C to Z

Taliensin West in Scottsdale was Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home.  

There are many options for tours, all of which are executed at different times throughout the day, for a range of prices (from $26 to $75).  

But with an AZ resident and advanced booking the tickets are half price!  

Thank you, AZ Brauns.

We ended up doing the Panoramic Tour, which starts at 10:15am daily, and visits both indoor and outdoor spaces.  Not all spaces are included for this price.  Although we were happy with our choice, I would totally come back for another tour.  It is fascinating.  

Wright lived in Taliesin West from 1937 until his death in 1959. 

It wasn't just his home but a campus.  Architects from around the world paid Wright to $600 to live here and learn from him.  Wright was a genius, he used his apprentices to build the entire property/campus.  He sent them out to the hills behind the property to bring him 'one person', 'two person' or even 'six person' rocks.  They would use the rocks to create walls and ceilings in a special technique that he invented, inspired by organic architecture (a phrase that he coined).

I used the sculpture to block out the power lines.  

The power lines went up in the 1940s.  When Wright returned to his winter home he was shocked by the ugly power lines which ruined his view and immediately said that they were moving.  They were to start over elsewhere.  He was convinced to stay since he was in his 80s.  After writing to President Truman to demand that the lines be buried, he decided to move the entrance to the backside of the main building so he didn't have to look at them.

The artist who did the sculptures around us is one of six of Wright's apprentices who (in their 90s) still lives here on campus, full time.  

I guess you just don't leave when you have a good thing going on.

Wright loved to entertain so there are two theaters on campus, for different purposes.

This theater was designed with a hollow floor under the stage to act as a natural amplifier.  

The drafting studio (which is used as the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture) is behind us, on the right.

Pool party!!

After the pool party and dinner we went scorpion hunting.

Scorpions glow a vibrant green color with the help of a black light.

It is unbelievably cool.

This one was huge, at least 4 inches in length.  

Most of them are the size of a postage stamp.