Summer "Vacation"

Since I knew we were going to be out of town for two days, before we left on Wednesday morning I completely shut down my computer.  I do not do that often, but with summer storms rumbling across the U.S., I thought unplugging the computer might be a good idea.  However, since this computer is now at least six years old, I held my breath as I booted it up a minute ago.  Would it start?  Would I have a screen image even if it did start?  Your reading this message should confirm that the computer did, indeed, come to life once again. Yet, it has started to post warning signs along the boot-up highway.  For the second time in a row, when I rebooted this computer, I have lost my selection of a desktop background.  The background always reverts to one of the "canned" photos from Apple.  I can almost hear the computer saying, "I am cooperating, sort of, for now, but I am getting old and forgetful, so I may not last forever."  Warning heeded...

We left yesterday morning for a short trip to Spring Green, Wisconsin.  Spring Green is known for three things: the American Players Theater, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin home, and the House on the Rock.  We availed ourselves of the first two selections. The third we leave to those with little children who enjoy more of a carnival atmosphere than an architectural experience.

The stage for the production of "A Comedy of Errors."

We had tickets last evening to the APT's production of Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors."  Although we have seen stage productions of this particular comedy before, we both felt that this company's interpretation of the play was the best we have experienced.  The actors were exceptional. We laughed throughout the outdoor production, enjoying the scenery in the wooded theater, wonderful weather for a summer evening, virtually no bugs (thanks to Deep Woods Off and a few bats who swooped across the stage and ate their fair share of the insects), and an appreciative audience.  We could not have asked for a more enjoyable way to pass a summer's evening.

We stayed at the Spring Green Inn which was located just down the highway from the theater, so our drive back for the evening was not long.  The hotel is well-appointed with Frank Lloyd Wright furnishings and posters.  They carried the theme through from the indirect hallway lighting to Wright-designed furniture and lamps.  Our only complaint was that the mattress was a bit lumpy and our air conditioner was on steroids.  We had a hard time controlling the temperature so that we were not icicles in the morning.

This morning, after a very nice breakfast in the hotel, we had some time to use before our 10:30 tour of Taliesin.  I had found a brochure in the lobby for a nearby cheese factory in Plain that produced one of our favorite cheeses: Butterkase.  "Butterkase" is German for "butter cheese," so named because of the creamy texture of this semi-soft cheese.  A short drive to Plain allowed us to buy a couple of bricks of butterkase and one brick of smoked cheddar.  Yum.  We will enjoy it all.  Ice from the hotel machine and a styrofoam cooler kept our purchases cold all the way back to Green Bay today.

Wright uses buildings and walkways to frame landscape elements and views.

Taliesin was Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home, built on ancestral Lloyd-Jones property handed down from his mother.  The property originally housed a home-school run by two of Wright's aunts.  The original school Wright designed was a storied Victorian monstrosity that Wright had raised after he had designed a new school for the property.  The second school was in the angular prairie design which we associate with Wright. While the K-12 school no longer teaches students,  Taliesin, since the 1930's, has been the home of FLW's own architectural school.

Wright's use of Oriental and Native American
statues are well-known elements of his houses.

Our tour was doubly fun in that most of the people on the tour were present-day architects on a group tour from a firm in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  One man in particular was just enthralled with the opportunity to see Taliesin up close and personal. I had as much fun watching his reactions as I did in experiencing the property myself.

Sadly, we have been to several other Wright properties, and I have to admit that I liked Taliesin the least of any of them. The house, while designed to take advantage of the magnificent hilly terrain and the cool breezes of the summer, still felt more chopped up and disassociated than did his design for Falling Water or Wingspread.  The house was typical Wright construction with hidden doors and low entries opening into magnificent, vaulted rooms filled with light from walls of windows.  Wright carefully controlled the entrance into spaces and how the light filled those spaces.  Sadly, both the architectural school and the house itself are badly in need of expensive repairs.

The view of one of the ceilings shows the triple
lines (representing three sunbeams) that are
a symbol of the family name.  Sadly, the
darkened spots shows water damage to the structure.

Wright believed that a house should be a
continuation of the landscape, but in this case,
the tree that he planted is a bit too much for this
wall which Foundation money will have to repair.

Frank Lloyd Wright was not a great structural engineer.  The sagging cantilevered expanses of some decks and the cracked plaster corners of many walls shows how gravity and age have stressed the structures.  Wright also did not understand (or care to pay attention to) the effects of water.  Many of the beautiful wooden ceilings were water-stained, and the majority of windows and floors showed the damage that water has caused through the years.

Built before air conditioning, Wright's single-pane windows have not faired well with the addition of conditioned air.  They sweat with condensation since the warm outer air clashes on the panes with the cooler inner air.  To restore the whole complex would take millions of dollars, and the Foundation just does not make that kind of money.

One of the many hanging lights designed
by Wright is still functional today.

For now, the genius of his design is still evident.  Students and Foundation members do their best to preserve the past while working for the future.  The school is still run on the principle of leaning by doing, and although the scarred wooden drafting tables are still in the design studio, most have been abandoned for the flat work tables which students now use to hold their computers.  Sketches have given way to print-outs and 3-D printer produced models.

The magnificent estate that surrounds Taliesin highlights
the beauty found in southwestern Wisconsin. The landscape
becomes the focal point for many of Wright's rooms.

We had an enjoyable "vacation" away from Green Bay.  The play was wonderful, and the glimpse into Frank Lloyd Wright's home was an interesting look into the life of a remarkable architect.