Synopses & Reviews
Frank Lloyd Wrightand#8217;s Larkin Building has become an icon of modern architecture. And the fact that it was demolished only forty-six years after its 1904 completion makes Jack Quinanand#8217;s study of the buildingand#8212;which housed a Buffalo, New York, soap companyand#8212;all the more valuable.and#160;
Quinanand#8217;s history draws on engineering documents, personal accounts of the building, and other papers he acquired from the family of Darwin D. Martin, a Larkin executive who proposed commissioning Wright to design the companyand#8217;s offices. With access to these rare sources, Quinan reveals how a young Wright landed the commission and traces the evolution of his cutting-edge plans. Quinan then takes Wright studies to a new level, examining the Larkin Building as a structure at the center of economic and personal relationships.and#160;
Illustrated with more than one hundred photographs, floor plans, maps, and diagrams, Frank Lloyd Wrightand#8217;s Larkin Building provides a concise but complete record of how the building was conceived, built, evaluated, and finally demolishedand#160;in what has been called a tragic loss for American architecture.
About the Author
Jack Quinan is professor of art history at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The author of several books on Frank Lloyd Wright, he is also the founder of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the curator of Wrightand#8217;s Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.Introduction1. The Commission2. The History of The Larkin Company3. The Evolution and Sources of the Design4. Functional Aspects of the Design5. The Message in the Building6. The Critical Response7. The DemolitionAppendix A: Darwin Martin's Office Building RequirementsAppendix B: Darwin Martin Letter to John Larkin of January 7, 1903 refuting the Coss planAppendix C: Darwin Martin Letter to John Larking of March 20, 1903 reporting on WrightAppendix D: Darwin Martin Letter to John Larkin of May 12, 1903 refuting the Heath planAppendix E: "The Inscriptions on the Court of the Administration Building"Appendix F: Chronological List of Writings on the Larking Administrations BuildingAppendix G: Frank Lloyd Wright, "The New Larkin Administration Building"Appendix H: William Heath, "The Office Building and What It Will Bring to the Office Force"Appendix I: George Twitmyer, "A Model Administration Building"Appendix J: Marion Harland, "The Administration Building"Appendix K: Russell Sturgis, "The Larking Building in Buffalo"
Appendix L: Frank Lloyd Wright, "Reply to Mr. Sturgis's Criticism"Notes
Index