In 1927 architect Albert Chase McArthur (a former student of Wright’s) asked Wright to help him with the projected construction of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. Wright accepted, came to Phoenix and presented plans based on his unusual architectural principles. There was opposition to the unique design and some compromises were struck. Known today as The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, the award winning property describes itself as “the only existing hotel in the world with a Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced design.”
Taliesin West was envisioned, planned and built by the master and his disciples. Indigenous materials were used throughout and his students built it, basically by hand. The visitor to Taliesin West is amazed at the expanse of the site, the intricate structures built of massive walls fashioned of desert rock embedded in masonry, topped with canvas flaps for ceilings affixed to redwood beams. The structures at Taliesin West are sort of tents, but not tents by virtue of their weight and permanence. They are houses, but not houses, because they are very open and unrestrained. The units are arranged at various distances and angles connected by terraces, lawns, pools and stairways. The desert envelops the Taliesin West compound. It is all one. Complete. Wright was pleased. He wrote, “Our new desert camp belonged to the Arizona desert as though it had stood there during creation.”
Wright founded the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in 1932 to teach his theories and practices to young men and women. Subsequently, he decided that he needed a camp to escape the harsh Wisconsin winters. Five years later the seventy-year-old architect returned to Arizona and purchased the land upon which he built Taliesin West. But it turned out to be much more than the winter camp for which it was intended.
Page 1: Frank Lloyd Wright, Before Arizona
Page 2: Taliesin West is Born
Page 3: Taliesin West Today
