AN ARCHITECT’S LOVE OF AUTOMOBILES: Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for cars took many forms
January 7, 2019
Posted by Barrett-Jackson
Written by Barbara Toombs
Frank Lloyd Wright and his wife Olgivanna taking a spin in one of their prized motorcars at Taliesin West.
Tucked into the McDowell Mountains not far from the site of Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale Auction is Taliesin West, a not-to-be-missed Arizona treasure that is a National Historic Landmark and is also nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Taliesin West was the winter quarters of noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright, where he also founded the Taliesin Fellowship, an apprentice program, in 1932. Wright, his wife Olgivanna and their architectural apprentices traveled to Arizona from Taliesin, the architect’s summer home and studio in Wisconsin, often utilizing a number of Wright’s prized vehicles – including a 1937 AC 16/80 Competition Sports and five 1949 Crosley Hotshots – for the journey.
Wright’s Crosleys at Taliesin, the architect’s home in Wisconsin.
Like his appreciation for fine architecture and art, Wright loved automobiles that represented thoughtful design, elegance and performance. Over the years, these included cars from Jaguar, Packard, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz, as well as a 1953 Bentley R-Type, a modified 1940 Lincoln Continental and – sentimental favorites of Wrights – two Cord L-29s (Phaeton and Cabriolet). The 1929 Cabriolet, as well as a 1952 Crosley Super Roadster owned by Wright, are now part of the permanent collection at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana. “The proportion and lines of the Cord come nearer to expressing the beauty of both science and logic than any car I have ever seen,” Wright once said.
Artist’s rendering of the Gordon Strong Automobile Objective.
Wright’s love of cars went beyond merely ownership. As the automobile became more affordable and accessible to more people, the car began to play a central role in many of Wright’s design concepts.
In 1924, he designed the Gordon Strong Automobile Objective, an entertainment facility for the motorist that featured a planetarium inside and an incredible spiral roadway on the outside. Later that decade, he developed a plan to build standardized gas stations nationwide, a franchising concept that was ahead of its time. Wright designed two filling stations: One, designed for downtown Buffalo, New York, was never realized but lives on in the city’s Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum, and the other, built in the 1950s, still exists in Cloquet, Minnesota.
The Wright family at Taliesin West.
As early as the 1930s, Wright began using the carport as a means of protecting automobiles efficiently and inexpensively, and in 1945 – again, ahead of his time – he came up with a plan for an unrealized drive-up laundry that offered speedy curbside service. He also visualized drive-up banking way before it became a reality, although his 1947 plan for a Tucson, Arizona, bank was met with less than enthusiasm by conservative bankers, who thought it preposterous to think anyone would conduct banking business from a car.
Wright also designed two automobile showrooms, one for a Packard dealer in 1947 and another for a New York City-based importer of Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 1954. Sadly, the latter, which featured a spiral ramp and turntable interior, was demolished in 2013.
The architect also developed several innovative concepts for cars of his own design. In the 1920s, he sketched out a vehicle he referred to as the “Automobile with Cantilevered Top,” which featured a horizontal bar, anchored to the trunk, that cantilevered toward the front, supporting the roof. Among the car’s innovations were headlights that turned with the steering wheel and louvers over the driver’s window and the windshield.
Wright’s design for the “Road Machine.”
Later, in 1955, the architect designed the “Road Machine.” More taxicab than personal car, the vehicle was based somewhat on an International Harvester tractor that Wright owned on his farm in Wisconsin, with one center wheel in the front and two larger wheels in the back. There was a separate compartment for the driver, located behind and above the passengers. Wright said at the time that his general goal was to produce a vehicle that had more flexibility in traffic. “Most American cars are designed like shoeboxes going down the highway,” he once said. “But a car should be designed with sleek lines, like fish in a school of fish.”
As an early Wright apprentice, John deKoven Hill, once told a reporter, “The car was part of his stance, his outward appearance as far as the world was concerned. It was a matter of his persona – how he looked, what he stood for – his artistic judgment. The cars he drove and the way he dressed were all part of a general picture of presenting himself and his work in the right light.”
If you get the chance while attending the Scottsdale Auction, a trip to Taliesin West is well worth the time. A variety of tours is offered of the site, varying in length and scope, with full descriptions and reservation information available at FrankLloydWright.org/Taliesin-West.