Hasta La Ideas

Fallingwater, Hollyhock House and Taliesin West are among the 12 Frank Lloyd Wright-designed properties opening their doors to virtual tours.

The initiative called #WrightVirtualVisits will see the sites share a video tour of another site. The short tours will be posted to their websites, and Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Established by Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation, the project launched on Thursday 2 April and will continue every Thursday for six weeks. The project is intended to provide access to these places while tours are postponed and offer light relief during the coronavirus pandemic.

“As social distancing and stay-at-home orders have swept the country, many Frank Lloyd Wright sites that are normally open to the public have had to close their doors, just when they were gearing up for the spring touring season to begin,” said the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

“These measures are crucial to slowing the spread of Covid-19 and protecting the staff, volunteers, and visitors who usually fill these extraordinary spaces with life,” it added. “It is precisely at this time, when so many are shut inside, that we need to experience beauty and inspiration.”

So far, Hollyhock House and Taliesin West have swapped videos, as well as Unity Temple and Emil Bach House, and Fallingwater and The Westcott House. This Thursday, each site will trade with another involved in the series.

Ebsworth Park, Gordon House, Graycliff, Martin House, Willey House and Samara are among the other properties signed up to the initiative. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy expects others to join as the programme develops.

“Wright’s works bring people together in harmony with the natural world, reminding us that we are all connected, even when we’re apart,” the conservancy continued.

Wright, who was born on 8 June 1867, designed over 1,000 buildings and completed over 500 during a career that lasted seven decades. Today, he is celebrated as one of the most important architects of the 20th century.

In 2017, Dezeen looked at some of Wright’s most famous projects to mark what would have been the 150th anniversary of his birth. These include Robie House, his most “consummate expression” of Prairie style, and Hollyhock House, an early example of Mayan Revival architecture.

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