Teaching Studio, [[Beverly Hills, California]] the studio reconstructed as part of the [[Colburn School]] in downtown Los Angeles<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zellmanarchitects.com/preservation.html|title=Jascha Heifetz Studio|publisher=Harold Zellman & Associates, Architects|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>
* 1949, Dorland House, 1370 Mirada Place, [[Altadena, California]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Lloyd Wright's Dorland House Lists in Altadena for $1 Million |url=https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/lloyd-wrights-dorland-house-lists-in-altadena-for-1-million/ |website=realtor.com News |date=23 October 2012 |access-date=21 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Designers give Lloyd Wright's Dorland house in Altadena a colorful, personal spin |url=https://www.latimes.com/home/hometours/la-hm-lloyd-wright-dorland-house-20160812-snap-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=19 August 2016 |access-date=21 June 2020}}</ref>
* 1951, [[Wayfarers Chapel]], 5755 Palos Verdes Drive South, [[Rancho Palos Verdes, California]]
* 1951, Swedenborgian Church, [[El Cerrito, California]]
* 1959, Moore House, [[Palos Verdes Estates, California]] (demolished, 2012)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.midcenturystyle.net/1489/|title=Modern Moore House in Palos Verdes Estates demolished|date=27 April 2012|publisher=Mid Century Style Magazine|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* Weintraub, Alan; Hines, Thomas; and Wright, Eric Lloyd: ''Lloyd Wright, the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.''; United Kingdom publisher: Thames and Hudson, 1998; and United States publisher: Harry N. Abrahms, 1998. 595 illustrations, 275 pages,  ({{ISBN|9780810939967}})
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lloyd Wright}}
*[http://www.laokay.com/lloydwright.htm laokay: Directory of L.A. region project locations.]
*[http://www.jtrcc.org/institute-of-mentalphysics/ Institute of Mentalphysics]
*[http://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2012/11/r-m-schindler-edward-weston-margrethe.html Edward Weston, R. M. Schindler, Anna Zacsek, Lloyd Wright, Lawrence Tibbett, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood and Their Dramatic Circles] for much on Wright's early relationships with his first wife Kirah Markham, Reginald Pole, Beatrice Wood, William J. Dodd and others.
*[http://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2014/08/tina-modotti-lloyd-wright-and-otto.html Tina Modotti, Lloyd Wright and Otto Bollman Connections, 1920] for much on Wright's early projects for Otto and Harry Bollman and connections with Tina Modotti.
*[http://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2015/12/irving-gill-homer-laughlin-and.html Irving Gill, Homer Laughlin and the Beginnings of Modern Architecture in Los Angeles, Part II, 1911-1916] for much on Lloyd Wright's early mentorship by Irving Gill and William J. Dodd.

{{Modern architecture}}
{{Frank Lloyd Wright}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Lloyd}}
[[Category:American landscape and garden designers]]
[[Category:Architects from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:California people in design]]
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:American interior designers]]
[[Category:American landscape architects]]
[[Category:Art Deco architects]]
[[Category:Art Deco designers]]
[[Category:Modernist architects from the United States]]
[[Category:Artists from Oak Park, Illinois]]
[[Category:Modernist architecture in California]]
[[Category:Frank Lloyd Wright]]
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]