As we know, Frank Lloyd Wright’s *almost* 92 years of life extended across a time span of great change. He was born two years after the end of the American Civil War at a time when travel was done by horse and carriage, trains and steam ships. He died at the dawn of transatlantic travel by commercial jets and the Space Age, two years after the launch of Russia’s Sputnik satellite.
I always find it interesting to p
ut the evolution of Wright’s architectural career in context with parallel historic milestones. Certainly, significant events happened during every year of Wright’s life. The following graphic, which is planned to be the first in a series of four installments, attempts to highlight significant events during each of the first four decades of Wright’s life, along with a few of the noteworthy moments in history. The three subsequent installments will each cover two decades.
Wright’s career was so productive, it is difficult to pick just a few examples of his projects that represent each decade. I am sure others would point to buildings that may better illustrate the evolution of his work. My goal here is only to show parallels between the advances in Wright’s groundbreaking architecture to the progression of world history from 1867 to 1959.
by Ken Simpson, researcher and frequent UTRF blog contributor
