Frank Lloyd Wright had bought tickets for a matinee performance of Mr. Blue Beard Jr., a Christmas play for children at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago. His sons Lloyd, aged thirteen, and John, aged eleven, were allowed to attend in the company of their grandmother. On December 30, 1903, they sat in the third row center. That particular matinee, every one of the 1,800 seats was filled, mostly with parents and children. When a calcium light on a six-foot stand on the stage exploded, flames and sparks and burning draperies began to drop onto the stage, which led to panicked crowd. Most were trapped behind locked doors, and 605 people died. John Wright had been pinned against a column. “I began to feel faint and suffocated, it was almost impossible for me to stay on my feet. I worked my way around the corner…feeling as though I were being cut in two. Suddenly, carried as I had been many times in the strong current of the Wisconsin River, I found myself in the street.” He couldn’t find his grandmother or brother, but saw his father, who had raced on his horse Kano from Oak Park, about 10 miles west of downtown Chicago. Searching for the rest of his family, Frank went into the lobby, which was dripping with freezing water from fire hoses. But everything turned out to be fine. Grandma was waiting at the corner drugstore, she had called home. Lloyd Jr. had borrowed cabfare from a man on the street and gone back to Oak Park.
(Source: My Father, Frank Lloyd Wright)
Posts tagged history.
Great perspectives of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway Gardens, 1914, Chicago.
Built in 1914 at 60th and Cottage Grove, this grand entertainment venue would succumb to the wrecking ball in 1929. It’s on my top 10 list of lost architectural sites in Chicago.
I’ve posted many photos of FLW’s masterpiece before but none with such clarity.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Gardens
photos via SSC
Please, if you live in the Phoenix area, show support.
The City Council meeting to vote on landmark preservation for the David and Gladys Wright House is tonight at 5pm. The meeting is at City of Phoenix City Council Chambers at 200 W. Jefferson, Phoenix AZ. Strong community attendance will help show deep backing for designation and demolition protection.
On This Day in History: October 21, 1959
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City, six months after the architect’s death.
![Frank Lloyd Wright and Pedro Guerrero in 1949 in Pleasantville, New York (via)
Photographer who captured images of Wright dies [Seattle Times]
FLORENCE, Ariz. — Photographer Pedro Guerrero, whose 20-year association with architect Frank Lloyd Wright launched a long fine-arts career that included capturing images of American artists, has died at age of 95.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mabcuuurRT1qbdu9qo1_500.jpg)
Frank Lloyd Wright and Pedro Guerrero in 1949 in Pleasantville, New York (via)
Photographer who captured images of Wright dies [Seattle Times]
FLORENCE, Ariz. — Photographer Pedro Guerrero, whose 20-year association with architect Frank Lloyd Wright launched a long fine-arts career that included capturing images of American artists, has died at age of 95.
Arrest of Frank Lloyd Wright at Tonka Cottage, 1926
Author Jack El-Hai recently blogged about the subject of the arrest of Mr. Wright.
There are more photos of Mr. Wright and Ms. Milanoff in our photo database, just search for Frank Lloyd Wright.
Frank Lloyd Wright and David Henken reviewing architectural drawings for the pavilion, 1953. Photo: © Pedro E. Guerrero
A Long-Awaited Tribute: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian House and Pavilion
“Art is a discovery and development of elementary principles of nature into beautiful forms suitable for human use.”
— Frank Lloyd Wright
