Thursday marked 150 years since legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin.
And it also is a key date in moving closer to ending a nasty neighborhood dustup in Phoenix’s Arcadia area. The David Wright House — designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his son and daughter-in-law — had been a relatively quiet locale for most of its existence.
That changed when the house was purchased by attorney Zach Rawling, who intended to turn it into a place people could visit and learn more about Wright and his legacy.
But would it become a commercial space in the quiet neighborhood and bring concerts and public events?
That’s what some of the nearby residents worried about, and it led to fliers and signs popping up that read "Wright House, Wrong Place."
That conflict dragged on for a few years — until now.
Rawling is gifting the David Wright House to the School of Architecture at Taliesin, which used to be known as the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.
It’s the largest gift the school or the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has received.
Earlier, I met with Rawling and Aaron Betsky of the school at the Wright House to find out about the gift and its impact on architecture and Wright’s legacy.
I started by asking Rawling why, after years of conflict, the arrangement with the school made sense now.
