Frank Lloyd Wright and the House of Wax - … · Frank Lloyd Wrightand the House of Wax 1 Table of Contents Slide/s Part Description 1N/ATitle 2 N/A Table of Contents 3~49 1 Second

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© J.M. Syken 1

Frank Lloyd Wright and the

House of Wax

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Table of Contents

Slide/s Part Description1 N/A Title2 N/A Table of Contents3~49 1 Second Act

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50~109 2 Seeing is Believing110~173 3 Cathedral of Work174~207 4 Doing it Wright208~276 5 The Customer is Always Wright277~356 6 The Research Tree357~413 7 Prairie House Deluxe414~450 8 An On-Going Legacy

Part 1

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Second ActGreatest Architect of the 19th Century

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Greatest Architect of the 19th Century

“Was he the greatest architect of the19th century (as the young Philip John-son twittingly called him) or the firstgreat one of the 20th? Even as he was,years ahead of his time, denuding int-eriors and dreaming up schemes formass-produced housing, he loathedthe new abstract art from its beginning.Johnson planned to include Wright inhis epochal 1932 Museum of ModernArt show on the International Style, but

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yWright peevishly pulled out, unwillingto be lumped with designers he con-sidered hacks. Wright slagged his arc-hitectural descendants, calling the Int-ernational Style ‘totalitarian.’ Yet he re-mained by deep temperament a mod-ernist, driven always by the urge to cr-eate novelty…”TIME magazine, October 5th 1992Left: caption: “Head and shouldersportrait of Frank Lloyd Wright”

Above: caption: “Model of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye from Modern Architecture

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Above: caption: Model of Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye from Modern Architecture,International Exhibition - The Museum of Modern Art, New York; February 9th -March 23rd 1932.” Curated by Alfred H. Barr and Philip Johnson, the exhibitionincluded photographs and models of buildings that were intended to commu-nicate the idea of a great revolution in architectural design. Like all exhibitions, ithad a clear curatorial point of view. What had been a movement of socialdimension in Europe was labeled a “style” for the NYC audience, with Hitchcockand Johnson explaining its general formal parameters. Nevertheless, the exhib-ition introduced interesting and important new architecture to an American aud-ience. With the success of the exhibition (and related book project authored byHenry-Russell Hitchcock and Johnson), the MoMA show became legendaryand Johnson and his associates were recognized as the soothsayers whodefined the canons of modernism in architecture.


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“…The permanently startled look on ArchitectWright’s face is rightly come by. His Auto-biography was a naive exhibition of martyr-dom, rage, scarifying tragedy and adolescentyammering. One time he was stabbed eleventimes in the back. Soon afterward he wasmarried, had six children, left them and movedin with another man’s wife and two children,until August 1914 when a disapproving Negrobutler killed the woman and children and fourneighbors and burned down the house. In hisworking hours Wright had developed steel-and-glass city buildings, windows coveringtwo sides of a corner, houses made as nearly

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as possible of one material, the cantilever fou-ndation principle (Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel,floated on a mud base to rock with earth-quakes), and the unit cement block system ofconstruction chiefly used in California. Hisgreat reputation is that of a revolutionist,based on his long campaign against trad-itional architecture and architects. Once con-sidered in Europe the greatest U.S. architect,he was conspicuously omitted last year fromthe staff of architects for Chicago’s Century ofProgress Exposition for1933…”TIME magazine, September 5th 1932

“F.L. Wright Tells of HisStormy Life. Individ-ualistic Architect SetsDown Story of LongStruggle to Keep His‘Freedom’…Predicts De-ath of Cities, AssailsSkyscrapers.”RE: New York Times head-li i M h 1932 th

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line in March 1932 upon thepublication of FLW’s AnAutobiography (left). By the1920s, it appeared FLW’sbest work was behind him.With few commissions, hespent much of his time dur-ing the “Wilderness Years”lecturing, theorizing andwriting his autobio-graphy.

“..To the U.S. man-in-the-street 15 years ago, the name FrankLloyd Wright meant, if anything, the builder of a hotel inTokyo which by some engineering magic withstood the greatearthquake of 1923. To the U.S. man-in-the-subway, his namewas associated with scandalous episodes ground from theinhuman human-interest mill of the tabloid newspapers. Adecade ago, when the brand-new International Style in arch-itecture was seriously taken up by U.S. architects, many ofthem were surprised to discover that Wright had been its

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them were surprised to discover that Wright had been itsforerunner 30 years before, that by great European architectssuch as J.J.P. Oud and Mies van der Rohe he was regardedas a master spirit. In 1932 Wright published his autobio-graphy, a book which combined magnificent self-revelationwith the most stimulating discussion of architecture everheard in the U.S…”TIME magazine, January 17th 1938RE: MoMA curator Philip Johnson had deridingly referred to FLW as: “The Great-est Architect of the 19th Century.”

“…Wright’s unconventionalityhas always been frowned uponby official bodies and arch-itectural juries. He was notinvited to participate in eitherthe Chicago Exposition of 1933or the New York World’s Fair.He has never been awardedany of the important U.S. arch-itectural medals or prizes. Nei-ther the U.S. government nor

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gthe government of his homestate Wisconsin has ever em-ployed him to design a build-ing. He has never become amember of the American Inst-itute of Architects, some saybecause the institute is afraidto invite him lest he refuse witha violent public denuncia-tion…”LIFE magazine, August 12th 1946

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Above: caption: “Exhibit of the works of Frank Lloyd Wright at the Layton Art Gallery inMilwaukee which later toured the United States, 1930-1931. Numerous models and drawingsof Wright designed buildings are on display including most prominently the resid-ence designed for Richard Lloyd Jones.”

“This is what happens when you leave a

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work of art out in the rain”RE: when the Johnson Wax Administration Build-ing project began in 1936, H.F. Johnson visited thehouse that FLW had built for his cousin RichardLloyd Jones in Tulsa, Ok in 1929 (above & left).Johnson noticed numerous tubs and canning jarsscattered throughout the house. Inquiring as to thereason for them, Mrs. Lloyd Jones apologized toher guest and used this simple, to-the-pointexplanation. Even so, he was suitably im-pressed with the house.


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Game Changer

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Game Changer

“…There is a visceral thrill to Fallingwater, something evenWright’s drawings convey. Like a gymnast on the high barswho freezes his body horizontally at the top of his arc, thehouse appears to defy gravity with an impossible mus-cularity. In magic, the technique is called ‘misdirection.’Looking beneath the building’s projections to find adequatesupport, we are mystified to find only air. The magician-architect knows where the observers will look for support – inthe logical, but wrong place. Instead, he extends his hidden

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g , g p ,support beams from the front edge of the ‘floating’ deck backthrough and beyond the house deep into the hill beyond…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipRE: with two commissions nearly back-to-back; Fallingwater (1935) andthe S.C. Johnson Wax Administration Building (1936) and his TaliesinFellow-ship (1932) well-established, FLW would prove that he was still aforce to be reckoned with despite jazz-age author F. Scott Fitzgerald’slament: “There are no second acts in American lives.” During the lastsixteen years of his long life (1867-1959), FLW received nearly 50%of the total architectural commissions of his career as an architect.

Above & Left; caption: “Fallingwater coun-

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Above & Left; caption: Fallingwater, country dwelling for the Edgar J. Kaufmans. Thefirst house in my experience to be built ofreinforced concrete. So the form took thegrammar of that type of construction. TheGale house at Oak Park built in wood andplaster was its progenitor as to generaltype.” Excerpt from catalog of an exhibitionheld October 22nd – December 13th 1953 atthe Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYCentitled: “Sixty Years of Living Arch-tecture: The Work of Frank LloydWright.”

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Above: FLW was commissioned to build a permanent building to exhibit and house the GuggenheimMuseum’s collection of non-objective art in 1943. However, construction did not begin until 1956. Atemporary glass-pavilion building (at right in the photograph) designed by FLW was erected in 1953 on thesite where the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum building in NYC is now located. Sixty Years of LivingArchitecture: The Work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the first and only exhibition held in the building, opened inOctober 1953. The show, dedicated to FLW’s career and life work, featured drawings, models and life-sizereconstructions of his most famous architectural creations and interior designs. This included a full scaleUsonian House, based on FLW’s vision of the future of American private homes that was built on themuseum grounds before being sold, disassembled, and moved to a permanent location. Thehouse’s unique flat roof and upper windows can be seen on the left of the photo-graph (behind the concrete wall erected around both structures).

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Above L&R: the exhibition was held from October 22nd to December 13th 1953. Inaddition to the pavilion, the model Usonian House constructed on the lot wasfurnished with pieces designed by FLW. Conceived of by FLW as a sample ofaffordable housing for the average American, the two-bedroom house was built toa human scale and had an open floor plan with abundant natural light. Thephotograph above documents the final removal of brickwork from the UsonianHouse at the conclusion of the exhibition. Before coming to New York City, SixtyYears of Living Architecture had been shown in various European cities as well asin Mexico and proved to be immensely popular with the public. During the courseof the exhibition in NYC, over eighty-thousand visitors came to the museum,which remained open every day and had extended hours (until 10 pm)several days a week.

“…Wright’s jutting decks were notcompletely original, as Kaufmanhimself may have known. It was hewho had suggested early on thatWright look for inspiration to hisformer draftsman Richard Neutra’s1929 Lovell House near Los Ang-eles, which had been featured in theMoMA show. With its dramaticfloors projecting out toward thestreet, the Lovell house had made a

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stir in modernist circles. Wright’sson Lloyd, who was living in LosAngeles when the landmark housewas built, surely knew the project indetail; his father did too. But thesenior Wright could of course claimprecedence with his even earlierhouse completed in 1909 for ZonaGale’s aunt…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipLeft T&B: FLW’s Gale House (1909)


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“…The staggered horizontal concrete projections of Fallingwater, itsmassive painted surfaces, the way it hovered in the air – all these sug-gested that Wright was playing off not just Neutra but also the wholeaesthetic thrust of his European enemies. But Wright intended Falling-water as critique, not homage…with this house, he said, they would beat‘the Internationalists at their own game’…The message of Fallingwaterwas clear: The European avant-garde stood on his foundations, theirbranches had grown from his trunk…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipAbove L&R: rendering (left) and photograph (right) of Richard Neutra’sLovell House (1928)

“This building is a late example of theinspiration of the site, the cooperationof an intelligent, appreciative client andthe use of entirely masonry materials -the grammar of the slabs at their eavesis best shown by a detail. But the roofwater is caught by a lead strip built intothe concrete above near the beginningsof the curve so that water dripping bygravity at the bottom of the curve – as itdoes - does not very much stain thecurves. It is not the deluge of water in a

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storm that hurts a building: it is oozeand drip of dirty water in thawing andfreezing, increased by slight showers.The cantilever slabs here carry parapetsand the beams. This may be seenclutching big boulders. But next time, Ibelieve. parapets will carry the floors -or better still we will know enough tomake the two work together…Theeffects you see in this house are notsuperficial effects.”Frank Lloyd Wright

Top Left: original perspective

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Top Left: original perspectiverenderingTop Right: photograph takenfrom below the fallsLeft: view of stair leading downto Bear Run (above the falls). Aglass enclosure in the LR leadsto the stair. Left open, it pro-vides a pleasant breeze insidethe house from the alwayscool stream below. 22

“Given the contour of the land, Wrightlocated a house anchored in the rocknext to the falls, jutting over the streamand counterweighted by massing at theback. Wright oriented the house to thesoutheast as he preferred, extendingfloors in horizontal bands which ech-oed rock ledges. The house wouldhover serenely over the water...In ahouse designed for people to live in,these material components and effectswould subserve a whole that, insideand out, must be intimate, informal, yetthe main living area must be ample

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the main living area must be ample.The spaces, sheltered at the rear, wouldopen toward and flow into the space ofthe wooded valley. The eye of theindweller would be guided outward bylow ceilings toward nature, not upwardto a grand interior. Light would comefrom several sides to provide a bal-anced ambience, and the house and itssetting would be interwoven, vibrantwith the changing daylight and theseasons’ variations.”Western Pennsylvania ConservancyLeft: plan and front (South) elevation

“…The engineering principle behind such astructure is that of the cantilever – a beam orfloor slab that is rigid enough to extend intospace without support from below. Cantileversare not inherently unsafe; in fact they arecommonly found in nature, in tree branches androck outcroppings like the one that created the

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waterfall over which Wright wanted to build thehouse. ‘Nature,’ he told his initially doubtfulclient, ‘cantilevered those boulders out over thefalls…I can cantilever the house over the boul-ders…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipLeft: East/West elevations and sections


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“…Fallingwater was muchmore boldly three-dimension-al than anything coming fromEurope; its composition re-ferred to forms and forces ofnature, not the machine.Wright left space for trees togrow right through the bed-room terrace. He specified lo-cally quarried flagstone forthe walls and the floors, notjust to blend with the site but

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just to blend with the site, butalso to suggest the stratifiedoutcroppings through whichthe water coursed below. Andthe horizontal concrete deckswere sustained and penetra-ted by vertical stacks of Tal-iesin-like masonry…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipTop: transverse sectionBottom: main floor/siteplan 26

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“…Without informing Wright, Kaufmanforwarded drawings to his own engineersin Pittsburgh for checking…They quest-ioned the long-term stability of the rockon which the house was to sit. Theythought that insufficient attention hadbeen paid to the effects of the stream atflood levels. They did independent cal-culations that indicated that the stonefoundation walls should be one thirdthicker…in a devastating indictment, they

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g ycomplained that the drawings didn’t haveenough information for them to confirm,one way or the other, whether the struc-ture was safe. When E.J. sent the doc-ument to Taliesin, Wright exploded. Hedemanded the return of his plans; Kauf-man didn’t deserve the house. Kaufmanapologized and later buried the report inone of the walls. This would prove to be amistake…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

“…When they removed the wooden formwork after pouring the concretecantilever, the slab immediately sagged two inches. Some sag is to beexpected when forms are pulled, but no more than half an inch, accordingto sound engineering practice. If Mosher hadn’t approved the extra steel,the slab might have collapsed altogether…any experienced builder wouldhave adjusted for the weight of the concrete by tilting the forms slightlyup so that the expected sag would bring everything back to level whenthe forms were removed. Hall’s men had built the forms level, and whenthe structure sagged, it sagged visibly…When Mendel Glickman learnedof the two-inch sag, he was stunned. ‘Oh my God,’ he gasped, ‘we left outth ti i f t ’ It t i hi i t k I til

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the negative reinforcement.’ It was an astonishing mistake. In a cantilever,negative reinforcement bars must be placed toward the the top of the slabor beam to prevent the upper portion from stretching, allowing it to bowdownward under its own weight…Completely ignoring the negativereinforcement issue, Wright blamed the problem on the one thing thatcertainly wasn’t an issue: the weight of the extra steel recommended byKaufman’s engineers and snuck in by his own renegade apprentice,Mosher…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship. Mendel Glickman was a former apprentice and,assisted by FLW’s new son-in-law Wes Peters, served as consulting structuralengineer for Fallingwater.

Left: caption: “Fallingwaterduring construction. Fearinga collapse, the workmen re-fused to remove the woodbraces (note the precariouslyplaced construction shedatop the cantilevered terr-

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ace).” When his own work-man balked at removing thetemporary supports for fearthe entire cantilever slabwould collapse on top ofthem, the contractor had todo it himself.


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Vindication

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Vindication

“…a tremendous, power-ful vehicle that put Wrightin front of the public andvirtually inspired a gen-eration of architects thatall cited this issue of ar-chitectural forum as hav-ing galvanized them…areminder that Wright was

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reminder that Wright wasnot buried, but was aheadof all the young folks whowere practicing architect-ure at that time…”Jonathan Lipman, AuthorLeft: cover of the landmarkFLW retrospective issue ofARCHITECTURAL FORUMmagazine (Jan. 1938)

The Perfect Celebrity

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The Perfect Celebrity

“…Personally, Frank Lloyd Wri-ght is the perfect celebrity. Henot only is an extraordinary man;he looks and acts the part.Sporting a Malacca cane, a flow-ing tie and a cape like Super-man’s, his white hair blowing inthe wind, he resembles a greatactor about to launch into atirade from ‘King Lear.’ He isabout 5-feet 8-inches tall, but

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,looks larger. His clothing, whichis all made by a Chicago tailor tohis own specifications, rangesfrom elegant Palm Beach suits tovelvet knockers and makes himas conspicuous as a baro-quecathedral…”LIFE magazine, August 12th 1946Left: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wrightstanding under a tree at Tal-iesin in December 1937”

NPD

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NPD


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Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a personality dis-order in which the individual is described as being excessivelypreoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestigeand vanity. This condition affects one percent of the population.First formulated in 1968, it was historically called megalomania,and is severe egocentrism. Persons diagnosed with a NarcissisticPersonality Disorder are characterized by unwarranted feelings of

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Personality Disorder are characterized by unwarranted feelings ofself-importance. They have a sense of entitlement and dem-onstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behavior. They have astrong need for admiration, but lack feelings of empathy. Thesequalities are usually defenses against a deep feeling of inferiorityand of being unloved.Wikipedia

Narcissistic personality disorder sympt-oms may include:• Believing that you’re better than others;• Fantasizing about power, success andattractiveness;• Exaggerating your achievements or tal-ents;• Expecting constant praise and admir-ation;• Believing that you’re special and actingaccordingly;• Failing to recognize other people’s emo-tions and feelings;• Expecting others to go along with your

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• Expecting others to go along with yourideas and plans;• Taking advantage of others;• Expressing disdain for those you feelare inferior;• Being jealous of others;• Believing that others are jealous of you;• Trouble keeping healthy relationships;• Setting unrealistic goals;• Being easily hurt and rejected;• Having a fragile self-esteem, and;• Appearing as tough-minded or unemot-ionalWikipedia

“Odds are you know some narcissists. Odds are they’re smart, confident and articulate.They make you laugh, they make you think…It’s a deep and all but certain truth aboutnarcissistic personalities that to meet them is to love them, but to know them well is to findthem unbearable. Confidence quickly curdles into arrogance; smarts turn to smugness,charm turns to smarm. They will talk endlessly about themselves, but when they ask aboutyou - well, never mind, because they never do. Narcissism falls along the axis of whatpsychologists call personality disorders, one of a group that includes antisocial, dependent,histrionic, avoidant and borderline personalities. But by most measures, narcissism is oneof the worst, if only because the narcissists themselves are so clueless. Their coworkersdislike them - but it must be because they’re jealous. Their spouses divorce them - but it’sbecause they don’t understand them. Their friends abandon them - but only because theycan’t keep up with them. It’s this obtuseness that makes narcissists so hard to treat. How,

ft ll dd bl if h id th t it i t ? i i t d

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after all, can you address a problem if you have no idea that it even exists?...narcissists dothink extraordinarily highly of themselves but, over time, realize that their friends - or formerfriends - don’t share that view. They know they’re seen as cocky, as conceited; they know, inshort, that they’re obnoxious…Since narcissism is fueled by a greater need to be admiredthan to be liked, psychologists might use that fact as a therapeutic lever - stressing topatients that being known as a narcissist will actually cause them to lose the respect andsocial status they crave. That may or may not work, but if it doesn’t, it’s worth rememberingwhat the psychologists are up against. The new paper opens with a quote from Frank LloydWright, who famously said: ‘Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance andhypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no reason to change.’ Suchself-adoration may be forgivable in Wright, whose buildings have long since outlived hispersonal failings. Most of us - narcissists or not - will never achieve such fame…”TIME magazine, October 27th 2011

A House Builder and a Home Wrecker

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A House Builder and a Home Wrecker

“…You covet attention. You are always out of step, marching by yourself,scoffing at all others, calling everybody and everything ridiculous,speaking in only words of contempt for your country and your country-men. You tell organized society to go to hell, and then expect it to honorand praise you…Did you ever stop to consider the cause of all thetroubles you ever had? Every one has grown out of your insistentappetite for a woman, a purely selfish wish to follow your own selfishinterests in utter self-indulgence…a house builder and a home wre-cker…wrecked three homes in your heroic effort to work out your ownsalvation with honesty and freedom from hypocrisy…You are the mostconspicuously selfish person I have ever known You expect all your

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conspicuously selfish person I have ever known. You expect all yourfriends to make personal sacrifice to stand by you, and if need be, to goto hell for you…What you need is a Hart, Schaffner & Marx suit of clothes,a four-in-hand tie, a Dobbs hat and a chance to learn how to be unseen ina crowd. If you are going to stay here, pull up the children’s chairs to thetable, buy the Stars and Stripes, tack a flag-staff to your bungalow and flythe colors and learn to love it.”Richard Lloyd JonesRE: Jones was FLW’s cousin - a newspaper publisher in Tulsa, OK, who he called “Dickie.”To save him from financial ruin, a group of investors (including Dickie) incorporated FLW as“Frank Lloyd Wright, Inc.” (later “Wright, Inc.”). FLW responded to his cousin’stirade saying he was: “a puritan and a publican of the worst stripe.”

What’s Wrong with the Wrights?

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What s Wrong with the Wrights?


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“…Wright’s mother certainly had violent, hys-terical attacks, and even pleaded with herhusband, William, to put her in an asylum. ButWilliam’s own peripatetic career, the way hemoved his family from place to place and

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y p pmastered so many fields without ever reallysucceeding in any of them, also suggests amanic-depressive streak…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipLeft: Anna Lloyd Jones Wright

“…And what of the great architect himself? Frank LloydWright had nearly all the classic symptoms of manicbehavior; the bursts of energy, the cocksure agility andspeed of thought, the inspired ebullience always shadowedby a streak of irritability. Manics spend too much; they’reprone to sexual escapades; their talk is grandiose; they takereckless chances. The energy coursing through a manicpersonality enables some to grasp complex situations, to

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sort through associations at light speed, to visualize cor-respondences and imagine extraordinary solutions. Of suchstuff is artistic genius often made. Artists of all kinds - poetsand writers, but also musicians and architects – are es-pecially likely to suffer such mood disorders. It is out of thispassionate sensibility that many of our greatest culturalachievements have emerged…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

“…Not long ago Wright was waiting in arailroad-station restaurant when Eliel Saar-inen, one of the few other architects whoseexistence he recognizes, walked in and satdown at an adjoining table. Soon Saarinennoticed Wright and courteously bowed. Witha princely show of cordiality, Wright said he a

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p y y, grecently seen Saarinen’s design of a newchurch, Saarinen grunted appreciably. ‘Well,Eliel, when I saw it, I thought what a greatarchitect – I am.’…”LIFE magazine, August 12th 1946Left: Eliel Saarinen’s First Christian Church (1942),Columbus, Indiana

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“Frank Wright was neither”Eliel Saarinen, ArchitectAbove T&B: Helsinki Central RailwayStation by Eliel Saarinen(1919)

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Just Like a Cow

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Just Like a Cow


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“I do it like a cow shits”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: his response to a question posed by Philip Johnson as to how he

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p q p y pcomposed his spaces. Johnson was visiting the Taliesin Fellowship dur-ing its first year (1932). He noted that FLW was “so cruel to the kids thatworked there” and found his third wife, Oglivanna, to be “a horror.”

Part 2

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Seeing is Believing

A House That Straddles Water

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A House That Straddles Water

“‘A House That Straddles Water.’ Hence theedifice at Racine, Wisconsin, being built now asgeneral headquarters for an international waxmanufacturing company, will have a heated floor,rather than hot air vents or radiators. Since thesurroundings are very ugly, no windows will lookout on the streets. Bands of double glass will letin equal daylight from every wall and between thebands tubes of slightly yellow neon will provideartificial light as needed. The 250 workers willoccupy a single great room, only those machineswhich are noisy being segregated, and corkceilings will absorb the sound rising from theheated rubber floor, blend it into a placid hum.Department heads will occupy a balcony lookingdown on the central floor and spiral stairs will

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down on the central floor and spiral stairs willlead to each department head. The latter will beseparated from each other by movable metalscreens and the stairways will also be movable, toallow for expansion and contraction of depart-ments. A roughly semi-circular penthouse on theroof will house the offices of the president and theother executives. Everything about this buildingis intended to express the dignity of labor and thesuperior talents of executives who have risen bywork well done. The management is enlightenedand has provided a theater for itsworkers - all of them unionized…”St. Louis Dispatch, March 21st 1937Left: caption: “Interior, Reception Area, EastView From Third Floor Balcony”

“…in fact many aspects ofthe design – from the build-ing’s foundation and con-crete screen walls to its rad-iant heating and ‘breather’ventilation system of tubeswhich circulate fresh air fromthe outside – defied localb ildi d S did it

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building codes. So did its em-ergency exits. Wright agreedto some changes, but wasable to convince the officialsto accept the sub-standardexits, on the premise that theall-brick building would nevercatch fire…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

“…Wright had gone out of his way todesign columns that appeared in-capable of withstanding even theirown weight. The archetype of struc-tural stability is the pyramid, a massthat widens at its base. Wright’scolumns, perversely, narrowed asthey approached the bottom. At thepoint where they would transfer alltheir weight – and that of the roofhigh above – to the floor, they wereonly nine inches in diameter not

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only nine inches in diameter, notunlike a ballet dancer on point. Tomake matters worse, some of thecolumns were weakened by beinghollowed out to make room for con-cealed downspouts from the roof.With Fallingwater, Wright had soughtto amaze onlookers with a display ofapparently impossible-to-support hor-izontal weight. Now he was doing thesame thing on a vertical plane…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship


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“…The new column takes the form of aflower, or an ice cream cone. Wrightprefers to call it a ‘flower’ column. At theground, where most columns have theirgreatest thickness, the Wright column isnine inches in diameter. Instead of tap-ering, it spreads gradually, like the stemof a flower. At the top of the ‘stem,’simulating the botanical construction ofa flower, there is a perceptible wideningof the forms to create the appearance ofa cup. Wright calls this the ‘calyx’ from

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p g ythe botanical name for the corres-ponding part of a flower. Surmountingthe ‘calyx’ is a large concrete ‘dish,’18.5-feet in diameter, which is called the‘petal.’ The roof of the building will reston these concrete ‘petals,’ spaced 20-feet apart throughout the building. Lightwill be brought into the building throughglass skylights which will fill the dia-mond shaped areas on the roof causedby the rims of the petals…”The Milwaukee Journal, June 4th 1937

A Dream of Heaven

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A Dream of Heaven

“…Somber, forest-abstract made instone…the architecture we call Gothic

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is much nearer to us and has takenitself a long course of time in which todie…”Frank Lloyd WrightAbove: caption: “Interior of a Cathedral byPeeter, the Younger Neeffs, 1659.” WithJohnson Wax, FLW sought to resurrect andreinterpret the Gothic Cathedral with itscolumns and vaults. As the Gothic came toprominence with the rise of the merchant-class, he saw his architecture as heir to theGothic legacy and entrepeneurs like H.B.Johnson and Edgar Kaufman, Sr. as themodern successors to the merch-ant-prince patrons of the Renaissance.

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“Organic architecture designed this great building to be an inspiring a place towork in as any cathedral ever was in which to worship. It was meant to be a socio-architectural interpretation of modern business at its top and best…”Frank Lloyd Wright

“…as for the columns, in the greatworkroom they would support onlythemselves and the exquisite lattice-work of glass tubes that filled theinterstices between their not quirecontiguous lily pad tops while else

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contiguous lily-pad tops, while else-where in the building they would besupporting conventional built-up ro-ofs…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life ofFrank Lloyd Wright

The building would not have traditionalwindows given FLW’s contempt for thesouth-side Racine neighborhood surroun-ding the Johnson property which he con-sidered “worthless.” Instead, he wouldshut it out completely and turn inward,flooding the interior with light – just like aGothic cathedral. FLW had tried to per-suade H.F. Johnson to relocate to the Wis-consin countryside where FLW envisionedan entire community including housing foremployees as well as the company build-ings. Johnson was adamant that he didnot want to move the company out of

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p yRacine. Olgivanna warned her husbandthat he might lose the commission if hecontinued to argue for the “country cam-pus” concept, FLW filled the building withnatural light from skylights and miles ofPyrex tubing. He further downplayed thebuilding’s location by placing the mainentrance on the north-facing side of thebuilding (1525 Howe Street), away from16th Street – it’s original location.Top: an existing Johnson Wax buildingBottom: The S.C. Johnson Wax Admin-istration Building in its industrialsetting


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Above L&R: 16th

Street service entryLeft: swivel gate atservice entry

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Above: caption: “Interior,Reception Desk”Left: caption: “Interior, Re-ception Area From East”

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Above: caption: “Interior, Re-ception Area From SecondFloor West Balcony”Left: caption: “Interior, Detailof Second Floor BalconyWalkway with Elevator”

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Above L&R: Confer-ence RoomLeft: Reception Area

Almost Fool Proof

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Almost Fool-Proof


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“…In order to make the structure monolithic the ex-terior enclosing wall material appeared inside wher-ever it was sensible for it to do so. The main feature of

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construction was the simple repetition of slenderhollow monolithic dendriform shafts or stems – thestems standing tip-toe in small brass shoes bedded atthe floor level. The great structure throughout is lightand plastic - an open glass-filled rift is up there wherethe cornice might have been. Reinforcing used wasmostly cold-drawn steel mesh-welded. The entire steel-reinforced structure stands there earthquake-proof,fireproof, sound-proof, and vermin-proof. Almost fool-proof but alas, no. Simplicity is never fool-proof nor isit ever for fools.”Frank Lloyd WrightAbove: embedded brass shoeLeft: caption: “Two-story work space during construction”

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“…unconventional was his way of con-structing the walls of the building; heinvented a sandwich made up of a singlethickness of brick on the exterior, afilling of insulating cork and concretegrout, and a single thickness of brick onthe interior, strengthened at intervals bytransverse copper straps…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of FrankLloyd WrightAbove: caption: “Masonry Cavity Wallfilled with Cork Insulation”Left: caption: “Exterior View”

“…Wright and Johnson succeeded in outwitting bureaucraticopposition to Wright’s unconventional methods of creatingfoundations for the building: in emulation of what he claimedwere ancient Welsh principles, he would dig a shallow trenchand pour concrete over a bed of loose broken rock andgravel As for heating the building he planned to force hot

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gravel…As for heating the building, he planned to force hotair through ceramic tiles in the concrete floor slab – a methodof heating that Wright had admired in Japan and thatJohnson and his colleagues were all profoundly skepticalof…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

“…But Frank Lloyd Wright, though he be-lieves in abundance and simple comfort forall men, is not an egalitarian and has violatedno principle of his own by bridging a squashcourt to the executive offices, and by makingthe president’s office overlook a roof gardenwith a reflecting pool. Although definitely nota functionalist, Wright has held to principleshe helped the functionalists establish. Thetwo lovely machines which will suck air downthrough the funnel-like nostrils to filters willbe kept behind glass, so that they can be thechief decoration of the inner court which isthe sole access to the building from thestreet. Efficiency is expressed in the arrange-ment whereby departments are grouped in a

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y p g plogical semi-circular order from entrance toexit, incoming mail being received at one endof the court, outgoing being shipped from theopposite end. The two nostrils are the centralfeatures of the building and are surroundedby great semi-circular stairs that coil aroundthem and around for small circular elevatorsthat rise to the reception room of the exec-utive offices. The only purely ornamental fea-tures of the buildings are a big illuminatedglobe across the street from the entrancedrive, and a set of glass murals dividing thetheater from the main work room.”St. Louis Dispatch, March 21st 1937Left: caption: “Interior Detail of Elevator,1st & 2nd FL”

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The Shape of Things to Come

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The Shape of Things to Come

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“Future historians may well decide that atruer glimpse of the shape of things tocome than is represented by the New YorkWorld’s Fair was given in a single struc-ture built strictly for business - the Admin-istration Building of S.C. Johnson & Son,Inc., in Racine, Wisconsin.”LIFE magazine, 1939Above: caption: “The Trylon and Perisphere,glow in the night at the fairgrounds in FlushingMeadows, location of the New York World’s Fairof 1939 and 1940, promised visitors they wouldbe looking at the ‘World of Tomorrow’”Left: caption: “Interior, Reception Areafrom West, First Floor”

“ H F Johnson Jr the company president who hired

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…H.F. Johnson, Jr., the company president who hiredWright during the Great Depression, fretted about theconstruction delays and cost-overruns. Wright assured himthat the extra dollars would be more than offset by theattention the building would bring to the company. Thebuilding opened concurrently with the opening of the 1939New York World’s Fair. An article in Life magazine praisedthe fair, but added that if people wanted to see somethingreally special, they should visit the administration building inRacine. Today, as an internationally-known architecturallandmark, it draws some 4,500 visitors every year.”The Journal Times, August 2010Above L&R: General Motor’s Futurama exhibit was by far the mostpopular attraction the 1939/40 NY World’s Fair. In it, visitors couldglimpse the future world of 1960, albeit in highly detailedscale model form. Upon exiting, they were given a pin(left) proclaiming: “I Have Seen the Future.”

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“…In his large city buildings, for which he is more famous, his idea is totailor the structure to its purpose instead of designing a beautiful exteriorand then splitting the interior into cubicles. The outside lines flow aroundthe pattern set in the interior. The resulting buildings usually have suchsimplicity that they are startling…”Popular Mechanics, April 1948

Upper Left: caption: “Above you see nomodel of the building of the future, butthe office of S.C. Johnson & Son,Racine, Wis. Two air intakes at top arecalled ‘nostrils’ by the architect, FrankLloyd Wright. Skylights and unseen fix-tures supply light in the windowlessbuilding.”Middle Right: caption: “Center, glass-enclosed bridge linking two buildings.Above, glimpse of tapering ‘golf tee’columns which support the roof. Cir-

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cular stairways between floors savespace. Reception hall is seen below.”Lower Left: caption: “Above, the cir-cular ‘bird-cage’ elevator. Radiant floorsheat the building, steam pipes beinglaid under the four-inch concrete slab.Without a conventional front door, ent-rance is through a roofed-over autodriveway. Near by is a ‘carport’ forparking, and on its roof a theater and asquash court.”Popular Mechanics, August 1939

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“Not only the greatest pieceof twentieth-century architect-ure realized in the United Sta-tes to date but also, possibly,the most profound work of artthat America has ever pro-

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pduced”Kenneth Frampton, British ArchitectLeft: caption: “Close-up of a FrankLloyd Wright pillar with surroundingPyrex tubing in the AdministrationBuilding on the SC Johnson cam-pus”

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“Both the Administration Building (alsocalled the Johnson Wax Building) andthe later Research Tower...are of brickand glass. The main office work space isarticulated by dendriform columns cap-able of supporting six times the weightimposed upon them, a fact Wright had todemonstrate in order to obtain a buildingpermit. The glass is not in panes, but intubing, and several layers of differentsizes are used to admit light but no

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sizes are used to admit light but noview....Wright designed all the originalfurniture for the building, including thethree-legged secretary chairs, which tipover if one does not sit with correctposture...”William Allin Storrer, AuthorLeft: caption: “Image of a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed three-legged office chair on parquetflooring. Parquet flooring symbolizes S.C.Johnson’s humble beginnings just as thechair represents their creative spirit.”

The Lure of the New and Untried

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The Lure of the New and Untried

“…The building waslaid out upon ahorizontal unit sys-tem twenty feet oncenters both ways,rising into the air ona vertical units sys-tem of three-and-a-half inches: one

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half inches: oneespecially large brick

course. Glass was not used as bricks in thisstructure. Bricks were bricks. The buildingitself became - by way of long glass tubing -crystal where crystal either transparent ortranslucent was felt to be more appro-priate…”Frank Lloyd Wright

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Above: caption: “Exterior,Detail of Translucent Win-dow, North Side, SecondFloor”Left: caption: “Exterior,Detail of Brick Work andPlastic Tubing ‘Windows’Along First and SecondFloors” 90


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“…Next came the question: what sort of glassshould fill the skylight and the clerestories (Wrightcalled them sunbands) that were to pierce the brick

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called them sunbands) that were to pierce the brickscreening walls of the building? At first, Wright hadthought of employing the prismatic glass for whichhe had prepared and patented designs back to thenineties, but as usual he was looking for somethingbetter than what had served in the past, no matterhow successfully; for him, from youth into extremeold age, the lure of the new and untried was alwaysvery great…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of FLWAbove: caption: “The system of the pipes in Pyrex.”Initially 3-inches in diameter, they were reducedto 2-inches for economical reasons.

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In 1897, FLW patented a style of prismatic glass tiledesigned to refract and diffuse light into the buildingfrom the outside for maximum lighting efficiency.These tiles were generally used in storefronts as thetransom to the larger plate glass display window/s.FLW patterned this beautiful geometric flower design(above & left) for the Luxfer Prism Company in 1897.Some of the other tiles that were made have a raindroppattern, pleated design and some were justplain. There were a total of 96 designs thatFLW held patents for.

“…After a year’s search, he beganconducting experiments with a heat-resistant Pyrex glass tubing man-ufactured by the Corning GlassCompany and hitherto used for testtubes and other chemical purp-oses…Corning sent the first shipmentof glass to Racine in the spring of1938…Wright was still trying to figure

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out how to join the four-foot-longtubes together by means of smallertubes fitted into their ends; he wasalso striving to locate a mastic thatwould serve as a watertight caulkingbetween the tubes…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of FLWLeft: caption: “Two inner rows of Pyrex tubesin upper clerestory, wired to aluminumracks”

The Corning Glass Company of Corning NY,produced the glass tubes using a formula ofborosilicate glass improved under the Pyrextrademark (patented in 1915) which was used,at the time, for durable glass products (i.e.kitchen products and/or laboratory applic-ations). In the case of the AdministrationBuilding the Pyrex glass provided resistanceto sudden changes in temperature as well asto the corrosive action of atmospheric agentsand adapted well to the curvatures of thebuilding This was preferable as compared to

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building. This was preferable as compared toflat screens that, for the technology availableat that time, would have been more difficult tomanipulate during the manufacturing pro-cess. Although the patent office assignedseven patents to FLW on the details of thePyrex glass tubes in 1938 (left), the design ofthe tubes represented an advanced technolo-gical application; implemented but not yetrefined, especially concerning the joints ofthe clerestory (a/k/a “Sunband”)glass tubes.

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“…Wired into place on aluminum racks set horizontally in the sunbands, the tubeswould strengthen the building’s emphasis upon streamlining, already manifestedin its low profile and rounded corners, and it would transmit light withoutrevealing to the occupants what Wright considered to be the inimical small-townenvironment in which Johnson and his colleagues had insisted upon con-structing the building…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

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Above: the exterior wall glass tubes are a curtain wall; a glass wall stretched on a frame withaluminum borders stabilized with dentil shaped elements so that each engraving accom-modated a glass tube, tightened by a wire with a loop knot. The horizontal joint was sealedwith a mastic produced by Vulcanite (tubes of a smaller size were used at the head joint).FLW hid some Lumiline bulbs amongst the double layers of clerestory and lanterntubes, increasing the natural illumination with an artificial one.


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“…From the moment the tubes werechosen, nobody doubted the beauty oftheir appearance in roof and walls and

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their appearance in roof and walls, andexcept when the sun struck then at anangle that produced a blinding glare, thequality of the light they transmitted wasmuch admired…the tubes were in everyother respect a failure; the problem ofglare in fine weather was never solved,nor was the problem of leakage in rainyweather…the tubes themselves were re-placed wherever possible throughout thebuilding by sheets of glass cast ina form resembling tubes…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of FLW

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Above: maintenance of the artificial illumination system required tubes to be removed andwires and bulbs to be replaced using high and bulky equipment. The higher tubes of theclerestories were replaced with an aluminum system in which flat modules in glass fiberwere fitted in order to resolve the problem of seepage. Since these interfered with thenatural light, it forced the adaptation of the artificial system, with new light fixtures. Properlyshaped acrylic (Plexiglas) modules replaced the lower tubes, copying the profileand using dark coloring to obtain the original shadow lines on the joints of the tubes.

Above Left: caption: “Roof of the Johnson Wax Administration Building during construction. The skylight domes have been installed.”Above Right: caption: “Rear elevation of the Johnson Wax Administration Building during construction.

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g g gConstruction sheds and a crane are visible on the building site.”Below Left: caption: “Construction workers at the Johnson Wax Building.”Below Right: caption: “Tapered columns in the Johnson Wax Building during construction. Workmen are working on scaffolding built around one of the columns.”


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Cherokee Red

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Cherokee Red

“…Ford and Wright had been mutual admirers since the car-maker had invited Wright to design his estate in 1909. In1940, when Ford developed an exclusive Lincoln ContinentalCabriolet V-12, he had a rendering of the vehicle sent toWright. As a promotion, the Ford Motor Company had offeredto give away a number of new models to prominent Amer-

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g y picans, including Wright. When the architect appeared at theChicago showroom, however, he demanded two – one foreach of his estates – and insisted that they be delivered toTaliesin repainted in his signature Cherokee red. Ford com-plied…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

FLW’s use of red became his signature color. While many reds were used in hish h f d b i h d th t h ll d “Ch k d ” S

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schemes, he preferred a warm, brownish red that he called “Cherokee red.” Somesay the color came from a favorite native American pot, but it could have beeninspired by the red barns that dotted the rural southern Wisconsin landscape heloved so much. That red - an iron-oxide mixture - was used to help preserve thewood in the barn from rot. It was a familiar and natural companion to the colors ofthe foliage. FLW colored his own farm buildings at Taliesin Cherokee red, as wellas his fleet of cars, roofs, gates and signs. It was specified as the accent color inmany of his buildings and continues to be generously used by his disciples. Evenconcrete floors were integrally colored and waxed with a warm red.Left: caption: “Fallingwater’s gates were painted FLW’s signature color, Cherokee red”Right: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wright was an auto aficionado all his life. The Cher-okee red 1940 Lincoln Continental above is one of the cars most associatedwith Wright”

Above: Straight (left) and curved (right) brick used for theJohnson Wax Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin.

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gMore than two-hundred sizes and shapes were used to formthe angles and curves designed by FLW. For the color, hespecified Cherokee Red. The brick was trimmed with a lightercolor Kasota Stone and the mortar in the horizontal jointswas racked. After Johnson and the contractor rejected usingthe brick factory in Racine, FLW selected the Streator BrickCompany in Streator, Illinois. In 2007, restoration of the Adm-inistration Building was initiated and the original brickswere carefully salvaged, cleaned and re-installed.

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Above & Left: caption: “1938. The originalJohnson Administration Building. In the

hibiti i f thi l

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exhibition many views of this novel con-struction may be seen. Glass tubing laid uplike bricks in a wall compose all thelighting surfaces. Light enters the buildingwhere the cornice used to be. In the interiorthe boxlike structure vanished completely.Subsequently, the Heliolab and parkingcourts were added, completing the schemein 1950. The walls carrying the glassribbing are of hard brick and red Kasotasandstone. The entire fabric is reinforcedconcrete, cold-drawn mesh used for re-inforcement…” Excerpt from catalog of anexhibition held October 22nd - Dec-ember13th 1953 at the Solomon R. GuggenheimMuseum, NYC entitled: “Sixty Years of Liv-ing Architecture: The Work ofFrank Lloyd Wright.”


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“…The birds began to sing again below the house at Taliesin; dry grass on thehillside turned green, and the hollyhocks went gaily into a second bloom-ing…What a release of pent-up energy the making of those plans! Ideas cametumbling up and out onto paper...”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: after ten straight days of non-stop drafting to create the set of plans for the formalproposal to SCJ&S, FLW declared the drawings complete. He left the studio and returnedwith four Japanese prints, placing one on each of the drafting boards of the four apprenticeswho assisted him tirelessly, telling them that he appreciated their efforts.Left: caption: “Administration Building, main level plan”Right: caption: “Portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright”

Part 3

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Cathedral of Work

“…Wright came in humming. He sat down at the table and, as was hishabit pushed all of his silver off to one side ‘I think I’ve just done

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habit, pushed all of his silver off to one side. I think I ve just donesomething pretty good,’ he told the group…‘I’ll show you later.’ Afterlunch, everybody trooped down with Mr. Wright to the drafting room. ‘Onhis table,’ his sister Marginel remembered, ‘beautifully drawn, was thefirst rendering of a plan for a building…It was very stirring to see this boldconception fresh from his mind and hand.’ A forest of lily-pad columnsrose from the large open space where the secretaries would type theirreports and letters, the natural light filtering in from the glass openingsbetween the pads above…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship.Above L&R: original FLW renderings

Above: longitudinal section throughAdministration BuildingLeft: Ground/Mezzanine floor planof the Great Workroom (a/k/a “Cath-

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edral of Work”)Below: Penthouse plan

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“The progressive industrialist andthe radical architect…the heart ofthe administrative building is the‘Great Workroom’ – a two story,single hall where executives andclerical staff all work together”The 2001 Brick in Architecture Award Call forEntriesRE: FLW referred to the Great Work-room as a “Cathedral of Work”

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Above: caption: “Interior of thetwo-story work space in theJohnson Wax Building duringconstruction showing the taperedcolumns”Left: caption: “An interior view ofthe construction of the JohnsonWax Building during construct-ion”


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Top Left: caption: “Interior,Third Floor Reception Areawith Elevator”Top Right: caption: “Interior,Third Floor Balcony, fromWest”Left: caption: “Spiral staircaseleading to the Basement”(Bathrooms were located be-low the Great Workroom, inthe Basement level) 116

“Wright decided the Administration Centerwas to be a functional building He studied

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was to be a functional building. He studiedthe daily work flow and believed that themost important criteria for his designs werethe people. Wright also considered thecorporate hierarchy. The clerical staff hadoffice areas on the main level, the man-ager’s offices were on the mezzanine levelsurrounding the clerical staff, and the exec-utive offices on the third or Penthouse level,over-seeing everyone below.”Racine CountyAbove: caption: “Interior, Third Floor Balcony andWork Area, from North”Left: caption: “Interior, Southeast View,from Second Floor Balcony”

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Top Left: caption: “Interior,Northwest Corner Office Area,from Second Floor Balcony”Top Right: caption: “Interior,Typical Employee Desk andCubicle”Left: caption: “Interior, ThirdFloor Office Area, Near Elev-ator”

Of One Nature

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Of One Nature


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“...As he had done in the case of the Larkin Building, Wrighthad persuaded Johnson that the building and its contentsmust be seen to be of one nature. The furniture that hedesigned, mostly of metal, shared the same streamlining asthe building: desks and chairs were either rounded or curved

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gand in their emphasis upon horizontality resembled the bi-planes and triplanes designed by aeronautical engineersearly in the century – heavy as the furniture might be, onesuspected it of being capable of flight…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

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“…As a result of a two-year design and production partnership withWright, we created task-oriented furniture, the genesis of the modernworkstation…”Steelcase CorporationLeft: caption: “S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Racine, Wis. The great workroom, whereseveral hundred clerical workers are grouped In departments in this perfectlylighted open office.” Steelcase manufactured FLW’s designs for both the Admin-istration Building and Research Tower. The streamlined forms of the Cherokee reddesks, some with built-in filing systems, were in keeping with the streamlinedarchitecture of the building/s. However, the three-legged tubular chairs(right) proved hazardous and were replaced with a four-legged version.

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Remarkable for Its Instability

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Remarkable for Its Instability

“…Despite much advice to the contrary, Wright insisted ondesigning a chair with three legs, remarkable for its in-stability. With his usual gift for employing any argument,however implausible, in order to have his way, Wrightclaimed the chair would improve the alertness and efficiencyof the employees by forcing them to adopt a correct posture

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p y y g p pin order not to tip over. The chair having spilled enoughpeople unceremoniously onto the floor (Wright himself is saidto have been one of them), he was at last obliged to approvethe design of a comparatively normal four-legged chair…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

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Above: original three-legged chair (atdesk)Left T&B: FLW designed three-leggedchairs for the company’s employees(top), but after many workers hadtrouble keeping from tipping over, heagreed to design a much morestable four-legged version (bottom).


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“…Wright wanted the furniture toreflect the columns’ treatment of thecantilevers, round surfaces and light

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, gbase supports. Desks of the 1930shad large bases to protect the floorbut Wright wanted desk legs to nar-row at the base…”Jonathan Lipman, AuthorAbove: drawers swing-out, allowing fullaccessLeft T&B: to the present day, employeeswho work in the SCJ&S AdministrationBuilding sit at desks designed by FLW.The desks have three levels and empha-size the linear horizontal plane,just like the building does.

“This is not only a thoroughly mod-ern piece of work, but more nearly

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p , yexemplifies the ideal of organic arch-itecture than any other I have built”Frank Lloyd WrightAbove: cut-away perspective view of theAdministration Building’s Great Workroomby FLWLeft: entry to the great Workroom (at right)with the manager’s mezzanine level at peri-meter (left)

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“Space is the Breath of Art”Frank Lloyd Wright

“At the end of August, Wright guidedthree of his apprentices; Blaine and

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three of his apprentices; Blaine andHulda Drake and Eugene Masselink inthe construction of a large, detailedmodel of the Administration Buildingthat could be separated into two halves,allowing one to peer into a miniatureGreat Workroom”Johnathan Lipman, AuthorAbove & Left: caption: “Model of the buildingcreated for Johnson Wax by FLW apprenticeHulda Drake.” Construction of the modelled FLW to make changes in the design.

“…Architects have called it thegreatest contribution to businesshousing since the advent of theskyscraper. It is built without win-dows and doors (other than themain opening) and is heatedthrough the floor and supportedby ‘golf-tee’ columns, modeledon the structure of a flower…”Johnathan Lipman, AuthorRE: in the 19th Century, author Victor

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Hugo postulated that mass-producedbooks, via the invention of the print-ing press, had superceded the med-ieval cathedral in cultural import-ance. FLW saw it as his life’s missionto restore the cathedral and, in-turn,architecture, to its rightful place asthe height of culture. Therefore, itwas no coincidence that, in verymany ways, the SCJ&S Administ-ration Building reminds thevisitor of a cathedral.


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Above L&R: Main EntryLeft: Porte Cochere

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Top Left: caption: “Exterior,View From Undercover Park-ing Area”Top Right: caption: “Exterior,Detail of Support Columns forRoof of Parking Area, LookingNorth”Left: caption: “Exterior, Un-derside of Building connect-ing Main Office withTowers”

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Tree Like

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Tree-Like

“…The Johnson Building is the first sizable struc-ture Wright has had a chance to build since theImperial Hotel, and it ranks with that masterpieceas an engineering feat. Wright’s plans for it set theWisconsin State Industrial Commission on its ear.The columns by which the architect proposed tosupport his building were neither pillars nor postsbut tall stem forms, tapering from a concrete disk18 ft. in diameter at the top to a base 9 in. thick atthe floor. By ordinary reckoning, these slenderizing

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pencils would take about two tons of weight eachwhere they were called to support twelve. In anofficial test, the column held up 60 tons…”TIME magazine, January 17th 1938Left: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wright’s dendriform column, whichwas employed in the Johnson Wax Building.” FLW used themetaphor of a flower in the design and description of the“Dendriform” (Dendri means “tree-like”) columns (a/k/a “LilyPad”) to create a garden within the building. Designed withoutthe benefit of structural calculations, the “Stem and Petal” sys-tem incorporated a tapering shaft, hollow core and ex-panded metal lath.

But of Course!

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But of Course! “But of course! My vocabulary

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But of course! My vocabularyand nature’s are one. To be inthe Great Workroom is to beamong pine trees, breathingfresh air and sunlight”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: it’s interesting to note that eventoday, the columns of the Great Work-room are often referred to usingterms derived from nature (i.e.forest, trees, etc.)

“…From the start of his career, heworked to overlay masculine geo-metries onto the efflorescent floralpatterns he understood as express-ions of Sullivan’s love. And he spentthe rest of his life finding ways toincorporate plant forms directly intothe most masculine aspect of abuilding – its structural support.Where Sullivan had used floral imag-ery for delicate decoration, Wright’s

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ery for delicate decoration, Wright simagination led him to images likethe lily pad columns at Johnson Wax,delicate forms employed to carrycrushing weight. For anyone attunedto his mindset, the implication wasunmistakable. A man, like a building,could be powerful even when draw-ing on the feminine within…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship. “Sullivan”is architect Louis Sullivan - FLW’smentor and life-long friend.

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“…These ‘dendriform’ columns, growingfrom the floor and increasing the spa-ciousness of the floor level, were madepossible by a distribution of stressesthrough concrete reinforced by weldedsteel mesh…”TIME magazine, January 17th 1938Above: caption: “Front Elevation of ‘T’ ConcreteColumn”Left: caption: “Interior of the two-story work spacein the Johnson Wax Building during const-ruction showing the tapered columns”


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Defying Gravity

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Defying Gravity

“…Building inspectors, schooled in engineering, reviewedthe calculations Peters and Glickman supplied. But theycouldn’t accept that the tree-shaped columns, ‘dendriform’ asWright called them, were strong enough…The inspectors’own calculations suggested that they needed to be thirtyinches thick at their base not the nine specified in Taliesin’s

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inches thick at their base, not the nine specified in Taliesin sdrawings. Peters and Glickman insisted that the design wassound, even efficient…After all, the highest goal of eng-ineering is efficiency – achieving the greatest strength withthe minimum materials…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

“…According to builders a nine-inch diameterat the base of a column, can support, amaximum column height of 6-feet 9-inches.The nine-inch diameter of the Wright columncarries a height of 21-feet 7.5-inches. Secretof weight carrying ability of the new pillar,according to Wright, lies in its departure fromthe conventional way of building concretepillars. Instead of using steel rods to rein-force the concrete, the architect has per-fected a steel mesh core. ‘Iron rods in con-crete represent the bones of a human foot.Th t l h h l th l f

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The steel mesh, however, plays the role ofmuscles and sinews. Muscles and sinews arestronger than bones. The concrete flows inunison with the steel mesh. It ‘marries’ themesh, so to speak,’ Wright explained. Someof Wright’s students present at the test saidthat their mentor’s building technique isbased entirely on the ‘marriage’ of buildingmaterials. He calls it ‘organic’ architecture…”The Milwaukee Journal, June 4th 1937Left: caption: “Interior of the main lobby ofthe Johnson Wax Building during const-ruction”

Moment of Truth

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Moment of Truth

“…The moment of truth came on June 4, 1937, four daysbefore his seventieth birthday. The interested parties gath-ered at the dusty construction site…Wright, Hib Johnson,and contractor Ben Wiltschek…Before them was a singleconcrete lily pad, tapering down gracefully into a slendercolumn. The whole affair was propped up by wood timbers to

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prevent it from tipping sideways. One by one, sandbags werehauled up and set on top of the pad. As a crowd gathered toview the spectacle, Wright went around with pencil and pad inhand, explaining the structural theory to anyone who cared tolisten…”RE: except from The Fellowship

“Frank Lloyd Wright, Wisconsin’s inter-nationally famous architect, Thursday wonthe first round of an encounter with theWisconsin industrial commission. He suc-cessfully loaded 24 tons of sand on the top ofa test column which he designed for the newadministration building of the S.C. Johnson &Son Wax Co., at Racine without cracking thepillar. The test was conducted on the siteafter the commission had questioned thestructural value of the col-umn. The districtaround the building site took on a holiday airas preparations went ahead to test Wright’smost recent con-tribution to architecture.Word of the trial had gone out to the buildingi d t R t ti f t l d

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industry. Repre-sentatives of steel andconcrete companies mingled with camerafans waiting for a picture in case the columncrumbled. Wright, accompanied by a numberof his students, drove from Taliesin, at SpringGreen, Wis., to superintend the test. Theindustrial com-mission was represented byM.C. Neel, assis-tant building engineer of thebuilding divis-ion, and R.S. King, the buildinginspector for the commission. H.F. Johnson,Jr., president of the wax company, andMendel Glickman, Milwaukee civil engineer,who checked the figures on the columns forthe architect, were also on hand…”The Milwaukee Journal, June 4th 1937Left: caption: “FLW and state officials observe test”


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“…At 4 p.m., after 18 tons of sand had failed to crack the pillar, workmen and visitors retiredto the company recreation building for beer and pretzels, a breathing spell, and a short talk

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to the company recreation building for beer and pretzels, a breathing spell, and a short talkby the architect. After the respite, workers, with the aid of a derrick, continued the task ofdistributing the weight of sand evenly across the wide top of the steel mesh and concretepost. At 6 p.m. the structure was still standing, and plans were made for continuing the testFriday, adding weight until the column crashes. The Greeks who had a word for almosteverything, had no word to describe the new Wright building column. The column as theGreeks knew it, and even as it is generally known today, either starts thick at the base andtapers near the top or runs the same thickness throughout. Architectural rules which havebeen evolved from early day column construction also hold that a certain area of base mustnot carry a column above a certain height. The column designed for the Racine plant defiesso many of these building laws that the commission wanted the test before passing on theconstruction…”The Milwaukee Journal, June 4th 1937Above: caption: “HF Johnson, Jr. sits with Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentice, Wes Peters,during the weight testing of a dendriform column for the SC Johnson Administration Building in 1937”

“…When they reached therequired weight – twelvetons – Wright insisted thatthey go on…The workmencontinued to add weight tothe column. At thirty tonsWright declared, ‘Keep pil-ing.’ When they ran out ofsandbags they dumped loo-

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sandbags they dumped loose sand and then pig iron ontop…Wright periodically wal-ked right under the column,kicking it and hitting it withhis cane. Olgivanna scoldedhim for gloating at the ex-pense of the board…”RE: excerpt from The Fell-owship

“Well I guess that’s enough. Pull the column down.”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: loaded to sixty tons (5x the required weight), cracks began to appear.FLW ordered the column pulled down and the crane pulled one of the

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p ptimber braces out. The column snapped at the top and the impact of thesixty tons was so great that a drainpipe buried ten-feet undergroundburst. Though the lily pad capital was no more, the slender shaft of thecolumn remained intact.

“…The secret of his structural sou-ndness lies in Wright’s almost in-fallible intuitive knowledge of thematerials he works with. The fam-ous ‘dendriform’ or ‘golf-tee’ col-umns that support the Johnsonadministration building were con-demned as unsafe by conservative

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demned as unsafe by conservativebuilding authorities until Wright in-sisted on a public test of theirstrength. He set one of them up in afield and piled sand on top of it witha steam shovel. When the steamshovel finally stopped loading thecolumn’s pancake-like top, evenWright was surprised. It failed tocrack even under the incredibleweight of 60 tons…”LIFE magazine, August 12th 1946

FLW estimated that eachcolumn would need to sup-port a twelve-ton uniformload. The Wisconsin StateIndustrial Commission doubt-ed the columns could supportfive-tons, let alone twelve ascalled for on the plans. Each

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column acts as a continuousrigid frame structure hinged

at the column foot sup-porting 400 square-feet ofroof load plus additionallive loads such as snow.The concrete used curedto a strength of 7K psi.

Above: workmen pre

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Above: workmen pre-pare circular metal formfor capital of “dendri-form” columnLeft: freshly poureddendriform columns inthe Great Workroom


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Something of a Sham

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Something of a Sham

“…Wright’s demonstration, it turns out, was something of asham. There were three sizes of column in the Johnson Waxbuilding, and the column they mocked up was, at a little morethan twenty-one feet, one of the shorter ones. The only realway to test the structure’s stability would have been to testthe tallest ones. They were not only a third taller than the onemocked up but also would have to support both the roof and

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mocked up, but also would have to support both the roof andthe weight of the intermediate floors. Their additional heightwould make the tallest columns more prone to buckle – yetin Wright’s design they would have to bear the heaviestloads, not to mention the additional twisting stresses createdby the balcony whose weight they would carry…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

Form and Function as One

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Form and Function as One

“…they remain one of the mostremarkable structural designs intwentieth-century architecture. Intheir unprecedented structural andaesthetic success they were the

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ysupreme example of Wright’sdream, ‘Form does not followfunction. Rather, form and functionare one’…”Jonathan Lipman, Author

The Light of Heaven

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The Light of Heaven

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“…The ‘dotted line’ is an architect’s drawing convention for an edge that’s unseenwithin a building…a ‘hard line,’ in contrast , is a visible edge, like a roof againstthe sky…Exactly where does the desert floor end and the foothills begin? Ithappens so gradually that one can never point to the spot. Wright’s organictheory had always advocated this kind of ambiguity. And his buildings, withoccasional dramatic exception, celebrated the blurring of boundaries. The columncaps at Johnson Wax, are they of the column or of the roof? Where doesthe column stop and the roof start?…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship


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“…Everybody but Wright seemed to know that the skylightsdesigned for Johnson Wax were going to leak Hib Johnson

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designed for Johnson Wax were going to leak. Hib Johnsoncertainly thought so. The skylights were unusual in manyrespects. The building’s roof wasn’t really a roof at all, in thetraditional sense. As the columns spread out at their apex,into their elegant circular caps, like checkers pushed to-gether, the space between them was to be filled by four-pointed skylights. The shape of these skylights would cer-tainly be unusual, but that wasn’t the problem…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipAbove L&R: caption: “Pyrex tubes in Great Workroom skylights”

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“…Instead of specifying standard skylight construction – typically sheets of glasssealed into metal frames – Wright intended to use a system of glass rods lined upside by side. He had used the same detail for some of the windows in the buildingwith little problem. But this was a skylight; in a pounding rain, even the mostcareful arrangement of glass rods would inevitably leak. Wright thought he couldsolve the problem by caulking the rods where they met. But the merest sloppinessin installation, or the expansion or contraction of the rods, or the slightest vib-ration or settling of the building, would be certain to open up gaps and let waterin. And caulking – especially the caulking of Wright’s day – inevitably shrinks withage. Leaks were guaranteed…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipAbove: view of glass tube skylight from below

“…Both Tafel and Peters knew the rods wouldn’t work, and, on several occasions tried toconvince Wright to change the design. But he kept insisting that if it worked on the windows

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it would work on the skylights. Then Tafel actually had the temerity to share his concernswith the contractor, which resulted in a skylight company in Chicago preparing man-ufacturing drawings for conventional glass units. When Tafel drove back to Taliesin andtried to show them to Wright, the master was so furious at Tafel’s insubordination that herefused even to look at the new idea. Tafel carried the bad news back to Racine, but HibJohnson instructed the contractor to order the standard skylights anyway. Tafel waited forJohnson to leave the room before calling Wright to alert him to the change. Wright wasenraged. Shortly thereafter, Johnson barged in. ‘You snitched! He yelled at Edgar. ‘Get offthe premises. You’re fired!’ Tafel packed his things and drove to a nearby pay telephone tocall Wright. ‘If he fires you,’ the voice in the receiver declared, ‘he’s fired me.’ On Wright’sorders, Tafel returned to the job. Johnson threw up his hands, and took back not only EdgarTafel but also Wright’s glass-rod skylights. They leaked…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipAbove: caption: “Workman caulking Pyrex tubing, skylight on roof Great Workroom”

“SCORES OF LEAKS IN GLASS TUBING AND NEW ONES DEVELOPINGWITH EVERY CHANGE IN WEATHER AND RECAULKING ONLY TEMP-ORARILY EFFECTIVE STOP ALSO WOODWORK CONTINUES WARPINGSTOP SINCE THOSE TWO FAULTS RENDER BUILDING RIDICULOUS ANDUNUSABLE MUST HAVE IMMEDIATE PERMANENT SOLUTION.”RE: mid-winter 1938 telegram from SCJ&S General Manager Jack Ramsey to FLW(in Arizona for the winter)

“ALL REPORTS FROM WILTSCHECK AND EDGAR EXTREMELY FAVOR-ABLE HAVE COMPLETE CONFIDENCE IN SUCCESS OF BOTH GLASS

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WORK AND WOOD WORK CERTAIN MINOR LEAKS AND WARPAGE AREINEVITABLE BUT GUARANTEE TO OVERCOME ANY THAT APPEAR FAIRPLAY AND GOOD FELLOWSHIP ARE BEST EVEN IN MONEY TROUBLESWE ARE HEADING INTO TREMENDOUS FAVORABLE PUBLICITY WHYTHROW IT AWAY EXPECT TO COME EAST ABOUT MARCH FIFTEENTH”RE: FLW’s response telegram to Ramsey. At the time, there was no caulkingavailable that would effectively seal the joints between the glass tubes. Havingtaken a leap-forward in the design of the glass tubes that was ahead of theavailable technology, FLW would blame technology – not his revolutionary design– for having failed him.

“…Over the years, innumerableattempts were made to solve theproblem on Wright’s terms, al-ways without success; at last,the company resigned itself to

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solving the problem by a dis-creet elimination of its source:the rooftop tubing was coveredover by a second roof and arti-ficial lighting was introduced be-tween this roof and the tubes,simulating daylight…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Lifeof FLW. The “second roof” referredto were actually aluminum covers(above) in the diamond shapeof the skylights belowthem (left).

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“The glass tubes on the roof of the Admin-istration Building leaked so badly that theywere replaced by aluminum-frame sky-

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p y ylights, which were also sloped to bettershed rain and snow, The glass tubes at theceiling level were later replaced by panels ofacrylic tubes (mimicking Wright’s glasstubes) to give maintenance workers betteraccess to the lights above. Metal halidelights, which have a green cast, were in-stalled between the skylights and ceilingpanels…”The Journal Times, August 2010Above: caption: “Natural light flows into the buildingthrough a skylight made with interconnected glass tubes”Left: caption: “Lily-pad column and skylightabove second-floor seating area, whichcantilevers out over the main floor”

“…Yet the sunlight filtering down throughthe glass tubes was glorious…apprenticeJohn Lautner took his mother to see whatWright had created at Racine. What theyfound there was sublime. Flowing around thecaps of the fluted lily-pad columns and down

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their delicate tapering lines, the soft lightspread across the office floor below, creatingwithin the voluminous room a feeling of vastyet intimate silence. Lautner’s mother casther eyes upward and wept…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

“…The huge main room islit not by windows but by awide horizontal rift ofglass tubing at the angleof walls and ceiling and byskylights. It is ventilatedthrough two circular ductsor ‘nostrils’ rising through

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the building. Radiatorshave been eliminated by aheating system under thefloor slabs…”TIME magazine, January 17th

1938Left: caption: “This is the fam-ous Corning glass tube ringaround the main building”

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Left: caption: “Elev-ated view of the John-son Wax Administr-ation Building taken at

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ation Building taken atdusk with the circ-umferential bands ofglass tubing lit”

Part 4

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Doing it Wright


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“...The goal of the current project was simple: ‘Let’s start completely over,and do it right,’ says Tracy Lutterman, construction project manager inJohnson’s Corporate Facilities division. Planning began in 2005. The firstrestoration was in the lobby, a small area that could serve as a test areafor the larger challenge above the Great Workroom. The work was done in2006-2008. Planning included building mock-ups of the ceiling. Newinsulated skylights were installed; compact fluorescent bulbs, on timers,were put in the original light fixtures; and new acrylic tubes were installedin panels over the reception area. The area was immediately brighter and

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visually more pleasing, as the color of the light went from pale green towhite. The Great Workroom then looked like ‘a cave’ in contrast to thelobby, says Lutterman. People in the Great Workroom asked, ‘When areyou going to do ours?’ While workmen on the roof replace brick parapets,install copper flashing - the first flashing ever on the roof - and install thenew skylights, workmen atop the Great Workroom are painting andpreparing the area for installation of the new lights and panels of acrylictubing…”The Journal Times, August 2010

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Above & Left: caption: “Newskylights were installed abovethe lobby of the SC JohnsonAdministration Building in2007. Wright’s SC JohnsonResearch Tower, which open-ed in 1950 and closed in 1981,is in the background.”

“…The Great Workroom in the center of the building has been likened to a forest

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with a canopy of trees, formed by the dramatic slender dendriform or mushroom-shaped columns. Today there is a different forest in the room, a maze of ironscaffolding which surrounds the columns. While aficionados of Wright’s worksometimes minimize such shortcomings as leaky roofs in his designs, SC John-son is to fix the problem. A major project is to repair the leaks, as well as improvethe quality of light in the Great Workroom and improve the building's energy effic-iency…”The Journal Times, August 2010Left: caption: “A workman is silhouetted, as he helps install one of the new skylights on theroof of the SC Johnson Administration Building, July 2010”Right: caption: “Energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs will be put in the originallight sockets, above the dendriform columns in the Great Workroom of the SCJohnson Administration Building”

“…The scaffolding in the Great Workroom leads to a small room that has beenbuilt for the repair workers just below the ceiling It places the workers at the top

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built for the repair workers, just below the ceiling. It places the workers at the topof the dendriform columns. The floor consists of two layers of plywood, withinsulation in between, to deaden construction noise for the office workers below.Some workers move around on little carts they sit on, because it is only four feetbetween the tops of the columns and the floor. The room is 6 feet high below theskylights, between the columns. It is anticipated the work will be done this fall…”The Journal Times, August 2010Left: caption: “A small workroom, with heights between 4 and 6 feet, is built atop a forest ofscaffolding in the Great Workroom in the SC Johnson Administration Building, July 2010.Roof restoration work includes new lighting which is more pleasing and energy efficient.”Right: caption: “There is as little as 4-feet of space to work in in the construction room atthe top of the dendriform columns in the Great Workroom of the SC Johnson Admin-istration Building”

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“…The building’s streamlined design is accented by Wright’s 47 miles of Pyrex-glass tubeclerestory windows, which are in bands that wrap around the building at ceiling height.Wright used the same glass tubes to fill the Great Workroom with natural light. There weretwo layers of glass tubes, one in roof skylights that encircle the top of each of the dendri-form columns, and one below, at the ceiling. Artificial lighting was added between thelayers, after Wright was asked how well workers would see on cloudy days. He suggestedthat they use desk lamps, but was overruled. There was no effective way to seal the joints ofthe glass tubes at the time. Silicone caulk was not invented by Dow until the 1950s (in aneffort to curb leaking of the glass tube windows in Wright’s Research Tower, which openedin 1950)…”The Journal Times, August 2010Above L&R: caption: “Copper flashing being installed on the roof of the SC Johnson AdministrationBuilding, July 2010. The work is designed to not only finally stop the leaking, but also to im-prove the quality and efficiency of the building’s lighting.”

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I Want to Dance!

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I Want to Dance!

“…When they arrived at the building, Wright racedahead. The portly Woolcott finally caught up withhim inside the grand atrium. After craning his headup for a long look, the writer began to wave hisarms about. ‘Frank, I want to dance! I want todance!’ ‘Alex,’ Wright proclaimed, ‘this iseducation! This is culture.’…Just before con-struction on Johnson Wax began, Wright hadpredicted in a press statement that the building

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predicted in a press statement that the buildingwould be ‘in no way inferior to the ancientcathedral.’ Wright was seizing the mantle of Hugo’sprophesied genius, the man who would recapturearchitecture’s place at the top of the cultural hier-archy…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipLeft: FLW (right) with his friend Alexander Woolcott (left) –a writer for New Yorker magazine, at Taliesin (1938)

The Greatest Room in the United States

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The Greatest Room in the United States“Pillars arranged in a uniquepattern developed by Wrightprovide open areas in the

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provide open areas in theJohnson Wax Company’s ad-ministration offices in Rac-ine, Wis. Wright cites thisbuilding as proof that an arch-itect can obtain spacious-ness in a building without ma-king it appear awkward”RE: caption on back of an Inter-national Newsreel photograph ofthe Great Workroom, dated Dec-ember 27th 1953

“The greatest room in theUnited States today”Ken Burns, Documentary Film Ma-

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Ken Burns, Documentary Film MakerAbove: model with roof removedover the Great Workroom showing“forest of columns”Top Left: caption: “Clerks shownworking in the Great Workroom ofSC Johnson’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Administration Building,ca. 1940s”Bottom Left: caption: “The GreatWorkroom”

“…He was delighted when LIFE magazine described the in-terior of the building as ‘like a woman swimming naked in astream,’ and he himself hit upon a robust sexual analogue,

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saying that the Johnson building was the feminine descen-dant of the masculine Larkin building…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright


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The First Administration Building

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The First Administration Building

“…Wright managed to enrapture a particular type of rich man- Great Lakes mercantile magnates. Darwin Martin, a mail-order-soap chief executive from Buffalo, commissioned

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houses and offices and lent him tens of thousands of doll-ars…”TIME magazine, October 5th 1992

“Through Martin, Wright got the job of designing the LarkinCompany administration building, the first entirely air-conditioned modern office building on record...It is block-like and extremely simple in its forms, and has very littleornamentation...the Larkin building was decisively vert-ical...Indeed, it was the first consciously architectural

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ical...Indeed, it was the first consciously architecturalexpression of the kind of American structure which Euro-peans were beginning to discover to their delight: the greatclusters of grain silos and similar industrial monumentsthat men like Corbu and Gropius found so exciting in theearly 1920s...”Peter Blake, Author

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Left: caption: “1905-06. The LarkinBuilding, Buffalo, New York. Afireproof, air-conditioned buildingfurnished throughout with steel.First in many ways – all-glassdoors, double glass windows,complete air conditioning, esp-ecially designed steel filing sys-tems, steel desk furniture andseats telephones and lighting

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seats, telephones and lightingsystem especially designed insteel, etc. Building destroyed in1950.” Excerpt from catalog of anexhibition held October 22nd -December 13th 1953 at theSolomon R. Guggenheim Mus-eum, NYC entitled: “Sixty Years ofLiving Arch-itecture: The Work ofFrank Lloyd Wright.”

“I think I first consciouslybegan to try to beat thebox in the Larkin build-ing. I found a naturalopening to the liberation Isought when (after agreat struggle) I finallyMain Level Plan

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pushed the staircase tow-ers out from the cornersof the main building,made them into free-standing, individual feat-ures.”Frank Lloyd Wright

Fifth Floor Plan


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“…By 1909 Wright was 40, and at the peak of his career. His LarkinBuilding in Buffalo had pioneered air conditioning, introduced the firstmetal-bound plate-glass doors, the first all-steel office furniture…”TIME magazine, April 20th 1959

“Vertical brick piers and wall planes...made possible the splendid integration of space,structure, and massing which Wright achieved in the Larkin Company Office Building atBuffalo, of 1904. In space the building was conceived of as facing inward, with a glass-roofed central hall rising the entire height and with horizontal office floors woven around it.The pattern of piers and walls which makes these spaces is clearly unified in both plan andsection. The vertical piers rise uninterruptedly inside, and the horizontal planes of the officefloors are kept back from their edges, so that they seem, once more, to be woven throughthem. Stairways are grouped in vertical shells of wall at the four corners of the building,which then reveals all these articulations upon its exterior: the big piers, the smaller onesbetween them, the horizontal spandrels and the corner towers, expressed purely as free-standing space containers at the edges of the main, interwoven mass...Entrance was at theside, under a portal set back between the main mass and the thin, subsidiary office block,from the end of which a metallic sheet of water sprang. Here Wright achieved one of the first

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of his monumental spatial sequences. The exterior is challenging and rather forbidding, butit tells us that something is contained inside. Entrance to it must be sought. It is finallyfound in the dark place behind the fountain. The block is thus penetrated surreptitiously asit were, and essentially from below. The advance is from outer light toward interior dimnessbeyond which, to the left, somewhat more light could be perceived filtering down betweenthe central piers. These then rise up toward their rich capitals in a climactic spatialexpansion, lighted from above as in Roman buildings and creating, as those also did, anidealized interior space cut off from the world outside. At the same time, the stiff verticals ofthe interior of the Larkin Building continued to recall the challenge of the exterior, so thatthe occupant could not feel himself to be simply inside a shell. The sequence was anemotional one and a progress: challenge, bafflement, compression, search, and finally,surprise, release, transformation, and recall…”Vincent Scully. Jr., Architectural Historian 196

“It is interesting that I, an architect supposed to beconcerned with the aesthetic sense of the building,should have invented the hung wall for the w.c.(easier to clean under), and adopted many otherinnovations like the glass door, steel furniture, air-conditioning and radiant or ‘gravity heat.’ Nearlyevery technological innovation used today was sug-gested in the Larkin Building in 1904.”Frank Lloyd Wright

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“I have been black and blue insome spot, somewhere, almostall my life from too intimatecontacts with my own furn-iture.”Frank Lloyd WrightLeft: FLW designed chair for theLarkin Administration Building. Me-tal desks and cabinets for the rev-olutionary Larkin Building were

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specially designed by FLW. Since itwas a mail-order company, efficien-cy in the handling of paper was apriority. Some desk chairs werehinged, without legs, to make clean-ing easier. Others were on a ped-estal with rollers and an adjustableback. FLW wanted the office fur-niture (made by Van Dorn Iron-works) to emphasize the “rectilineargrammar” of the building.


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The Public Fancy

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The Public Fancy

“…If Wright is a poet in his domesticarchitecture, he is a thundering virtuoso inhis public buildings. They have strained allconventional rules of construction, mad-dened conservative contractors and buildingcode authorities and hit the public fancy likebombshells. The publicity value of the fam-ous S.C. Johnson Wax Company admin-istration building in Racine (which attractshordes of curious tourists) has far out-weighed its value purely as a building.Fellow architects have often decried this

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feature of his work as rank sensationalism.But Wright could easily cite in his defensethat publicity has been a legitimate goal ofarchitectural splendor at least since Michel-angelo designed St. Peter’s in Rome…”LIFE magazine, August 12th 1946Left: caption: “Exterior of the Johnson Wax Buildingduring construction. The curved wall near the entrance ison the right. A construction shack is at the left. A signposted on the construction fence states ‘Danger, KeepOut.’” After the building opened, H.F. Johnson claimedworker productivity increased by 25%, amortiz-ing within the first few months all costoverruns.

“There in the Johnson Buildingyou catch no sense of enclosurewhatever at any angle, top orsides…Interior space comesfree, you are not aware of anyboxing in at all Restricted space

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boxing in at all. Restricted spacesimply is not there. Right therewhere you’ve always experien-ced this interior constriction youtake a look at the sky!”Frank Lloyd Wright

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Signing the Building

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Signing the Building “ Wright’s mentor viewed the vines and flowers with which he covered his

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…Wright s mentor viewed the vines and flowers with which he covered hisbuilding’s surfaces – the ornamentation work for which he had first recruitedyoung Wright – as feminine forces latent within the masculine self. In his designexplor-ations, Sullivan had derived the feminine flower from the masculine,rational square, the shape that Wright later made his own emblem…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship. A FLW “signature tile” appears on a number of Wright-designed buildings. FLW was a dinner guest at the Haber home in San Francisco when heasked Mrs. Haber if she would make him Cherokee Red tiles with his signature incised in thetile to “sign” his buildings. Mrs. Haber was enthusiastic about the idea so FLW drew thesimple design on paper for her. The molds and rough tiles were carefully cleaned andsanded before being baked and glazed. Mrs. Haber was a perfectionist thus, only first-ratetiles were selected. About twenty of the individually unique tiles were sent to FLW whoforwarded them to favored clients/buildings. Both the SCJ&S Administration Bldg.and Research Tower received the famous tile (placed near the building/s entry).

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Part 5

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The Customer is Always Wright

It’s All Right

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It s All Right“It’s all right boys, we got the job!”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: FLW’s announcement upon receiving a check from SCJ&S for $1K.

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p gThe money was for a preliminary proposal, not the commission itself, thatwould require approval of the proposed design. Nevertheless, it was goodnews to the financially strapped Taliesin Fellowship.


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“…The Johnson Building wasWright’s next major commiss-ion. He was eager to get it, andit marked a major turning pointfor him. Wright was nearingseventy, and after more thanfive years when he had no sig-nificant commissions, the pub-licity provoked by ‘Fallingwa-

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ter’ and the Johnson Buildingreminded people that FrankLloyd Wright was not merelyan important figure in the his-tory of architecture…”Stewart Macaulay, AuthorLeft: FLW on the January 17th 1938cover of TIME magazine (note“Fallingwater” in portrait back-ground)

Personal Improvidence

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Personal Improvidence

“…The history of the Johnson Building illustratesperfectly one of the traits in Frank Lloyd Wright whichlesser architects have played against him for all it isworth. The architect’s original estimate of its cost was$250,000. By mutual agreement this was later raised to$350,000. It is now apparent that the final cost of thebuilding will be nearer $450,000. This sort of thing hashappened often in Wright’s career, and the hostile argu-ment runs that few businessmen are as rich as Mr. John-son and as able to stand the gaff of perfectionism at like

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son and as able to stand the gaff of perfectionism at likecost. Against this argument the fact stands that, out ofmore than 150 clients, only three or four have been ser-iously dissatisfied over money or anything else. Both inthe early Oak Park period and later, Wright has in generalattracted clients who had enough money to be adven-turous but not enough to be stuffy. His personal im-providence is legendary…”TIME magazine, January 17th 1938Left: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wright shown in the AdministrationBuilding with HF Johnson, Jr. during a visit to Racine, 1950s.”

Hib

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Hib

“…Herbert Johnson, informally known as Hib (hewas christened Hibbard but took his father’s name,Herbert, to ensure certain corporate as well asfamilial continuity), was the third generation of hisfamily to run a company that is often described inthe press as one of the largest privately heldcompanies in America…Hib Johnson, a year olderthen the century, had been president of the com-

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pany since the death of his father, in 1928…A ama-teur artist and collector of art…Johnson had a re-spect for the profession of architecture, a willing-ness to experiment, and a hunger for intellectualcompanionship beyond what he had found availableto him in the course of his business life…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank LloydWrightLeft: Hib Johnson with FLW

“…What made it all possible was asubstance called Glo-Coat. Four yearsearlier, Johnson Wax was the first tocome up with a new product idea – self-polishing floor wax. Fighting for survivalduring the Depression, the company’spresident, Herbert Johnson, decided ona daring marketing scheme. Without anyorders, he sent a carton of Glo-Coat toeach of his 90,000 dealers. It worked. By1936, with the new wax a nationwide suc-cess, the company hired a local Racinearchitect, J. Mandor Matson, to design anew building Matson’s plans included a

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new building. Matson s plans included amodernist entrance flanked by bas-re-liefs of a woman waxing a floor, a boywaxing a table, and a man painting somemechanical object. Johnson didn’t likethe bas-reliefs and went looking for asculptor. When he showed the drawingsto an art director in their Chicago-basedpublic relations firm, the man told him heneeded an architect, not a sculptor. Hesuggested they hire Frank Lloyd Wri-ght…”RE: excerpt from The FellowshipLeft: ca. 1930s ad for Glo-Coat


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“…The company needed a new administration building. It hired a localarchitect named Matson who offered a traditional design. Jack Ramsey(general manager of Johnson) was dissatisfied. Several people suggestedFrank Lloyd Wright. Ramsey and Bill Connolly, the Advertising Manager,went to Taliesin to meet Wright on July 17, 1936. Ramsey knew Wright’sreputation as an architect from Ramsey’s experience in Europe, but healso knew Wright’s negative reputation in Wisconsin. People therethought about the scandals related to Wright’s domestic situation, how

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seldom Wright paid bills on time, his unconventional houses, and the costof his work. The commission could be a great opportunity for Wright, afterhaving so little work for a number of years. Wright was at his mostpersuasive, and Ramsey was impressed. He wrote a memorandum to Hib-bard Johnson who was at his cottage in Northern Wisconsin. Ramsey’smemo strongly recommended that Johnson meet Wright. A Frank LloydWright building became Ramsey’s cause within the company. In effect, hecommitted his reputation to a project by the controversial architect…”Stewart Macaulay, Author

“…While people have read bits and pieces about the Matsonbuilding, virtually no one alive knows what it looked like.Now, thanks to Edgar Tafel, the Wright apprentice who sup-ervised the construction of the landmark AdministrationBuilding, there is a glimpse of what might have been builtinstead of the Wright building at 1525 Howe Street. Tafel, 90,drew a copy of one of Matson’s proposals for the Johnsonbuilding from memory in 1995. Floor plans and other blue-prints in the Johnson company archives add to the Tafeldrawing as one tries to surmise the details of the Matsondesign. The Johnson archives seem to show plans for threeversions, two from 1935, another ‘Drawn J.M.M. Mar. 16.1936 ’ The first 1935 plan was simply a proposal to remodel

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1936. The first 1935 plan was simply a proposal to remodelan existing building, while the other two plans were for acompletely new building. The second 1935 version is bolderthan the 1936 one, and seems to be the one Tafel re-members. Though Tafel’s drawing is dated 1936, it seems tobe of the 1935 Matson design for a new building. There is no‘elevation’ or architect’s rendering of what the front of thecompletely new building looked like in the archives, soTafel’s drawing is the only guide to the design other than theblueprints. Matson’s own papers were apparently destroyedin a fire years ago…”The Journal Times, May 12th 2002Left: architect J. Mandor Matson

“…Building progresses well, Tafel making minor decisionslike a master…”Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: FLW made Edgar Tafel - an inexperienced but loyal, able and intelli-gent Taliesin Fellowship apprentice the clerk-of-the-works for the John-son Wax Administration Building project, much to the appreciation of hisclient The building was scheduled to be completed in a year instead it

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client. The building was scheduled to be completed in a year, instead ittook three. Including furnishings, FLW had predicted the cost the be$250K complete. In the end, it was closer to $3 million. However, in its firstyear of operation the building received about $5 million worth of freepublicity. Being a prosperous (even in the depression) family-ownedbusiness (without stockholders to answer to), SCJ&S was able to amor-tize the spiraling costs, but it was a bitter pill to swallow, nevertheless.

“New York City architect Edgar Tafel, an original Taliesin fellow creditedwith saving some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most important works has

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with saving some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most important works, hasdied. He was 98…He was the last surviving member of the originalTaliesin fellows, a community of young apprentice architects establishedin 1932 at Wright’s home and school in Spring Green, Wis…He had a handin two of Wright’s most enduring structures: Fallingwater on Bear Runcreek in southwest Pennsylvania and the Johnson Wax Building inRacine…”Associated Press, January 25th 2011Left: caption: “Edgar Tafel at his drafting board in F.L. Wright’s Taliesin Fellow-ship”Right: caption: “Edgar Tafel poses at the Administration Building in Rac-ine in 2002. Tafel died Jan. 18 at his home in New York. He was 98.”

“…Somehow, in the midst of it all, Tafel was able to squeeze in a sideproject…Wright’s policy in such situations – perhaps inspired by his ownmemories of how Sullivan had fired him for moonlighting – was to allowapprentices to take on projects of their own as long as they were formallybrought into the Fellowship and Wright got a generous share of the fees.To this Tafel happily agreed. Tafel’s work on the residence was good – toogood…Sometime after the Alberts moved in, Wright and Wes Peters drovein to inspect the building. While they stood talking, a friend of the Albert

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family walked over and shared with them ‘how nice the house was thatEdgar Tafel designed.’ It was beautiful, functional – and, he added, ‘itdidn’t leak.’ It was a sore point: Leaking roofs had become almost asignature for Wright…Back in Spring Green, he called a meeting of theentire Fellowship and announced that apprentices would no longer beallowed to take on their own projects. ‘From now on,’ he announced,‘there will be one prima donna in our organization. And that is me’…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

Eliminate the Drab

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Eliminate the Drab


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“…Matson was a Norwegian-born architect who left behind a significant body ofpublic buildings in Racine when he died in May 1963…The Johnson family hadfirst hired Matson in 1924, and then in 1934, to remodel the family home at 1737Wisconsin Ave. The first Matson blueprints are labeled ‘Plans to remodel RedBrick Office and add third story.’ The plans to remodel the building, possibly theJohnson building now known as Building 6, show decorative touches like an ArtDeco or Moderne entrance added to the plain facade. The building was just westof the present building, near where the company’s famous globe now sta-nds…Johnson enjoyed drawing, and wanted the new building to ‘eliminate thedrabness and dullness we so often find in office buildings.’ In the end, Matsongave Johnson a building that was as drab and dull as the Wright design waschallenging, exciting and innovative. In Tafel’s words, Matson had ‘no feeling forthe idea behind the building ’ Johnson gave some direction to his architect He

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the idea behind the building. Johnson gave some direction to his architect…Hewanted Matson to decorate the building in some way to tell the story of wax andthe company’s products. Johnson also suggested that Matson take cues from theHershey Chocolate Co.’s new air-conditioned office building in Hershey, Pa. TheJohnson and Hershey companies were both family owned, and both were keenlyinterested in the welfare of their employees…The idea of air-conditioning wasparticularly important to Johnson…Johnson closed the company for the day iftemperatures in the factory reached 90 degrees. He says that the new Johnsonbuilding was to be ‘air conditioned, artistic, and uplifting.’ The Hershey building,touted as the ‘Windowless Office Building,’ opened Dec. 26, 1935. It is a three-story limestone building, with Moderne or Art Deco styling, without win-dows…”The Journal Times, May 12th 2002

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“…He visited Hershey, Pennsylvania, the model town of the HersheyChocolate Corporation, Where a windowless, air-conditioned administra-tion building had recently been completed, and he returned to Racine withthe intention of putting up a structure that would set a higher than usualaesthetic standard for industrial architecture…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright. In the early 1930s,Milton Hershey responded to the economic upheavals with a construction pro-gram. During those years, many of Hershey’s monumental structures were built,including Hotel Hershey, the Milton Hershey School’s Catherine Hall (then theJunior-Senior High School), the Community Building, Hershey Sports Arena andthe Office Building (HQ) for the Hershey Chocolate Corp. Milton Hershey’s interestin innovation and experimentation shaped the design of the new office building.

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in innovation and experimentation shaped the design of the new office building.Original plans for the HQ building called for a conventional design with windowsand awnings. As the foundation was being dug, Milton Hershey became intriguedwith the idea of a windowless facility since such a design would dramaticallyincrease the efficiency of the heating and cooling systems. At Mr. Hershey’s di-rection, architect/builder D. Paul Witmer, quickly drew up new plans while con-struction continued without delay. Constructed of locally quarried limestone,construction began in the fall of 1934 and was completed in December 1935. TheHQ building was designed and built by the Hershey Lumber Company (ArchitectWitmer served as its manager). Certain interior building products were installedby the Hershey Department Store. The Hershey Chocolate Corp. hosted a publicopen house on December 28th 1935. Nearly 14K people attended the day-long event.

“…Conditioned air, dust free…Theroom devoted to calculating machinesand other noisy equipment has itswalls of the same special acousticplaster as is used on the lobby ceil-ing…communicating facilities are pro-vided between all office and the plantby dial telephones and messengerservice…special small box type el-evators connect the Receiving Depart-ment with the Mailing Desk. A pneu-matic tube system connects the TrafficDepartment with the Shipping and

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Department with the Shipping andStock Rooms of the plant for the rapid,safe delivery of all orders…”RE: excerpt from booklet. Visitors to theHershey Chocolate Corporation received abooklet (cover, left) describing the build-ing’s special features. In particular, it des-cribed the building’s interior plan, atmos-phere and innovtive/modern features (i.e.A/C). Completed in 1935, the building servedas the corporate headquarters for Hersheyfor over forty years. Today, it servesthe company as operationaloffices.

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Enlightened Selfishness

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Enlightened Selfishness


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“…Under the father’s direction, the company had becomewell known for its interest in the welfare of its employees; ithad been a pioneer in introducing paid vacations, the eight-hour day, and profit-sharing. Hib Johnson said that peoplemight call it ‘enlightened selfishness,’ but he believed in itand practiced it and by 1936 when it became obvious that the

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and practiced it, and by 1936 when it became obvious that thecompany, constantly expanding, was in need of a new admin-istration building, he wished to make sure that the employeeswould gain improved working conditions as well as morespace…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

Just Another Building

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Just Another Building

“…The only similarities in Matson’s and Wright’s plans are that both buildings were airconditioned, and essentially windowless. Matson’s building plans show some touches in theModerne or Art Deco style that was popular at the time while Wright’s building was a designunto its own, a streamlined building, resembling the sketches Wright had made in 1931 for aproposed newspaper building in Salem, Oregon…Though Matson drew two sets of blue-prints, a year apart, one without windows and one with windows, something didn't click forthe client. Neither Johnson nor Jack Ramsey, the company’s general manager, were happywith the Matson design. Ramsey, in his note to Johnson, says the Matson design ‘isn’t goodenough, it’s just another building.’ Ramsey and William Connolly, Johnson’s advertisingmanager, showed the plans to Johnson’s ad agency in Chicago. They said they were lookingfor a sculptor for the building. Some of the advertising executives at the meeting hadrecently spent a weekend with Wright at Taliesin, his home in Spring Green, and it wassuggested that rather than look for a sculptor, Johnson look for another architect, such as

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ggWright. Ramsey wrote his note to Johnson on Sunday July 17, 1936, two days after meetingWright. ‘We have right here under our noses, a native Wisconsinian who was the absolutefather of all modern architecture, who is the outstanding architect of the world today…and itwould be a crime not to talk to him.’ He added that, ‘gosh he could tell us what we were afterwhen we couldn’t explain it ourselves.’ Wright had looked at Matson’s plans, and toldRamsey that the niches for the sculptures ‘memorialized the defunct windows,’ meaning thatMatson evidently could not forget that windows had to be in a building whether it werewindowless or not. At the end of his breathless, lengthy note, penned that summer Sundaymorning, a note that arguably led to a turning point for both Wright and the Johnsoncompany, Ramsey noted, ‘Got to stop and get to church.’ Matson had drawn his plans overtwo years, but he was told to stop working on the project just four days after Ramsey wrotehis gushing note to Johnson…”The Journal Times, May 12th 2002

“Wright was invited by John Clifford, president of the Salem Arts League, to give aS

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talk in Salem and meet politicians, including the new governor, Julius Meier. Amajor inducement had been the prospect of a commission that was described asa ‘new capitol building group.’ At dinner before his talk, Wright met the respectededitor George Putnam, known as a crusader for reform...Within days Wright re-ceived the retainer with a cover letter outlining the proposed building’s program.Putnam cautioned that it would be ‘some years’ before the building would berequired, that was, at least until a current lease expired…”Donald Leslie Johnson, WriterAbove: FLW’s rendering for the Capital Journal Building in Salem, OR (ca. 1931). Withretainer in hand, FLW made some drawings, but apparently Putnam didn’t like them. One ofthe elements likely problematic was FLW’s approach to the interior columns (they wouldinfluence those found in the Johnson Wax Building). There was also disagreementover some apartments, a roof-top garden and other building elements.

“…The approximate configuration of the building was borrowed from anewspaper building that Wright had designed five years earlier for hisfriend George Putnam, publisher of ‘The Capital Journal,’ in Salem, Ore-gon (Hard times caused the project to remain unbuilt). The most notableborrowing from that project was a forest of concrete-and-steel columnsthat Wright had designed to support duplex apartments and a roof gardenabove a vast, two-story-high room, half a city block long, this roomcontained the newspaper’s printing presses at ground level and officeson a glass-enclosed mezzanine overlooking the presses…In the news-paper building, the mushroom columns were an ingenious and efficient

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means of providing the maximum amount of floor space for cumber-somely large printing presses; moreover, the narrow bases of the col-umns rested upon foundations separate from the foundations that borethe weight of the presses, thus ensuring that the considerable vibrationcaused by the printing of the newspaper wouldn’t be transmitted tooffices and living quarters on the floors above. In the Johnson Wax,building, what Wright liked to call ‘the great workroom’ would containnothing but desks, chairs, and other clerical gear, so there would be littledifficulty with vibration…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

Will You See Him?

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Will You See Him?


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“Regarding the new building, I had a day Friday that so confirmed and crystallizedmy feeling about Matson’s present offering and that at the same time so inspiredme as to what can be done that I was on the point of sending you wild telegramsFriday night when I got home, or getting you out of bed on the telephone…Honest,Hib, I haven’t had such an inspiration from a person in years. And I won’t feelsatisfied about your getting what you want until you talk to him - to say nothing ofnot feeling justified in letting $300,000 be clothed in Matson’s designs. He’s anartist and a little bit ‘different,’ of course, but aside from his wearing a Windsor tie,he was perfectly human and very easy to talk to and most interested in ourproblem and understood that we were not committing ourselves, but, gosh, hecould tell us what we were after when we couldn’t explain it ourselves And he

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pasked about what we thought this building would cost us. I said, when we gotthrough with the building, landscaping, furnishings, etc., we’d be investingaround $300,000. He asked how many people it would house. I said about 200. Hesnorted and said it was too damn much money for the job and he could do abetter functional job in a more appropriate manner for a lot less. He is very easy totalk to, much interested in our job whether he has anything to do with it or not,because it hits his ideas of modern building, because it is a Wisconsin nativeproposition, and because it seems to hurt his artistic conscience to see so muchmoney spent on anything ordinary…Will you see him?Jack Ramsey, General Manager – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: excerpt from memo to Hibbard Johnson after meeting FLW on July 17th 1936 236

“I showed him pictures of the old office, and he said it was awful…He had aLincoln-Zephyr, and I had one - that was the only thing we agreed on. On all othermatters we were at each other’s throat…then he described the kind of building hewould design, unconventional, imaginative, trend-setting, a visual symbol of agreat company”Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson & SonAbove: caption: “Advertising billboards and factory buildings which were located at thenorth-east corner of Racine and 16th Streets. At this intersection the sweet smell of wax wasso strong that a blind man would know they were near the Johnson Wax factories.” On July21st 1936, H.F. Johnson drove to Taliesin to meet FLW. At first, the two men argued. Johnsondescribed his goals for the new building wanting it to symbolize the pro-gressive company that his father and grandfather had created.

The Relentless Multiplicity of Suave Roundnesses

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The Relentless Multiplicity of Suave Roundnesses “…The Administration Building wasn’t going anywhere and had no need

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g g g yfor reduced wind resistance; in its relentless multiplicity of suave round-nesses, it embodied some playful whim in Wright’s unconscious – onethat was wholly at odds with the no less playful whim that led to the vividangularities of Fallingwater, designed at precisely the same time. It istempting to find a clue to Wright’s streamlining of the Johnson WaxBuilding in the fact that Hib Johnson and he, both devotees of fine cars,owned Lincoln Zephyrs, which have entered history as among the mosthandsomely streamlined cars ever designed. Wright claimed, withoutadducing proof, that he was the first to apply the term ‘streamlining’ tobuildings…”RE: excerpt for Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

“Streamlining was associated with the recenttriumphs of technology over nature such asairplanes and ocean liners. Seeing that theother man shared this portentous car likely

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reinforced to each other that the other man, likehimself, understood and was a part of thisgrand new triumphant epoch of progress.”Jonathan Lipman, Author

“…It was high time to give ourhungry American public some-thing truly ‘streamlined,’ soswift sure of itself and clean

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swift, sure of itself, and cleanfor its purpose...I like it, theylike it. Let it go at that.”Frank Lloyd Wright


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“…Streamlining was known to be of practical value in the design of automobiles,airplanes, and trains, but in the 1930s it became the fashion to design stationaryobjects whether large or small (refrigerators furnaces electric toasters and even

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objects whether large or small (refrigerators, furnaces, electric toasters, and evenpencil sharpeners) with so-called aerodynamic contours; the fashion spread toarchitecture, colliding with the weapon-like zigzags of Art Deco and sometimesmarrying them…”RE: excerpt for Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd WrightLeft: the first commercially-produced streamlined car was the Chrysler Airflow (1934), sonamed because it was designed with the prototypical streamlined form, allowing air to passover it (ironically, it was more aerodynamically efficient in reverse).Right: electrical products began to display the same progressive imagery found in airplanesand cars. This is an Electrolux vacuum cleaner, designed by the Lurelle Guild in 1937.Though an inanimate object, it still adopts the kinetic style with chrome trim and speed-lines. It was made from aluminum and chrome-plated steel, which presents it as a piece ofprecision engineering. This type of streamlining had no functional purpose; it’suse was purely decorative.

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“…He insulted me about everything and I insulted him, but hedid a better job…If that guy can talk like that, he must havesomething…Anybody can build a typical building. I wanted tobuild the best office building in the world, and the only way todo that was to get the greatest architect in the world.”Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: FLW tended to be congenial and accommodating to clients lackingsignificant financial resources yet were bold enough to ask him to designa building for them. On the other hand, to the wealthy and power-ful he was pure Prima Donna.

“I just remember the time right after dad first saw Mr. Wright, Iwas at Kemper Hall (a boarding school in Kenosha), and hecame down to pick me up one Sunday and he said to me,‘Karen, you’re studying art history, now who is the greatestarchitect in America’ and I said, Why everybody knows it’s

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, y y yFrank Lloyd Wright. He was sort of appalled that I knew that. Iremember that vividly. He was flabbergasted that his kidwould know it. He told me at that time that he was going tohave Mr. Wright do the building.”Karen Johnson Boyd (Hib Johnson’s then 12yo daughter).

An Unfortunate Urban Accident

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An Unfortunate Urban Accident

“…The only local example of Weight’s architecture – the pleasing littleThomas Hardy house of 1905 suspended like an exquisite symmetrical

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Thomas Hardy house, of 1905, suspended like an exquisite, symmetricaltoy on the edge of the bluff above Lake Michigan – was held to be anunfortunate urban accident, totally at odds with the houses facing itacross South Main Street…Hib Johnson’s sister, Henrietta Louis, reportedthat their father always laughed at the house, which the family thought ofas ‘kooky’…Hib Johnson had passed the Hardy house hundreds of timesin the course of driving back and forth between his house and hisoffice…Wright pointed it out to him on the occasion of a visit to Racine in1936…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd WrightAbove: FLW rendering for the Thomas P. Hardy House, Racine, Wisconsin(1905), at left. Present-day photograph from South Main Street, at right.

“…On August 9, 1936, Wright and Tafel bundled up thedrawings, got into Wright’s car, and headed for Racine tomake the presentation. They brought no alternatives to theradical design. If the company’s executives didn’t go for it, it

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g p y g ,was probably all over. When they got out of the car, Tafel putthe roll under his arm. Wright took it from him. ‘The architect,’he told the apprentice, ‘carries his own plans’…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship


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“I am now asking you to proceed with plans and sketches of a $200,000office building for us in Racine on the basis of 2.5% or $5,000 to be paidyou when sketches and plans are submitted…It is my understanding thatthe remaining commission of 7.5% or $15,000 will not be paid to youunless your plans are used wholly and under your supervision. Also, thatwe are free to use any or all the ideas you offer - either ourselves, or otherarchitect…I want to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation,as well as Mr. Ramsey’s, for your gracious hospitality, and for the inspir-ation and education we received.”

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Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson Wax CompanyRE: excerpts from letter to FLW dated July 23rd 1936. Hib Johnson’s father wasfamous for playing his hunches successfully. So too would his son play a hunchabout FLW to great success, but no one said it would be easy. FLW still insistedon moving the whole SCJ&S operation, including worker’s housing to the cou-ntryside (in Broadacre City fashion), but Johnson would have none of it. Takinghis wife Oglivanna’s advice to: “Give them what they want, or you’ll lose the job,”he grudgingly agreed to the Racine site. Johnson had not only to deal with FLW’sartistic temperament, but also a conservative Board of Directors, made up mostlyof his father’s generation.

“…Hours later, the telephone rang at Taliesin. The newsspread quickly. ‘We got it! We got it!’ cried one apprentice toanother. It spread, Maginel recalled, ‘to the courts, to thegardens, to the far fields’…Around this time, Wright appliedfor his first recorded architecture license; he received it onJanuary 29, 1937. Doubtless he was prompted by the need to

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secure a building permit for Johnson Wax, but the app-rentices would benefit as well; now their employer wasofficially an architect, their time at Taliesin could finally becredited toward the internship period for their own licen-ses…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship. “Maginel” was FLW’s sister, who wasvisiting Taliesin at the time.

“Some time ago the Directors approved a sum of $200,000 fora new office building. No mention was made of furnishings,fees, etc. At the next meeting I will advise them of your goal -the building complete at $250,000 - which I feel will beacceptable to them, considering the plus value we will re-ceive by having you do it for us.”Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: letter dated August 18th 1936 FLW and his apprentices had worked

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RE: letter dated August 18th 1936. FLW and his apprentices had workedaround the clock for ten days to produce his proposal after receiving thecommission in July. He presented it to Johnson, Ramsey and severalother executives on September 15th 1936. On that same day, Johnson andFLW presented the plan to the firm’s Board of Directors, winning theirapproval of the project. S.C. Johnson & Son (SCJ&S) hired a contractoron the basis of “cost-plus” (actual cost plus an agreed upon percentagefor overhead and profit). Strangely, there is no record of any formalcontract between FLW and SCJ&S.

“From the start, the money they were talking about wouldn’thave done the most ordinary kind of building. Mr. Wrightalways started doing what he thought was right for the

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y g g gbuilding. He didn’t burden himself with undue considerationsof cost.”John “Jack” Howe, FLW’s Chief Draftsman

Cherish the Faults

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Cherish the Faults

“…Wright had insisted that a contractor be chosen whowould put up the Administration Building on a cost-plusbasis; his experience had been that, because of the noveldesigns, most contractors who bid on them either bid too lowor too high, in either case out of ignorance. Johnson had afriend in Racine, Ben Wiltscheck, who had been trained as anarchitect and had chosen instead to become a builder; hewas introduced to Wright, on whom he made a favorableimpression, and Johnson was delighted when Wiltscheck

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p gagreed to undertake the job. And with reason, for Wiltscheckproved able to accommodate himself to Wright’s importunatedemands and to his no less importunate acts of respon-sibility…Johnson, Ramsey, and Wiltscheck respected Wrightfor his genius and, resigning themselves to the Foxy Grandpaaspect of his nature, came to cherish the faults almost as ifthey were virtues, they would often be angry with him, butthey could never stay angry with him for long…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright


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“…In Racine, Wis., Contractor Ben Wiltscheck is now fin-ishing a business building for S.C. Johnson & Son which isunlike any other in the world…The Johnson AdministrationBuilding has been built like an expensive watch on whatArchitect Wright calls a ‘unit plan,’ everything fitting into ahorizontal scheme of 20-ft. squares, a vertical scheme of 3.5in. brick units…”TIME magazine, January 17th 1938RE: the all-FLW issue of TIME magazine in January 1938, which paid

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g y , pparticular attention to both Fallingwater and the Johnson Wax Admin-istration Building, garnered national and international publicity whichdelighted FLW immeasurably and served to mollify Hib Johnson and hisBoard of Directors. Much to the astonishment of industrial Racine, thebuilding – scheduled for completion on October 1st 1938 – was drawinglarge numbers of visitors. The summer of 1938 was spent installing theglass tube skylights and it was announced that the building would not becomplete until February 1939. A new opening date was set for late April1939 but, ultimately, the building would not officially open until May1939.

“...I am assuring and driving at the building complete at a cost of $250,000including an appropriation of $20,000 for furnishings. Architect’s fee isincluded and also the Clerk of the Works fee...”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: excerpt from an August 15th 1936 note to Hib Johnson concerning costs. In aletter to FLW (dated December 11th 1936), GM Ramsey reminded FLW (with hisown words) of SCJ&S’s cost expectations per a “verbal agreement” (on 07/23/36)and the “long-hand note” (08/15/36) exchanged between Hib Johnson and FLW.Several problems were delaying the project. There were building programmingissues (i e questions concerning whether or not the proposed building would

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issues (i.e. questions concerning whether or not the proposed building wouldserve the company’s needs fully) and two structural problems developed. How-ever, the main problem was the actual contractor cost estimates that were comingin at much higher prices than FLW’s lowball figure of $250K. The architect’s feewas to be 10% of the total cost of the building. As the cost of the buildingincreased, so did the FLW’s fee. Although the final cost was not announced bySCJ&S, it was clear to all it would be many times more than $250K. One spec-ulation was $750K. FLW’s own revised figure was $850K and another estimate was$900K. Needless to say, the delays and inflated costs strained the relation-shipbetween client and architect.

“…on furniture designs you have not yetseen…Christmas is coming and the bestway for me to get a good one is to pay upthe thousand and one petty accounts nag-ging my footsteps….”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: aside from debating costs in December 1936 FLW

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RE: aside from debating costs, in December 1936 FLWwrote Jack Ramsey proposing to design all the furnitureand equipment for the new building for a 10% fee (ratherthan his standard 20% fee) if he would forward him post-haste $3K (to help him appease his many creditors and,therefore, have an enjoyable holiday season)Left: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wright confers with anotherman on the site of one of his great designs, the John-son Wax Building.”

“…But now you tell me it will run about $300,000 and that apparentlyexclusive of furnishing and fees!...Money is an irritating part of this world,but we’ve got to take it into account - not for piling up gold for its ownsake, but just so that this business continues to run properly and servethe very human destiny that it has for fifty years…In any case, it seems tome that there are a lot of things about the building itself that have to becompleted first (before the Johnson firm agrees to Wright-designed fur-niture). Do you realize that Hib has advanced, to be exact $20,964 on anextreme expectation of something under $25,000 (in total architect’s Fees)and we have not yet the completed construction plans, to say nothing of

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and we have not yet the completed construction plans, to say nothing offinal interior layout and approved plans on heating, ventilating, lighting -even the glass to be used in wall construction? That is confidencebeyond anything I can say in words, so I know you will not take my plainwords wrong.”Jack Ramsey, General Manager – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: excerpt from letter to FLW dated December 11th 1936. Ramsey reminded FLWthat the only addition SCJ&S had made to the original plan was a squash courtover the parking garage, yet the cost rose exponentially. As for his designing thefurnishings, Ramsey said the company could not commit to any designs withoutseeing them first.

“Dear Mr. Ramsey. Thanks aLot Anyway…”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: excerpt from his letter of re-sponse in January 1937 (to GMRamsey’s Dec. 1936 letter to him).In his own defense, FLW arguedthat he had saved SCJ&S money

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yby battling state regulators andthat in his lump-sum architect’sfee was included fees for con-sulting engineers which were typ-ically separate for commercial bui-ldings.Left: passageway over parking ga-rage to Squash Court

“We can all blame any past delays on the pneumoniagerm…but how about action now?”Jack Ramsey, General Manager – S.C. Johnson & Son, February 1937RE: FLW had nearly died of pneumonia in December 1936. By thebeginning of 1937, the inexperienced apprentices of the Taliesin Fellow-ship were struggling to produce working drawings for the Johnson WaxAdministration Building and the myriad of construction/structural prob-

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g y plems facing the Fallingwater project. On top of this, FLW had several“Usonian” projects underway as well as the private home of H.B.Johnson. In the midst of all this activity, FLW and Oglivanna took a three-month tour of New York, California and Arizona, leaving Wes Peters incharge of things. When they returned in April, they were soon off toMoscow to attend a conference of Soviet architects. SCJ&S was growingimpatient with the lack of drawings and chronic delays.


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“We’ll construct until they call out the militia.”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: on February 12th 1937, fed-up with the lack of drawings, the con-tractor pulled his men off the job. On top of this and other problemsplaguing the project (and FLW’s conspicuous absence), the RacineIndustrial Commission was refusing to issue the project a building permit.The Commission would allow only “non-structural” construction to pro-ceed pending the test of a sample column. FLW was infuriated and

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p g ppledged to continue with or without a proper permit. Finally, FLW’s June4th 1937 demonstration of his “Dendriform” column’s strength changedthe Commission’s mind and the permit was issued. Another sticking pointfrom the get-go was FLW’s status as a licensed architect in the State ofWisconsin. Although he had been practicing architecture for over fiftyyears, he was not licensed to do so. In response, FLW offered to take apublic oral examination at the state capital – the bureaucrats wiselybacked-off. He received his architecture license in early 1937.

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The Facts of Structural Life

“That was alright yesterday, but its not right today…Everychange is for the betterment…the last change is made whenthe boom comes down”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: FLW saw designing during construction as part-and-parcel of his approach toarchitecture – an element of a genius at work. After all, the great Gothic cathedralshad been built in just this way. For a contractor and modern business corporation,“change orders” meant delays and additional costs, period. FLW’s constantdesign changes during construction were frustrating to contractor and clientalike. Sometimes the changes were minor, others – like relocating the main entry

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to the opposite (north) side of the building seven months into construction, weremajor. On another occasion, FLW added a row of short columns to support theroof above the Boardroom. This arrangement was contrary to the twenty-foot gridof columns which ensured each column would be directly above the columnbelow. These columns would rest mid-floor of the mezzanine level whosereinforcing was totally inadequate to support the imposed loads. Site supervisorEdgar Tafel learned of this the day before the mezzanine level’s concrete floor wasto be poured. Wes Peters called the contractor in a panic ordering him to “holdthe pour.” He rushed to the site and did some ad-hoc engineering “on-the-fly,”adding sufficient reinforcement to the floor where the columns would bear down.It was a close call.

“…The more experienced, such as Peters and Tafel, hadlearned a painful lesson from Fallingwater and Johnson Wax:The master had serious shortcomings as a structural en-gineer. They had also learned the fine art of saving hisdesigns by slipping in steel beams and columns after Wrightsigned off. Failing that, plan B was to do the deed at the

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g g , pconstruction site, as with Fallingwater. Wes and Edgar wouldpull an apprentice aside for a lesson in ‘the facts of structurallife,’ as Tafel put it. Yet not every apprentice was willing to goagainst Wright; in one such case the roof collapsed duringconstruction…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship

This Scoundrel Genius

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This Scoundrel Genius

“…No architect creating anything worth naming as creative work evermade or can make any money on what he does…have the privilege ofpaying for something way beyond money value…if the office buildingruns to $450,000 (as it will) including furnishing - it will have cost theCompany about 33 cents per cubic foot, which is the price of any ordinarywell-built, fire proof, air-conditioned factory building…considering theresources of the owners and what they are getting for their outlay…Thelabor scale and shorter hours and prices for materials, all these are higherthan any previous work of mine…”

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y pFrank Lloyd WrightRE: excerpt from letter to Hib Johnson, late December 1937. Johnson was con-cerned about the mounting costs of the building. In response, FLW wrote him along letter in an attempt to alleviate his clients anxieties. He denied being a“profiteer” and reminded Johnson of his money-saving efforts. As well, hepointed out the future advertising value and enhanced image of the companyonce complete, which was worth more than money. FLW claimed that, con-sidering the size of the building and the circumstances under which it was beingbuilt, the revised coat of $450K was not extravagant and that demands on his timein supervising the work were a considerable burden on him.


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“…I know it does no good to complain as you are an artist so in love withyour work that nothing will make you change your ideas of what thebuilding ought to be, even though it works a hardship on your client. Youwould rather tell the client whatever comes into your head as to the costand the time to construct, at the start, just to sell the job and givesatisfaction to your art to create something worthwhile, rather than beaccurate in cost estimates. Why didn’t you put me wise long ago as to thetrue costs and time to construct? Would that be unreasonable to ask?That is water over the dam now and I going to have to take it, but I willnever like it. That is, the way you have handled me; the buildings…I amgoing to love Now Frankie this reply to your letter is no complaint as it

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going to love…Now, Frankie, this reply to your letter is no complaint as itwould do no good to complain. You have us hooked and we can’t getaway. Rather, it is written to show you how I feel and, if possible, spur youon to economize on matters still undecided in the building.”Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: excerpt from letter to FLW. Though Johnson was frustrated with the spiralingcost of the building, he knew his architect was creating a masterpiece andaccepted his subservient position, albeit grudgingly. Out of respect and deferenceto the master architect, most people addressed FLW as “Mr. Wright.” Having amore intimate relationship, Hib Johnson called him “Frank.” The use of “Frankie”in the letter was more an expression of Johnson’s annoyance with thesituation than disrespect.

“…Hib Johnson, it seemed, believed in this scoundrel genius. But therewas more to it than that: His own fortunes were now married to thearchitect’s well-being. Wright was building both Johnson’s corporatebuilding and his house; Johnson needed him healthy and happy. And so,in spite of his irritation, he proposed a solution that would facilitateWright’s personal desert project. Wright’s fees for Johnson Wax were tobe paid at the end of each specific project phase. The next payment wasnot until the end of construction – an uncertain date, to say the least. Tohelp Wright finance his new Arizona camp. Johnson offered to pay at theend of each month for the portion of the work completed to date. He

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enclosed the first installment, a check for $3,100. The Fellowship’s deserthome was a go…”RE: excerpt from The Fellowship. After his near-death bout with pneumonia in late1936, FLW’s doctor advised him to spend the winter months in Arizona. Forseveral years, he and Oglivanna were looking for a suitable piece of land. In lateDecember 1937 they found what they were looking for twenty miles outsideScottsdale, AZ - near the town of Paradise Valley. To pay for it, FLW planned to tapinto his 10% of the construction cost fee for Johnson Wax. As the cost grew, sodid FLW’s commission, much to the dismay of his frustrated client consideringthat most of the cost overruns were attributable to FLW. Despite this, the two menneeded each other for their own reasons – public and private.

“DEAR HIBBARD MUST HAVE MONEY OR MUST SHUT DOWN WILL YOU HELPME OUT WITH PERSONAL ADVANCE FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS PAYINGYOURSELF BACK OUT OF MY EARNINGS IF YOU WIRE THE SUM TO THEVALLEY BANK SURE WOULD BE NICE COMING EAST SOON BUT IMPOSSIBLEUNTIL FIXED HERE THAT SUM WILL DO FAITHFULLY FRANK”RE: telegram from FLW in AZ to Hib Johnson

“SURE SORRY CANNOT ADVANCE MONEY AS MY CREDIT HAS BEEN EXTEN-DED AS FAR AS POSSIBLE…YOU NEED EDGAR HERE TO SPEED CON-STRUCTION TO EARN COMMISSION STOP GOOD LUCK HIB”RE: Hib Johnson’s response telegram

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“CAN SEND YOU FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS STOP WILL THAT ENABLE YOUTO GET AWAY AND IF SO WHEN SHALL WE EXPECT YOU IN RACINE STOPANSWER RAMSEY”RE: telegram from GM Ramsey to FLW on behalf of Hib Johnson

“JACK THERE IS A WELL HERE MUST PAY IMMEDIATELY THOUSAND DOLLARSSUIT BEGUN BUILDING MATERIALS FIFTEEN HUNDRED NECESSARY FOODDURING ABSENCE FOUR HUNDRED CARLOAD LUMBER TRACK ON DEM-URRAGE SIX HUNDRED CANNOT TURN MY BACK KINDLY TELEGRAM VALLEYBANK PHOENIX TWENTY FIVE HUNDRED CAN THEN COME ALONG RIGHTAWAY”RE: FLW’s response telegram to GM Jack Ramsey (FLW got the $2,500)

“ Y k th ll d ’t d t d thi b ildi t ll Th ’ ti if

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“…You know, they really don’t understand this building at all. They’re acting as ifthis were a normal office building and you calculate this the way you would anormal office building. But they have forgotten what they told me initially, whichwas that this was a memorial to Grandpa, the founder of this great industrialenterprise, and you don’t build memorials with the same materials, or the samespirit, or the same budget, you know as you do speculative office buildings…Oneof these days you’re going to see tourists from all over the country come and seethis building.”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: comments made to a writer from Architectural Forum magazine while visiting Taliesin in1938 (after a tense telephone conversation with his client)Left: Samuel Curtis Johnson, Company FounderRight: caption: “1888 - Samuel C. Johnson develops his first paste wax floor care product”

“…I realize fully the strain thegrowth of this great landmark innew-world architecture has thrownon you - and do not resent thebreakdown of good feeling andconsequently of good sense…”

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Frank Lloyd WrightRE: excerpt from a letter to GM Ramsey(ca. late 1938). Controversy over costcontinued with FLW claiming that theoriginal plans drawn up in 1936 were “acrude unfinished sketch.”Left: original 1936 plan of the Workroom

“…I can’t subscribe to the statement that we ever lost ‘good sense’; but I freelyadmit that ‘good nature’ took an awful long vacation…Cost, as measured inmoney, is a most difficult thing to argue with you. Idealistically you despise theidea of money as a measure of anything. It probably has not occurred to you thatHib and I and probably 90% of the rest of the world also realize the imperfection ofsuch a measuring stick. Nevertheless, it remains a fact that it is a universal yard-stick used even to measure happiness. Wastefulness of dollars in the con-struction of our building did not grieve us because each dollar came off of a coldfigure concerning a bank balance, but offended our sense of justice in that suchwasted dollars were a measure of some other constructive accomplishment thatthereby must be omitted from the scheme of things. It is, I believe, only a matter ofproportion on which we have differed with you. If a farmer has a hundred dollars

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and has a certain aim in view concerning the raising of poultry, he might bejustified in spending twenty dollars on a chicken coop, or even twenty-five dollarswith the extra five dollars as a measure of additional content and happinessafforded the chickens and the eyes of all beholders, but he would be morallyunjustified in spending ninety-nine dollars on his chicken coop and therebystarving his horses and cows. And if he hired a chicken-coop specialist to buildthe finest coop in the world at an estimated cost of thirty dollars and the cost ranup to ninety-nine dollars, moral responsibility would be upon aforesaid specialist.That is not a pretty example and it is probably crude and exaggerated but I amimpelled to try to illustrate our side somehow.”Jack Ramsey, General Manager – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: response to FLW’s letter to him


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“..we would all be written off for damn’dfools and sent over the hills to the poorhouse. I’ve felt (as I know you and Hibhave felt) that there were human valuesinvolved, in this building way beyondany that could be measured by mo-

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ney…”Frank Lloyd WrightLeft: FLW and H.F. Johnson on-site watchingthe column test. FLW didn’t accept Ramsey’scontentions concerning the building’s cost asoutlined in his letter. In particular, he didn’tappreciate the “chicken coop” analogy.

“…I’ve heard nothing from Hib since I sent on the piece onthe building now appearing (soon) in An Autobiography…Ithought he would like the piece very much. But I guess hedidn’t…We expected Hib to invite us to dinner sometime thiswinter - but no.”

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Frank Lloyd WrightRE: FLW and Hib Johnson had become friends, but Johnson felt that FLWhad manipulated him with an unreasonably low estimate to get thecommission straining the relationship. After FLW had prepared a revisededition of his autobiography, he wrote GM Ramsey (excerpt above) ex-pressing his disappointment at not hearing from his friend and client.

To Be Frank Frank

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To Be Frank, Frank

“…To be frank, Frank, we simply will not consider a financialand construction nightmare like the office building. It is aplain factory kind of job that should be built by an engineer orcontractor like our other factory buildings. Yet because of itsproximity to your masterpiece, it should have a relationshipthereto and we feel it would be unfair to you and a mistake onour part if we didn’t ask how you think you would want to fitinto such a picture ”

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into such a picture.Hibbard Johnson, CEO – S.C. Johnson & SonRE: excerpt from a letter to FLW dated October 1943. The JohnsonAdministration Building was completed in 1939 to great acclaim. In itsaftermath, SCJ&S decided to build facilities for research and developmentof new products, but WWII delayed the project. After much corres-pondence and a proposal for an adjoining tower to house the R&Dlaboratories, FLW was given the commission despite Johnson’s trep-idation from past experience.

“We want this building built on a contract basis, if at allpossible; if not that, then on a basis where the costwould not vary 10% over estimates.”Hibbard Johnson CEO – S C Johnson & Son

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Hibbard Johnson, CEO S.C. Johnson & SonRE: this time, SCJ&S would leave nothing to chance in theirdealings with FLW. Nevertheless, they went ahead on a cost-plus basis (without the price ceiling that Johnson wanted).FLW was to be paid his usual 10% commission. The researchtower’s estimated cost rose from $750K to over $2 million. InMay of 1948, Johnson accepted the revised estimate butcapped his architect’s commission at $200K (to be paid overtwo years).Above: longitudinal section through Administration Building(right) and Research Tower (left, highlighted)Left: vertical section through the Research Towershowing its tree-like structure

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Part 6

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The Research Tree

“…Where the Administration Buildingseeks to convey an impression of ex-reme horizontality, what came to becalled the Research Tower is obviouslyintended to provide a strong verticalcontrast; sturdily square in plan butwith rounded corners, it rises with thedignity of a miniature skyscraper. It isclad in alternating bands of brick andobscure glass tubing, through the glassone is able to detect that the buildingconsists of a central mast, from seven

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square shelf-like floors project, each ofthem of sufficient height to contain acircular mezzanine level. The floors ex-tend to the cladding, while the mezz-anines, which are in effect free-stand-ing, permit, by Wright’s reckoning, anease of oral communication betweenworkers on the two levels. Fitted withthe mast are a circular elevator, firestairs, and utilities…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: ALife of Frank Lloyd Wright

“…With building after building,Wright had proved that it ispossible to imitate nature’s logicand economy, if not her wantonextravagance, in architecture. Hislatest proof, announced thismonth, is a tower laboratory forJohnson’s Wax in Racine, Wis. Its15-story lab is practically allwindow; all its heating, plumbingand servicing is done through acentral mast, from which it is

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suspended…It will adjoin theoffice building Wright designed in1938, which is held up by columnsbuilt like morning-glories. He alsobuilt a low-slung modern housefor President Herbert F. JohnsonJr., who apparently believes thatWright can do no wrong…”TIME magazine, April 1st 1948Left: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wrightand HF Johnson, Jr. are shown ad-miring the Research Tower,1953”

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“Whenever Frank Lloyd Wright designs a building, you can be sure it’ll bedifferent. Usually it is also good looking and functional. This, one of thenewest, is no exception…”Popular Mechanics, January 1950RE: SCJ&S Research Tower

How’s the Weather Out There?

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How s the Weather Out There?

“We tried to talk Wrightinto putting some clearglass on the corners soyou could see out. ‘For-get it,’ he said. The onlyway you could see theweather was if you look-ed very carefully at onePyrex tube, right in the

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middle. you could seethrough it and get anidea what was going onwith the weather outthere.”Dr. Don Whyte, SCJ&S Chemist.The Research Tower would acco-mmodate 75 chemists in 75 lab-oratories. FLW planned for eigh-teen floors, reducing to15 for economic reasons.


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Above: Research Tower and Globe.Johnson chemists met with Wrightabout a dozen times while the tower

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about a dozen times while the towerwas being designed. After seeingsome of his designs for the lab-oratories, they had full-scale modelsof a main floor and a mezzaninebuilt in the parking lot. Thesemodels helped them plan furnish-ings and fixtures for each floor ofthe tower”Left: caption: “Arrangement of circ-ular mezzanine floors that share atwo-story high window can be seenin photo made during con-struction of SCJ&S Lab”

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“…The research tree rises from an open court near the com-pany’s administration building, which was also planned byWright.”Popular Mechanics, January 1950Above: caption: “Artist’s rendering of the research and developmenttower and administration building of the S.C. Johnson and SonWax Company” 286

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Above: glass-tube enclosedwalkway connecting the Ad-ministration Building withthe Research TowerLeft T&B: the ResearchTower project included buil-ding new office space north

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of the Administration Build-ing carport and a portico onthe east, north and westsides of the Tower. The eastand west porticos were laterconverted to laboratoriesand offices. The top of theTower reprises FLW’s earlierdesign for the “nostrils”(service cores) above theelevators of the Admin-istration Bldg. (high-lighted in photo &plan)


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289 290Above & Left: Tower base

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Top Left: caption: “Exterior,General View Towards WestDrive-In Entrance”Top Right: caption: “Exterior,West Drive-In Entrance”Left: caption: “Exterior, BrickConstruction at West Drive-InEntrance”

Innovation & Domesticity

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Innovation & Domesticity


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As a family owned business, theJohnson Wax company’s emph-asis was (and still is) on thevirtues of family. Thus, theideals of family were supportedby the company and its policiesand marketing efforts, then and

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now. The Administration Build-ing campus would, therefore,emphasize this belief. Upon en-tering the courtyard area, twolarge statues welcome the vis-itor; one male (left) entitled“Innovation” and the other fe-male (right) entitled “Domes-ticity.” Both were designed byFLW and were meant to illus-trate how family friendly theSCJ&S Company is.

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The two statues are situated outside the entrance to the Research Tower.Domesticity (left) is of rounded form/s showing a woman and her daughtercarrying baskets; symbolic of domestic life. Innovation (right) is angular andshows a man teaching his son to use a bow and arrow; symbolic of inno-

vation

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A Tower in a Garden

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A Tower in a Garden

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Above: caption: “The Por-celain Pagoda (or tower) ofNanking.” FLW borrowed theoriental concept of a towerrising from the center of anenclosed garden for the SC-J&S Research Tower.Left: caption: “Exterior view-south side of Tower”


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Let There Be Light

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Let There Be Light

“…One example is the researchbuilding now under constructionfor the maker’s of Johnson Waxin Racine, Wis. The structure willbe 15 stories high with circularwalls of tubular glass. Alter-nating with the main floors willbe circular floors inside thewalls. The entire building will be

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supported by a circular masonrystem extending 50-feet into theground. According to Wright, thebuilding will be flooded with lightand will house the research off-ices in natural relationship flow-ing downward…”Popular Mechanics, April 1948Left: caption: “The JohnsonWax Research Tower”

A double wall of hollow glass tubesextends around the perimeter of theResearch Tower (for approximately 70%of the facade), in luminous contrast tothe cantilevered floors. FLW used thedetails of glass tubing he had originally

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planned for the Guggenheim Museumin NYC (piled up vertically as being theeasiest configuration to be made water-tight - unlike the clerestories and lant-erns of the Administration Building).Left: caption: “Guggenheim Museum Detail”

By the end of 1943, FLW was considering fourglass tube systems. In the first, a series oftubes would be accommodated inside an al-uminum-perforated rack; similar to the Admin-istration Building. A second and more ex-pensive system provided for tubes with twogrooves on opposite sides. In this way, a metalsheet would seal the system; convenientlyfitted between the grooves of adjoining tubesand screwed to the rack. A third system in-cluded a single line of solid adjoining tubeswithout any sealant, requiring a line of glasssheets hanging from the inside so as to makecleaning easier. This system was abandoned

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g yalmost immediately because of the dust thatwould reach the tubes and the condensationthat would form (it was also the most ex-pensive system). The last system provided forthe replacement of solid tubes with hollowones in order to guarantee the lighting effectdesired. This would be the chosen system.Twenty-eight glass tubes to a rack were fixedwith wire by a loop knot, similar to the Ad-ministration Building. Once in place, a flatglass module would be installed in front of theglass tubes.Left: caption: “Glass tubes at circularmezzanine”

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Above: caption: “Interior circular flo-ating floor – Research Tower”Left: caption: “One-quarter-inch-th-ick plate glass windows formed thebuilding’s inner walls, with threeinches of air space between themand the exterior Pyrex glass tubewindows. The design was effective incooling the work space. The plateglass windows were removed whenthe building closed in 1982, becausetheir weight added stress tothe Kasota stone at thebottom of each window.”


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“We wouldn’t have to have any material in between the tub-ing, material that hardened and then it would loosen and thewater would come through”Dr. Don Whyte, SCJ&S ChemistLeft: view from the tower’s base of the glass-tube bands, each two-story’shighRight: caption: “Preliminary section through the Research Tower,with detail sections”

One of the Administration Building’smost innovative details, the use of Py-rex glass tubes (the same material asthe chemist’s test tubes, above & left) tocreate translucent lighting produced

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create translucent lighting, producedfine lighting effects but leaked when-ever it rained. Dr. Whyte and other che-mists urged FLW to consider sheets ofplastic tubing for the Research Tower’swindows instead of more leaky glass,but FLW would not budge. The sealingmastic used eventually hardened andleaked, as predicted. After spending se-veral years trying to stem the leaking inthe tower window seals, silicone caulk(developed by Dow-Corning in1958) was used effectively.

As a sealant, Corning Glass (with FLW’s approval)resorted to a single layer of open-cell Korosealwhich was separated by a lining, waterproof andeasily moldable by adhering it to the tube (bothlongitudinally and as a ring on the external headjoints). By becoming excessively distorted (be-cause of the weight of the overhanging tubes and

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by contracting on the glass surface) it becamenecessary to use plastic wedges to take theweight off the tubes. Furthermore, having to adjustto the variability of the tube/s diameter, the Koro-seal installation required the use of precise mea-suring instruments.Left: caption: “Installation of Glass Tubing”

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Heliolab

“…Like so many of Wright’s works, the Research Towersucceeds as an aesthetic object, but from the beginning itpresented an almost endless series of difficulties. Wrightnicknamed it ‘the helio-lab,’ but helios proved an enemyinstead of a friend, overheating the building and threateningto parboil and blind its occupants. Wright had as little use forawnings and shades as he did for screens…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright Subject to the

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RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright. Subject to theGreenhouse Effect, it was necessary to screen the sun’s radiation fromcoming through the full-length glass windows on the west-side of thetower in order to provide comfortable working conditions. Despite FLW’soptimism, there were immediate seepages and leakages in the glass tubecurtain wall (due to the splitting of the lining that expanded during thesummer heat and contracted in the winter cold). In 1958, new flexiblelinings with a synthetic rubber base (consisting of rubber with awaterproof silicon composition) were successfully installed.

“…But as with the administration building, the years have not been kindto the R&D tower’s glass facade, or the brick layers between each floor,

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and today, SC Johnson is fully restoring it…Now, workers are feverishlyre-placing the entire brick facade, while also replacing the straight glasstubing from each side of the tower, and restoring the curved tubes fromits corners…”CNET, July 26th 2013Left:: caption: “Though much of the straight tubing on the building’s sides is being entirelyreplaced, SC Johnson decided to keep the curved tubes that were mounted on the building’scorners. As a result, workers are meticulously cleaning these tubes. This is a stack of thecurved tubes, which are awaiting cleaning.”Right: caption: “Here, we see a section along one wall where some of the tubing has alreadybeen replaced with all-new glass, while some has yet to be fitted. That means that,for the moment, there is a view out of the building that will never again be pos-sible once all the new tubing is installed.”


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Above: caption: “These cur

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Above: caption: “These cur-ved tubes have already beencleaned and are now markedso that workers know exactlywhere they are supposed tobe re-mounted.”Left: close-up view of rou-nded corner of the ResearchTower

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Above: caption: “This is an originalgasket from the building, which hasbeen taken off for cleaning. Oncecleaned, it will be remounted inorder to have tubing fitted over it.”Left: caption: “The key to installingthe new - and restored - glass tub-ing is mounting them on specialgaskets along the building’sside, as seen here”

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Above L&R: caption: “Bridge From Penthouse to Employee Squash Court (left) / “ReceptionArea Ceiling” (right). FLW was distancing himself from the strenuous advice of his assis-tants and the contractor that plate glass over the Administration Building skylights would beessential. He claimed that what was good enough for the glazed cornice was good enoughfor the skylights. However, glass was eventually installed over the skylights. The pair ofphotos illustrates the difference between one form of Pyrex tubing installation and another.To the layman, both might seem comparable, but the installing contractor might bid threedays for the left-hand example and three weeks for the one on the right because of the manybends, each concentric row of a differing radius, that are required (several errant bends canbe noted in the photo). The bends in some parts of the compound, including all of the tower,were considerably easier than the dome above (or the corners of the main struct-ure) because the bends are simple cylindrical sections, with every layer oftubing bent to the same radius.”

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Faux FLW

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Faux FLW

Above: caption: “The visitor

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Above: caption: “The visitorcenter used a molded plasticwindow that only looks likethe tubes on the originalbuilding, but was cheaperand leaks less”Left: caption: “Planter madefrom laboratory bottle, infront of window in the mod-ern glass tower”

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Above & Left: caption: “Second and Third-storyaddition over the East Wing of Research TowerCourtyard, designed in 1961 by Taliesin Asso-ciated Architects. Pleading austerity, the JohnsonCompany insisted on substituting corrugatedsheets of Plexiglass for the Pyrex tubing. The re-mainder of the exterior was executed in thesame materials as the original buildings.”


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Just Like a Tree

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Just Like a Tree Development

Wax-ResearchLaboratories

Machine FloorHouses Air Conditioners,Elevator Hoist,Water Tanks, etc.

Exhaust forVentilating Air

Exhaust Fans

One of SixCircularMezzanines

Reinforced-Concrete Core,Extending 52-feet into Earth,Serves as Fou-ndation and Su-pports Tower

Tubular Shaftfor Cylindrical Elevator

Stair Well

“…A 15-story researchlaboratory for S.C. John-son Wax & Son, the wax-making firm, it lookssomething like an over-sized chimney, but act-ually is more closely re-lated to a tree. The fou-ndation and load-bearingf i i f d

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Exhaust Ducts

Laboratories

Fresh-Air ShaftSupplying All Fl-oors

One of SixRectangularFloors

ControlLaboratories

Library and FilingDepartments

Window Wall Madeof Glass Tubes

ServicePipes

frame is a reinforced-concrete core, like a treetrunk, that extends 52-feet down into the gr-ound and rises 156-feetinto the air…”Popular Mechanics, Jan. 1950Left: cut-away section throughtower (vertical sectionin caption)

The foundation of the Research Tower is a fifty-four foot deep “tap-root” that isreminiscent in section of the capitals of the “Dendriform” columns in the earlierAdministration Building. The foundation of the tower begins as a broad, flat diskon a “petal” acting as a spread footing that stabilizes the nineteen-foot shaft atthe bottom of the foundation. This shaft acts only in absorbing the compressiveforces of the structure and is made of poured-in-place un-reinforced concrete. Noformwork was used in the pouring in order that the concrete would bond betterwith the surrounding soil. The core of the tower, from which all the floors andmezzanines are hung, was the most difficult portion of the building to construct. Itis through this element of the structure that all service and utility chases mustpass as well as the stairwell and elevator The 1 600 square-foot floors and 1 100

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pass as well as the stairwell and elevator. The 1,600 square-foot floors and 1,100square-foot round mezzanines are supported solely by the central core. The hol-low floor slabs are thick where they join the central support and thin at theirextremes, reflecting where and how the loads and stresses are acting on thestructure. The facade of the Research Tower is a non-structural skin of materialschosen to integrate with the Administration Building. The Cherokee Red brickforms a thin, decorative veneer which covers over the edges of the concretefloors. To complete the skin, FLW used Pyrex glass tubing laid row upon row onmetal racks with vinyl gaskets and caulking between. Aside from live, dead, windand seismic loads, the structure was also designed to take into account the eventof an explosion which could occur in one of the laboratories.

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Left: caption: “Exterior, Base of Tower Showing Support System.” The approximately four-teen-foot wide core, with walls of only seven to ten inches thick, needed to be constructedwith great precision as well as strength. The steel reinforcing rods and wire mesh thatreinforce the concrete was so densely packed that tiny pea gravel aggregate had to be usedso the concrete would fill completely. During construction of the cantilevered floors, thelower layer was poured into formwork and then cured. On top of this, the pipes and conduitsservicing the research facilities were laid, over which steel sheets and a framework ofreinforcing bars were welded in place to handle radial stresses and shear. Finally,the concrete floor was poured and troweled smooth.

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Left: caption: “Vertical Loading. Stepping pattern dis-tributes loads outside to inside. Central core receivesgreatest load. Cantilevered floors are tapered and mimicsstepping pattern load distribution.” The construction ofthe tower with its floors cantilevered from a central coremakes the distribution of vertical loading fairly simple.The round, central core of the building protrudes throughthe roof and is the highest part of the building. All theloads are eventually carried over to and down thr-ough this main member and a surrounding circularelement of smaller dimension. Below that lies the topfloor. These three top elements create a “steppingpattern” in section, going from tallest in the middle to

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shortest on the outside. Therefore, the greatest amount ofload is in the center, the least on the outer edge. Sincethe further from the center the load is, the more likely thecantilever will become unstable, whereas the closer theload is to the centroid, the less likely it will produce adynamic load. Another crucial member involved in trans-ferring vertical loads is the shape of the floors. Near thecentroid, they are thick, and at the outer edges, they taperinto a thin slab. This shape has to do with the dead-loadof the structure itself and creates an even stress through-out the length of the floor. The greatest dead-load of eachfloor slab is near the central core and the leastdead-load is at the outer edge/s.


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Above: caption: “Tower Third Floor Structural Diagram.” All of the vertical loadsare transferred through the cantilevered floors and down through the central coreof the building. This central core continues down through the earth and is thedeepest portion of the foundation. Thus, this strong, vertical central axis is thestabilizing element of the structural system. All loads are carried over toit and down through it into the foundation and out through the ground.”

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State of Equilibrium

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State of Equilibriumquake

Left: caption: “Lateral Loading. Free-standing structure.Foundation resists wind and earthquakes. No formwork in‘stem’ so concrete could bond with soil.” As with thevertical loading, the path of lateral loads is also relativelysimple, for it involves only a few members. The tower,being tall and slender, seems vulnerable to the lateralforces of wind or seismic disturbance. Since the outerskin is non-structural, it does not participate in resistingeither lateral or vertical loads. The tower is a free-standingstructure and therefore its resistance to lateral loads suchas wind and earthquakes must reside in the formation andstructure of the foundation. At the foundation is founda large Dendriform-shaped column The top plate which

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wind

a large Dendriform-shaped column. The top plate, whichacts as a spread footing, is an important member whenconsidering the results of lateral loading. Not only doesthis plate distribute vertical loads, but it provides a bal-ance and helps stabilize the large central core fromtipping or swaying laterally. When a lateral load acts onthe tower, the spread footing will push against the soil thatis packed above it, and the pressure of that soil actingdown resists the bending moment created by the force.The lateral load and the foundation footing create a coupleand the force of the soil acting upon the spread footingcreate a couple in the opposite direction, keeping thetower in a state of equilibrium.

“…There are two types of work-ing floors: a circular mezz-aninebalcony over-looks a rectang-

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y gular, full-width floor. Both typesare unobstructed, open to all thelight from the huge windowwalls…”Popular Mechanics, January 1950Above & Left: caption: “June 14,1949: The Tower looks like a child’sgiant stacking toy, as alternatingsquare and round floors hang fromthe core. The walls would not beload-bearing, so their constructionfollowed that of the cantile-vered floors.”

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“…The working floors are supported by cantilevers from the core, like branchesfrom a tree trunk. The outside walls are ‘curtain’ walls – they don’t support thebuilding, but merely keep bad weather out. They are mainly two-story-highwindows separated by bands of brick. The windows, made of glass tubing,are unbroken by sash…”Popular Mechanics, January 1950


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Above: SCJ&S chem-ists at work in the newResearch Tower (ca.1950)Left: an American flagatop the tower upon“Topping-Out”

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Above: caption: “SC Johnson Research Tower withthe Globe in the foreground. Frank Lloyd Wrightenvisioned a globe displayed on the SC Johnsoncampus. The first SC Johnson globe was installedin 1952. Thirty-four years later, employees bandedtogether to present their Chairman, Sam Johnson,with a replacement that still stands today.”Left: caption: “Frank Lloyd Wright EastElevation Research Tower for S.C.Johnson & Son”

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Codes & Consequences

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Codes & Consequences

“…The working floors are sup-ported by cantilevers from thecore, like branches from a treetrunk…As in a tree, all supplyservices are centralized in thecore. A large shaft in the centerfurnishes fresh, conditioned air.Two other shafts on either sidetake care of exhaust air. Piping forthe various laboratory servicessurround the fresh-air shaft while

5-FT. DiameterCircular Elevator

Exhaust-Air ShaftPipes

ElevatorCounterweight

Fresh-AirShaft

Controls

Dumb-Waiter

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surround the fresh-air shaft, whilelighting and power conduits areenclosed in an outer wall of thecore. The core also has a smallcircular shaft for a cylindrical el-evator that can travel all fifteenstories in twenty seconds. The el-evator even has circular doorsand curved counterweights. Opp-osite this is the stair well…”Popular Mechanics, Jan. 1950

Mail Chute

Electrical ConduitsWashroom

Exhaust-Air Shaft

Switch Panels

Above: caption: “Research Tree’s Trunk, shown inplan view above will contain all pipes, wires, shafts,and other services for the building.” The single 30-inch-wide staircase - more than a foot narrower thanthe state standard – was/is an obstacle to the Re-search Tower reopening.


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“…he also refused to permit the use of sprinklers throughout the building, on thegrounds of their ugliness. The result was that fire insurance on the building couldbe secured only by the payment of higher than ordinary premiums. Chemicalexperiments involving combustible materials had to be carried out in anotherbuilding, and when with the passing of time the number of workers employed inthe tower increased, the single set of fire stairs was deemed inade-quate. Eventually, the building had to be shut down…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

Poetry in Architecture

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Poetry in Architecture

“Twilight travelers to Racine,Wis. last month noticed on itsmodest skyline what appearedto be an outsize electrical coil,standing on end and lightedfrom within…What they wereseeing was a striking new re-search tower which S.C. John-

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son and Son, Inc., makers ofwax products, had just added totheir strikingly modern admin-istration offices.”LIFE magazineLeft: (postcard) caption: “Twilight Viewof famous Research and DevelopmentTower at the home of Johnson’s Wax inRacine, Wisconsin”

“From my window I have beenenjoying the building, especiallyat night when it gleamed in themoonlight. I have been enjoyingit from a purely esthetic stand-point. I have added it to mycollection of memorable moon-light scenes. The Coliseum in themoonlight is awe-inspiring; thealps in the moonlight are mag-nificent; Sorrento in the moon-light is the anteroom to Heaven.

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light is the anteroom to Heaven.The new Johnson tower, in itsown way, is as soul-stirring asthe Coliseum, the alps, or Sor-rento…Just as Beethoven’s Fifthsymphony is poetry in music andCorot’s ‘dance of the nympths’ ispoetry in painting, so this build-ing is poetry in architecture.”Margaret Rohan, English TeacherLeft: caption: “Exterior night shot ofthe modern research tower(Nov. 1950)”

For the Ages

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For the Ages


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“Our family’s long partnership with Frank Lloyd Wright led to thesearchitectural treasures that we’re honored to work in every day. TheResearch Tower represents the completion of the work that Wright beganhere in the mid-1930s with our Administration Building. As we have madesignificant investments in these historic buildings and expanded our freepublic tour program, including the Tower was the natural next step. Weare delighted to welcome visitors from around the world to come to Ra-cine and see Wright’s master-work and give people a look into the Re-search Tower for the very first time.”

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yFisk Johnson, SCJ&S President and CEO, May 2013RE: in the middle of an eight-year, $30 million restoration and conservation plan,SCJ&S announced its intentions to partially open the Research Tower for publictours for the first time. The 15-story structure - on the National Register of HistoricPlaces, was closed in 1982. SCJ&S has always opened its FLW-designed build-ings on the company’s main campus in Racine, Wis. to the public, gratus - exceptthe Research Tower. FLW had envisioned a tower on the company campus asearly as 1936 and included it in some of his early drawings. However, the Admin-istration Building was commissioned that same year and built first. The ResearchTower was commissioned in 1944 and opened in 1950.

350Above: caption: “Preliminary plan and elevation, show-ing the administration building and tower (ca. 1936)”

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About fifty people worked in the Research Tower when itopened in 1950. The number grew quickly as SCJ&S began toenter new product markets. By 1958, SCJ&S launched prod-ucts that became cornerstones of its present-day business.The Research Tower’s fifteen floors consisted of offices andvarious research laboratories including: an engineering lab,paint and enamels research, pilot lab (the intermediate stepbetween the analytical research lab and the factoryassembly line) and even an industrial war lab.

The Research Tower wasclosed in 1982 when SCJ&Sopened a new research fa-cility on the main campus.SCJ&S retained offices onthe second floor, but aban-doned the labs due to safetyconcerns (i.e. scientists wor-ked with flammable chem-icals and gases, the elevatoronly holds four people and

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only holds four people andonly one person can fit thewidth of the single, windingstaircase). As early as the1970s, SCJ&S sought outways to make the ResearchTower safer, including an ex-ternal staircase. But it wasdetermined that it wouldcompromise FLW’s originaldesign.

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In January 2013, SCJ&S began preparing to open the third floor and third mezz-anine for free public tours. This included installing a new heating-cooling system,restoring lighting (to resemble the original light fixtures) and reinstalling some ofthe original cabinet faces. The tower will retain its original flooring and built-incabinets and fixtures. The interiors were originally painted FLW’s signatureCherokee Red, but later each floor was partially repainted a different color todistinguish one floor from another. However, as part of the restoration, the thirdfloor and its mezzanine were repainted their original Cherokee Red. Tourswere expected to commence by mid-2014.

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The SCJ&S Research Tower, at 153-feet tall, is only about 4-feet shorterthan the Racine County Courthouse, making it a prominent structure inthe city and county. In FLW’s early letters concerning the Research Tower,he envisioned a radio mast at the top so that SCJ&S could broadcast“good tidings” year-round. Like the organ for the Admin-istrationBuilding’s Great Workroom, it was never realized. FLW originallyenvisioned a first floor with a glassed-in reception area, but later opted fora more dramatic design that exposes the tower’s core. Each floor andmezzanine has a bathroom (the doors were made of curved metal,

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( ,attached to a track that can slide to an open and/or closed position). Incase of accidents, each floor included an emergency shower. The tower’scentral core (extending 54-feet below ground) consists of three shafts:one for the elevator; one for air ducts (and other mechanical uses) and athird for the stairs. Pipes extended up through the core’s central shaft tosupply laboratories with gas, compressed air, carbon dioxide, nitrogenand steam. SCJ&S spends up to $6 million annually on maintenance andupkeep of the FLW buildings on its corporate campus, including the Re-search Tower.

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Part 7

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Prairie House DeluxeOf the Prairie

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Of the Prairie

“…Wright called Wingspread the last of the Prairie Hou-ses…True, the setting of Wingspread is a landscape of rollingmeadows, interrupted here and there by adroitly plantedclumps of pine, while the settings of most of Wright’s turn-of-the-century Prairie Houses were comparatively cramped sub-

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y p y purban lots and therefore not authentically of the prairie at all;nevertheless, ‘Prairie House’ evokes a sense of ground-hug-ging simplicity of form and, within that form, the prospect ofan equal simplicity in the conduct of life…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

“…A few miles from Racine,President Herbert Johnson haslet Wright build him a housewhich lies along the prairie infour slim wings A huge chim-

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four slim wings. A huge chim-ney with fireplaces on foursides is in the focal livingroom…”TIME magazine, January 17th 1938


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“…In the case of the Johnson Wax Administration Building,one marvels at the comparative good nature with which hisclients put up with Wright’s manifestations of ‘genius atwork.’ Indeed, so much under Wright’s spell was Hib John-son that, having commissioned the building, he proceeded tocommission a private residence as well, to be erected on astretch of open fields that he owned not far from the shore ofLake Michigan Johnson had been married and divorced and

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Lake Michigan. Johnson had been married and divorced andwas now marrying for a second time; he and his wife wouldbe bringing a couple of children apiece to the new house,which must therefore be ample. The house was a simplermatter to design and build than the Administration Building,but was subject to the same provoking delays and conse-quent increased costs…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

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Above: Main Floor Plan. Shaped like a four-winged pinwheel, the 14K-square-foot house balances grand spaces for social gatherings in theGreat Hall (Central Core) with smaller, more intimate spaces inthe bedroom wings.

“…Wingspread evokes something very different; it is an ex-ceedingly large mansion, having a floor area of fourteenthousand square feet…A true folly, it imposes itself upon itssite instead of accommodating to it. Wright may well have

d thi (t hi ) l f t i h t k t

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sensed this (to him) unwelcome fact, since he took care topraise Wingspread for the opposite reason: he boasted thatits presence improved the site, giving it a charm that it lackedwhen it was merely so much untampered-with nature…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

Set in a thirty-acre property with a woodedravine and a series of ponds and lagoons,Wingspread fans-out generously across itsgently rolling site – a site that FLW found“not at all stimulating before the house wentup.” Even more-so than many of FLW’searlier Prairie Houses, its four wings stretchout eccentrically to embrace the Wisconsin

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out eccentrically to embrace the Wisconsinprairie. Its primary materials: limestone,brick, stucco and wood, tie the house to theearth. The Johnson family lived at Wing-spread for twenty years in what would bethe last and largest of FLW’s many Prairiehouses.Left: FLW with a model of Wingspread (ca. 1938)

“…I have, as you know, given my personal attention to everylittle matter of minutest detail in both buildings. To me,neither structure is just a building. Each one is a life in itself,one for the life that is your business life, and one for yourpersonal life.”Frank Lloyd WrightRE: excerpt from a letter to Hib Johnson after he received a letter from

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RE: excerpt from a letter to Hib Johnson after he received a letter fromhim complaining about cost overruns for Wingspread. While Wingspreadwas under construction, Johnson’s wife died. He seriously consideredabandoning the project, but FLW insisted it be completed for the sake oftheir children and as a memorial gesture; he agreed to finish it and wouldlive in it for twenty years. The house was something much grander thanwhat Johnson had in mind and just like the Administration Building, theroof leaked profusely.

“…An incurable esthete, Wright approaches his buildings as though theywere poems or symphonies instead of mere houses. Some clients haveeven come to doubt whether it is they who own their symphonic master-pieces or Frank Lloyd Wright…Wright can be roused to a towering fury byclients who insist on defacing his masterpieces with the wrong kind ofinterior appointments. His stature as a great architectural poet has alsogiven him a very lofty view of the problem of roofs that leak. One client,Herbert F. Johnson, Jr. of Racine, Wis., was proudly entertaining friendsat a dinner in honor of his brand-new Frank Lloyd Wright house when rainfrom a leaky roof began spattering in a steady stream on his head

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from a leaky roof began spattering in a steady stream on his head.Furious, he called Wright on the telephone, demanding that some-thingbe done. Wright was undismayed. ‘Why don’t you move your chair a littlebit to one side?’ he suggested. As a matter of fact, Wright’s own winterhome near Phoenix, Ariz., has a truly poetic roof of stretched white can-vas that leaks copiously whenever it rains. His unsympathetic rancherneighbors delight in visiting him during rainstorms just to see the greatman cower with Olympian dignity in fireplaces and other apertures, keep-ing out of the wet…”LIFE magazine, August 12th 1946


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I am Pleased with the Work

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I am Pleased with the Work

“As I have told you on many occasions, I am pleased with thework, the buildings are going to be beautiful and practicaland true creations, but the cost and time element make

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,things embarrassing for me, to say the least…”H.F. JohnsonRE: excerpt from a letter (in response) to FLW

Entrance

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Entrance

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Above L&R: entrance

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Above L&R: entrance.Guests and Carportwing on the right,Master Bedroom onthe leftLeft: grounds lightfixture (highlighted inphoto/s above) and br-onze statue on gro-unds

Central Core

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Central Core


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Left T&B: at the center ofthis front view of thehouse is the Central Core(highlighted) with the be-droom wing to the leftand guest room/garagewing on the right. Atop ofthe central core is one ofthe most distinctive fea-

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tures of the house; anobservation cupola FLWadded for the children tobe able to watch theirfather’s plane approachwhen he returned fromtrips. The brick was thesame used in the Admin-istration Building. 374

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Above L&R: the front doors opened into theliving room of the house with one of the fivefireplaces in the central chimney column anda built-in (foam rubber) sofa. FLW liked built-in furniture and also designed much of therest of the furniture for the house.Left: to the right of the living room was thedining area. The table, designed by FLW,could be drawn back into the kitchenthrough the wall, to be reset with eachsuccessive course of a meal, thenpushed back out to serve theguests.

A Remarkable Invitation

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A Remarkable Invitation

“…It was to Johnson’s daughter Karenthat Wright once extended a re-markable invitation. Visiting Wing-spread, he fell ill after lunch and mis-took indigestion for a mortal heartattack. He lay down on a couch in the

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yliving room, composed himself, beck-oned to Karen, and said splendidly,‘Come and watch how a great mandies’…”RE: excerpt from Many Masks: A Life ofFrank Lloyd Wright

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Above: fine sculpture adjoin-ing fireplaceLeft: the Great Hall


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Above & Left: from the center rises

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Above & Left: from the center risesWingspread’s 30-foot-high chimney,with five fireplaces on three levels.The chimney of warm brick is com-plemented by expanses of oakveneer, and bathed in the changinglight from overhead and from thefloor-to-ceiling windows that sur-round the Great Hall. At night theliving room glows like a fire-filled lantern. 380

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Above & Left: FLW loved fire-places and designed some un-usual ones for Wingspread. Tho-ugh some were not very practical,the dining area fireplace appearsto have gotten some use. Thespherical caldron was used forwarming wine (similar to the onein Fallingwater’s LR fireplace)

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Above: Fallingwater’s livingroom fireplace with sphericalcaldron (highlighted)Left: Wingspread’s retractabledining room table. Guestsfound it discomforting thus, itwas used only once.

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Above: Library SittingArea fireplaceLeft: Library sitting area,looking toward the MainTerrace

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Top Left: Music Room sitting areaTop Right: Music Room windowsLeft: Music Room piano. Note portraitsof FLW (left) and H.F. Johnson (right)on the adjoining wall/s (highlighted)


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Above: Main TerraceLeft: doors to the Main Ter-race 386

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Above Top: Mezzanine (Upper) LevelAbove Bottom: Mezzanine Level loungeLeft: stairway to the Mezz-anine Level

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Above: view of the living room

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showing the Mezzanine Level andsome of the clerestory windowsLeft: the most spectacular fireplacein Wingspread was on the mezz-anine level. This more than ten-foottall vertical fireplace was used onlyonce. The burning logs collapsedand fell to the floor of the room. Tothe left of the fireplace is the spiralstairway leading to the observationcupola.


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Above: clerestory windowsaround Central CoreLeft: stairs from the MezzanineLevel to the Observation Cup-ola. The clerestory windowsthat run all the way around theCentral Core structure floodlight into the spaces below.

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Above: view of Cupola(a/k/a “Crow’s Nest”) andweather vaneLeft: spiral stairway to theCrow’s Nest

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Above: view of the Cen-tral Core from the Garden(Cupola highlighted)Left: reverse view show-ing the Garden (highligh-ted) from the Cupola

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Guest & Carport Wing

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Guest & Carport Wing

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Kitchen Wing

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Kitchen Wing

400NOTE: grape vines were usedfor external shading

Children’s Wing

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Children s Wing

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Master Bedroom Wing

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Master Bedroom Wing

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405 406

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The Foundation

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The Foundation


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“In the village of Wind Point, which touches the northeast corner ofRacine, there stands a lighthouse on the shore of Lake Michigan. A shortdistance away is a building called Wingspread – it too is a lighthouse ofsorts, casting a beam of light which penetrates the darkness of ignoranceshrouding a true understanding of man and the universe in which helives.”Wisconsin Tails and Trails, Autumn 1964RE: “Wingspread” was one of FLW’s best known homes. Originally built as ahome for the H.F. Johnson family and was completed in 1939. In 1959, itwas donated to The Johnson Foundation for use as an educationalconference center.

“There seems to be unanimous opinion, among those bestinformed, that this building of Mr. Wright’s carries with it aquality – rare to conference centers generally – of inspirationand of a relaxed atmosphere. Mr. Wright, whom I alwaysconsidered a close friend, was of the opinion that environ-ment was one of the great factors which influenced the fullerdevelopment of human beings. I am sure he felt environment

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influenced their behavior towards the ultimate in being cre-ative and as distinguished from being imaginative…”RE: excerpt from Hib Johnson’s June 1961 dedication speech. Shortlyafter FLW’s death in April 1959, Johnson decided to use Wingspread for aphilanthropic purpose. After three years of alterations which includedturning the five-car garage into offices and the children’s playroom into alarge conference room, the Wingspread Conference Center of TheJohnson Foundation was in business.

Wingspread was given to The Johnson Foundation in 1959 asan educational and conference center. A formal dedicationceremony was held on June 24th 1961 at which OlgivannaLloyd Wright gave a brief speech. Since 1960, the fireplaceshave been the gathering spots for men, women and youngpeople who come to Wingspread conferences from aroundthe world They come as guests of The Johnson Foundation

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the world. They come as guests of The Johnson Foundationto meet, plan and share ideas that will make a difference onbehalf of the public good. National Public Radio, the NationalEndowment for the Arts and the initial blueprint for armscontrol all had their roots in Wingspread conferences. Wing-spread was designated as a National Historic Landmark in1990 by the National Park Service.

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“…A creative man, however, has to use his imagination to create, and inevery sense of the word Wright was a great creative man. He showed mehow a creative architect works and how valuable he can be toward thedevelopment of individuals or toward a society’s culture and science…Inthe spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright, we will seek to stir and foster the creativenature of a free people, which is so enjoyable, and at the same time soessential, to their continued and expanding freedom.”RE: excerpt from Hib Johnson’s June 1961 dedication speech for theWingspread Conference Center

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Part 8

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An On-Going Legacy


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The Golden Rondelle

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The Golden Rondelle

“Soaring 80-foot columns thatarch over and suspend a giantdisc 90 feet in diameter are themost dramatic features of theJohnson’s Wax pavilion for the1964-1965 New York World’s

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1964 1965 New York World sFair. The huge disc, sheathedin gold anodized aluminum,will contain a 500-seat thea-ter.”1964 New York World’s Fair OfficialGuide Book

“This pavilion, a great gold disk whichseems to float 24-feet above the ground,is supported by its surrounding colu-mns. It houses a 500-seat theater inwhich a documentary movie dramatizesthe theme of brotherhood. An exhibitionarea at ground level offers a climbingcontraption for the entertainment of chil-dren a home care information center

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dren, a home care information centerand a shoeshine center that providesfree shines. On the ground floor is a dis-play which shows the wide range of mat-erials man has used as floors, from mar-ble to teakwood. Pavilion guides are fo-reign students. Admission: free.”1964 New York World’s Fair Official Guide BookLeft: Golden Rondelle pamphlet cover 418

“The soaring superstructure of the Golden Rondelle is agraceful white form made up of six 90-foot petals that archinward to form a partial canopy. A golden disc, 90-feet indiameter and containing the air-conditioned 500-seat theater,is suspended from the six columns 24-feet over a sunkenreflecting pool. An adjacent companion building, in the formof a curving double-decked promenade, contains the edu-cational and entertaining exhibit features.”1964 New York World’s Fair Official Guide Book

To Be Alive!

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To Be Alive!

“‘TO BE ALIVE.’ This sensitive 18-minute color movie, produced by FrancisThompson, whose documentaries have won many awards, uses three projectors,as many screens, and stereophonic sound to show the daily lives of peoplearound the world. They grow up, fall in love, work, play and grow old, demon-strating that ‘men everywhere share at the deepest level the same drives, dreams,

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foibles’…”1964 New York World’s Fair Official Guide BookAbove: caption: “A boat race in dugout canoes in Nigeria; in this scene all three screens arefilled with a single panoramic view, 36 feet wide”Below: caption: “A teenage dance in suburbia, U.S.A. provided these scenes; three differentimages are projected at the same time on the three-part screen”


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Above: caption: “Alexander Hammid and Francis Thompson, producers of theshow, ‘To Be Alive!,’ found that the Golden Rondelle Theater was nearly acous-tically perfect. Size of the three screens is indicated by the three host-esses standing in front of them.”

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“More than five million people stood and waited, sometimesin the pouring rain, sometimes for as long as two hours.Many of these returned to stand in line again and again. ‘ToBe Alive!’ was universally acclaimed as the outstandingattraction at the New York World’s Fair.”1964 New York World’s Fair Official Guide BookAbove: film narration: “Another day. In the rush I’m swept away.”Left: film narration: “Every day I set out on a voyage of dis-covery. And though I sometimes sank, that way I learnedto swim.”

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“It says it (its theme) with such arush of pleasure and movement, itstays so close to the very texture oflife, it shows the glories of suchordinary moments, that it becomesan extraordinary stimulant”New York Herald Tribune

“Johnson Wax...has provided anunusual approach in goodwill with

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unusual approach in goodwill withits ‘To Be Alive!’ which seems to bea milestone in the commercial pic-ture field.”Variety

“…a masterpiece that might as eas-ily win Festival prizes as it will de-light a World’s Fair audience.”New York Post

After the Fair

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After the Fair

“…Even before the fair closedour company was faced with adecision on what to do with thefilm and our Golden Rondelleafter the fair. From the heavyvolume of mail that poured intoRacine and the tremendouspopularity and success of thefilm at the fair, it was obvious‘T B Ali !’ h t

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‘To Be Alive!’ was much tooimportant and valuable to gath-er dust on some shelf after thefair…”Johnson Wax Company magazine(early 1966)Left T&B: caption: “Within this circularcolon-nade is a gold disc, 30-feet thick inthe center, containing a theater. Suspen-ded 24-feet off the ground, it isreached by a ramp.”


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“After four years of planning and two seasons of publicexhibition, the New York World's Fair is over. But the fairwill long be remembered as one of the greatest spectaclesand achievements of this century - a billion dollar tributeto man’s imagination, ingenuity and desire for knowledgeand understanding. The bright lights, color, excitementand splendor that attracted more than 51 million personsare gone. Most of the 175 pavilions and structures whichdotted the fairgrounds have been demolished. All thatremains from the glory of the fair are the stainless steelUnisphere, symbol of the fair, the Port Authority buildingwith its heliport, the New York City pavilion, the Federalbuilding and the New York State pavilion dominated by its

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building and the New York State pavilion dominated by itsgiant towers. The 646 acres that comprised the fair aresome day to be transformed into a huge park and re-creation center for the City of New York. Other buildingshave been sold and moved. The Wisconsin state pavilionwas brought to Wisconsin where it was sold to a radiostation in the northern part of the state. The Austrian A-building and the Lowenbrau Gardens will be used at NewEngland ski resorts. The beautiful Spanish pavilion, con-sidered one of the finest buildings at the fair, is moving toSt. Louis where it will be part of the civic center areasurrounding the recently completed Westward Arch…”Johnson Wax Company magazine (early 1966)

“…Our company also took steps to preserve some of theflavor and excitement of the world’s fair when on December8, 1965, the board of directors authorized bringing the GoldenRondelle theater to Racine. Working with Taliesin AssociatedArchitects, drawings and ideas were worked and reworkeduntil a suitable overall design was selected that will make the

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u t a su tab e o e a des g as se ected t at a e t etheater building compatible with our existing Frank LloydWright structures. The theater building will be constructed onthe southwest corner of 14th and Franklin Streets, in Racine,one block north from our Administration and Research Cen-ter…”Johnson Wax Company magazine (early 1966)

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“…The soaring 90-foot petals which supported the theater at the World’s Fair will not beused. Instead, the theater disk will be supported 8 feet off the ground by six masonry pillarsset well under the outside rim of the disk. Entrance will be through a two story foyer andreception area built on the southwest rim of the theater. Full length glass doors on the firstlevel will invite visitors to enter. The masonry facing on the pillars, entrance foyer and exitarea will be of the familiar Cherokee red brick to blend in with the existing architecturalelements of our Administration and Research Center. The exterior of the theater will becovered with plywood panels and gold anodized aluminum sheeting. The building will be ascompletely self-sufficient as other Racine buildings. It will have its own heating, air-con-ditioning, water and sewer systems, and will not be connected to our existing buildings inany way…”Johnson Wax Company magazine (early 1966)Above: caption: “This rendering by Staff Architect John Halama shows what the Golden Ron-delle theater building will look like when completed late in 1966”

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“…A wide stairway and an elevator will bring visitors to the theater entrance onthe second floor of the reception foyer. From the floor of the theater elevenslightly curved rows of comfortable theater seats will rise towards the back givingall visitors a clear, unobstructed view of the screens and stage area. There will beno center aisle. The only access to the seats will be from the two sides. More than300 tons of specially shaped structural steel will be brought to Racine for use onthe new building. Many of these beams were formed specially for the GoldenRondelle to conform to the contour of the curved disk…”Johnson Wax Company magazine (early 1966)Above L&R: caption: “The “Golden Rondelle,” which was the company’s exhibit at the 1964 NY World’sFair was returned to Racine after the fair and Taliesin designed this new building in the style ofthe original building to incorporate it as a theater in a visitors center”

“…Just as the outside of the theater will be differentthan what it was at the fair, the interior also has beenchanged considerably. Special attention has beengiven to redesigning elements of the interior to makethe theater suitable for a wide variety of employee andcivic meetings, including orientation programs, salesmeetings, lectures, panel discussions, visual present-ations of any kind and even small music groups.Seating capacity will be 319, down from the 550 at thefair. Plans call for replacing the plank seats used atthe fair with new upholstered theater type seats. At

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least half of these will have fold-away writing arms,like those used in schools, to enable persons to writeor take notes without difficulty. The projection boothwill be equipped with the special 35mm synchronizedprojectors to show ‘To Be Alive!’ in its original form ona regularly scheduled basis as part of the publicrelations tour program. The booth also will contain a16mm movie projector, slide projectors and a varietyof other audio-visual aids to make it a complete pro-jection facility geared to handle many assignments…”Johnson Wax Company magazine (early 1966)

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Left: entry to The Golden RondelleTheaterAbove: theater interior (top)and projection booth (bottom)

“…When work is completed on the Golden Rondelle theater building in

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p glate 1966, it will mark the addition of another significant architecturalattraction to our Racine headquarters. Our company’s fantastic successat the New York World’s Fair prompted return of the Golden Rondelletheater to Racine. From a show that began as a question mark, our film‘To Be Alive!’ became the sleeper of the fair and then the acknowledgedhit of the exposition…”Johnson Wax Company magazine (early 1966)RE: The Golden Rondelle Theater was dedicated in July 1967. It stands at thecorner of 14th and Franklin Street/s, on the south-side of Racine, Wisconsin (bycar, approximately one-hour north of Chicago and one-half hour southof Milwaukee - on the western shore of Lake Michigan).

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Fortaleza Hall

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Fortaleza Hall

In addition to the original Administration Building,Research Tower and Roundell Theater, the SCJ&Scampus has an interesting new building: “Fortaleza

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campus has an interesting new building: “FortalezaHall,” designed by renowned architect NormanFoster and his firm, London-based Foster + Part-ners. The firm’s other projects include the Museumof Fine Arts in Boston and Wembley Stadium inLondon. Fortaleza is the name of the city in north-east Brazil where the key ingredient for JohnsonWax was discovered. The building was finished in2010 and symbolizes the spirit of adventure and thelife and work of the third and fourth CEO’s whotraveled to Brazil to ensure the company couldcontinue to procure the special wax they used.Inside, an airplane hangs suspended over a Poly-conic mosaic map (left) and there’s a vertical gar-den 49 by 18-feet high featuring 79 spe-cies of South American plants.

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© J.M. Syken 74

Fortaleza Hall is a celebration of the 15K-mile flight made to Brazil by H.F. Johnson,Jr. in 1935, in his search for a source ofnatural wax, which he found in the Car-nauba palm tree (top). Comprising twocompanion buildings, the project’s goalwas to continue the tradition of inspiredarchitectural patronage on the FLW cam-pus in Racine, Wis. H.F. Johnson, Jr. hadtraveled to Brazil in a Sikorsky-38 amphi-bious plane Sixty-three years later his son

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bious plane. Sixty-three years later, his sonSam Johnson retraced that flight in a rep-lica of the plane. In commemoration ofthose two historic flights, Fortaleza Hallprovides a permanent home for the replicaaircraft (bottom, highlighted) and tells thestory of its flight, while the CommunityBuilding gives the campus a new socialfocus with a range of staff facilities inclu-ding restaurants, shops and a gym-nasium.

An initial master-planning study of thecampus revealed the ideal developmentsite adjacent to FLW’s AdministrationBuilding and Research Tower. The newbuildings anchor an area conceived as a“Town Square.” The highly transparentFortaleza Hall displays the aircraft to thecampus, which contrasts with the moresolid and internalized FLW buildings. Theoval form is designed to give a 360-degreeview of the suspended Sikorsky-38, belowwhich an etched mural depicting the Car-nauba rainforest and a wooden floormosaic evoke the spirit of the expedition(top left). The Community Building – con-

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ceived as a gathering place for SCJ&Sstaff – provides a more solid visual coun-terpoint that is close in spirit to a college“Commons.” Defined by its load-bearingKasota Stone walls, which echo the brickmasonry of FLW’s buildings, it is essen-tially a rectangular building that is con-cave on one side to embrace the form ofFortaleza Hall. The two buildings are link-ed by a glazed entrance atrium that con-tains a green wall, a water wall and re-flecting pool. An undercroft connects thespace to the matrix of tunnels that formthe principal communicationsnetwork through the campus.

The FLW Library

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The FLW Library “Tucked away inside the new Fortaleza Hall on the SC Johnson campus is

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“Tucked away inside the new Fortaleza Hall on the SC Johnson campus isa special new place dedicated to one of the world’s most famousarchitects. The 22- by 22-foot room is the Frank Lloyd Wright Library andReading Room. It focuses not on Wright’s entire career but rather hisRacine projects and connections…To build the collection, SCJ obtainedthe library’s hundreds of Wright artifacts from its internal archives and byworking with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation…”The Journal Times, January 23rd 2010Left: caption: “A new building is being planned to display the replica of a planeused to explore South America in the 30s looking for carnauba wax”Right: caption: “The Frank Lloyd Wright Library and Reading Room inFortaleza Hall on the SC Johnson campus”

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The Frank Lloyd Wright Research Library (left) - one of the largest collect-ions in the country focused on FLW’s unique contributions to a singlecommunity - features more than 300 books, 250 digital drawings andblueprints (original Research Tower plan, at right), an original FLW deskand a three-legged chair from the Administration Building. The collectionalso includes:• 54 magazines and bound publications;• 40 small pamphlets and clippings;• 125 digital interior, exterior and construction photos;;• 140 digital reproductions of letters, and;• 18 videos.

A Remarkable Story

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A Remarkable Story


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“Fortaleza Hall has given us a uniqueopportunity to work alongside one of thefinest Modern buildings in the world – TheSC Johnson building – and to tell aremarkable story of adventure and dis-covery. H.F. Johnson Jr.’s decision to com-mission Frank Lloyd Wright was an in-

i i t f hit t l t

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spiring act of architectural patronage, aswas the brief that we were given to designboth Fortaleza Hall and its companion, TheCommons. This project celebrates a familyof architectural patrons, a remarkable com-pany, a pioneering spirit and a historicjourney.”Norman Foster, Foster + Partners, London

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Statement of Significance

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Statement of Significance

Statement of Significance:Frank Lloyd Wright’s Depression-era design for the Johnson Wax Company’s Admin-istration Building and Research Tower was so radical that local building com-missionersrefused to approve it without a test. At issue were Wright’s novel “mushroom” columns,intended to carry loads varying from 2 to 12 tons. When a sample was built and with-stood a load of 60 tons, the permit was granted. One of three notable commissionsexecuted by the architect during the Depression, these structures employ a highlyoriginal system of cantilever-slab construction in a classic of modern office design. FrankLloyd Wright’s imaginative approach to structure is seen in his use of rounded “organic”forms, and in the T-shaped columns and “tree-like” tower. The complex, which opened in1939 continues to serve its original functions and still contains original furnishings that

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1939, continues to serve its original functions, and still contains original furnishings thatWright designed. Widely published, it was recognized for its importance even before itwas completed, and helped the architect to gain a number of commissions.A corner section of glass tubes on the 7th floor NW corner got sucked out during a largewind storm. It was immediately secured and has been put back in place. The KasotaStone ledge that the glass tubes sit on was being pulled out in various corners andsides. Steel plates and anchor bolts have been installed on all Kasota stones on allfloors to secure them in place to eliminate future problems. Other recent projectsincluded the replacement of the cypress terrace patio, tuck-pointing and cleaning ofexterior brick, and painting of interior walls. The HVAC system was replaced in 2004.National Historic Landmarks Program

“…There is no question that Wright’s de-sign helped define the Johnson company.When a Johnson executive asked wherethe sign would be on the new building,Robert Mosher, a Wright apprentice, repliedwith a question of his own, ‘Does the

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qWashington Monument have a sign on it?’Tafel says that according to H.F. JohnsonJr., ‘during its first year, the $750,000building brought in $5 million in publi-city’…”The Journal Times, May 12th 2002

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Documents

Frank Lloyd Wright and the House of Wax - … · Frank Lloyd Wrightand the House of Wax 1 Table of Contents Slide/s Part Description 1N/ATitle 2 N/A Table of Contents 3~49 1 Second