David & Gladys Wright House

What others are saying

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  • "As a Realtor in the area, a lifelong resident and childhood friend of the Wright family, I have a unique appreciation for this property. I hope you will join me in supporting the David and Gladys Wright House. It is a treasure we must protect and preserve for our neighborhood."
    - Bridget Hay, Lifelong Arcadia Resident

  • "As a longtime Arcadia resident, I am very happy to know that the Wright House will be preserved and available for our community to celebrate what has always been special about our neighborhood."
    - Shawn Brown, Arcadia Resident

  • "The David Wright House pre-dates most of Arcadia and is a gem in our own backyard. I want to see that longstanding estate property tradition continue. I am pleased to see plans to preserve that tradition with the David Wright House and also that the plan includes replacing up to 200 citrus trees on the property."
    - Patricia DiRoss, Arcadia Resident

  • "What the David and Gladys Wright House Foundation is proposing is true philanthropy. It is simply a gift to the community - and the world - so that one of my grandfather's most significant works can be celebrated by future generations. This has the potential to be a leading cultural institution in Phoenix - and most people didn't know it even existed a just few years ago."
    - Eric Lloyd Wright
    Third-Generation Wright, Chairman Emeritus of the David and Gladys Wright House Foundation, Member-Advisory Board of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

  • "As the owner of a historic home, I have taken a special interest in the David Wright House historic preservation project. The incredible vision of those saving this national treasure should be applauded and supported."
    - Karen Goldblatt, Arcadia Resident

  • "The David Wright House Foundation has taken a responsible approach to planning for the future of the home in Arcadia. The limitations they have put on the uses of the property prevent commercialization of the home and maintain our estate tradition."
    - Ron Passarelli, Past Chair, Camelback East Village Planning Committee

  • "Perhaps there is no more intimate exercise of professional calling for architects than the opportunity to design a residence for their children. Frank Lloyd Wright did more than once have occasion to create homes for his family, and one of the most eloquent expressions of these buildings is the house for son David Wright and his wife Gladys in Phoenix, Arizona." (Read Arthur's full letter)
    - Arthur Dyson, Former Dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture

  • "When an artist aspires so spectacularly -- whether it is practical to do so or not -- and creates something of such beauty and originality, how can we NOT celebrate it?" (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Modern Phoenix

  • "It's an inspiration for future Architects like myself to visit and learn from. It's nice to have a place close to home that I can bring others to and share the same inspiration that I take from Frank Llyod Wright's works. Part of an Architect's focus is to leave something that will withstand time and be appreciated by all, and this house is a beautiful piece of history that needs to be recognized as such. I fully support the David Wright House and hope for the best of luck on obtaining the permit." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Anna Brittain

  • "Wright homes are not homes as much as they are works of art in the 20th century. The David Wright home is one of the best and most beautiful works of art that he has ever given us." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Gary Sadowski

  • "It's a beautiful piece of our American heritage." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Marie Witt Edwards

  • "I support it because it's one of his masterpieces in my home neighborhood of Arcadia, and I believe that the proposed learning center will serve the neighborhood as a cultural beacon like the Shermer Gallery does." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Tom Schmidt

  • "Such an amazing representation of Frank Llyod Wright architecture for the common man! It has stood the time since it was built and should be shared with others." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Jennifer Rhea Springsteen

  • "I support this because Frank Lloyd Wright was my inspiration growing up. His work must be preserved and shared with future generations." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Kuya Bill Romjue

  • "I support the David Wright House because it is a monument to an architectural visionary and an inspiration to future young architects." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Dennis McDonald

  • "Amazing house and it should be on your bucket list to visit."
    - Jochen Walther

  • "A must see FLW house. An excellent addition to the must see sites of Arizona. It's a beautiful home and the hospitality is wonderful and family friendly."
    - Melissa Martinez

  • "Thank you for the wonderful tour this morning! I feel honored to have been able to enjoy the peaceful beauty that is this gem in the desert valley. A must see for anyone who loves Frank Lloyd Wrights work. A joy to behold!"
    - Jacque Ekladyous

  • "It is so exciting to see this historically significant and beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright structure being restored In Phoenix, Arizona."
    - Barbara Burke

  • "I had the opportunity to see this residence in person. As all Frank Lloyd Wright's Architecture, the interior space has a strong emotional appeal. In order to comprehend the spirit of the house it is necessary to experience it by doing a walk through, allowing the time to discover how one space flows into the next one. This is enhanced by the spiral, circular design and the ramps. The significance of the exterior shape of the house can be understood as the result, after experiencing the interior spaces. It also proves that a concrete block house can appear to be floating in space."
    - Helena Arahuete, Architect

  • "Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest American architect of the 20th century, and he put his distinctive stamp on every kind of building, from churches to civic centers, across the USA. Phoenix is fortunate to have three key works: the Arizona Biltmore, where another architect interpreted Wright's ideas; Taliesin West, the architecture school that Wright began in the 1930s in Scottsdale; and the spiral house he designed for his son David in 1950." (Read Michael's full letter)
    - Michael Webb

  • "A beautiful landmark that needs all the positive press and neighborhood support." (this statement was posted on our Facebook page)
    - Larry Mykins

To our Friends and Supporters:

 

Today, on the 150th birthday of Frank Lloyd Wright, we are pleased to announce the donation of the David Wright House to benefit the School of Architecture at Taliesin, establishing a relationship that will further the School’s mission of educating students to build a more sustainable, open, and beautiful world while fulfilling the potential of the David Wright House to have a perpetual life as a world-class center for design.

 

Thanks to the generosity of the Rawling family, the David Wright House has been pledged as a gift to benefit the School of Architecture at Taliesin for use as an extension of the 85 year-old educational program founded by Frank Lloyd Wright. Evolving from Frank Lloyd Wright’s precepts of organic architecture, the School’s accredited graduate curriculum is based on the notion of learning by doing, working with the land rather than just building on it, and experimentation. To date, the School has worked in two Wright-designed campuses: Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona. The gift of the David Wright House to benefit the School will expand the School’s footprint into the heart of Phoenix and celebrate the legacy of the David Wright House as an instructive environment for the experience and learning of architecture.

 

This is a landmark year for the School. For the first time since its inception as an apprentice program in 1932, the School will achieve full independence in its academic, financial, and programmatic efforts, becoming an entity separate from, while still a subsidiary of, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. With new academic leaders in place, the School has reaffirmed its profound commitment to build on Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy in building and thought and to making positive and critical contributions to education, design research and development, and the communities the School serves. Through a combination of local experts in various aspects of architecture, a Visiting Teaching Fellows program that brings fresh ideas and approaches to the School’s campuses, and a Taliesin Lecture Series that brings world-renowned leaders in the design field to discuss the issues mobilizing the architectural community in a small group setting to engender deep and fruitful learning, the School offers one of the highest quality graduate programs in the nation. The School’s atmosphere and traditions position it to be the finest among graduate architecture schools, inspiring the next generation of thinkers, designers, and visionaries while simultaneously expanding access to women and minority populations that have traditionally been underrepresented in the architectural profession.

 

At present, having raised more than $2 million to support future operating costs and established a path to independent accreditation to grant Master of Architecture degrees, the School is poised to elevate its graduate program to engage larger audiences – future leading architects from across the world who will be inspired by the Frank Lloyd Wright legacy. The School hopes to grow its enrollment to between 45 and 60 students in the next five years, and is steadily building towards that number.

 

The David and Gladys Wright House is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last masterpieces, commissioned by his son David and daughter-in-law Gladys in 1950. Wright designed the experimental spiral residence at the base of Camelback Mountain as his vision for “How to Live in the Southwest.” Completed in 1952, the residence remained a family home until 2008. After sitting vacant for years, the home was threatened with demolition by local developers in 2012. That threat galvanized an unprecedented community effort to preserve and celebrate what the City of Phoenix’s preservation office recognizes as the greatest building in Phoenix by the greatest architect in American history. The School will take over planning for the preservation of the house and citrus groves immediately, with future restoration acts to be undertaken by the faculty and students of the School. Used as a learning center for graduate architectural students and for philanthropy, academic lectures and community gatherings, the School will realize Wright’s vision for the house as a place of community, celebration, inspiration, education, collective experimentation and active exploration into organic architecture and place-making.

 

The David Wright House will be formally gifted to a new supporting organization of the Arizona Community Foundation for the benefit of the School of Architecture at Taliesin, whose purpose is to sustain the educational mission of the school by raising the funds needed to achieve the School’s purpose and vision. The pledge of the House to the School of Architecture at Taliesin Foundation is contingent upon the meeting of a $7 million endowment by December 31, 2020. The new organization will own the House and manage the endowment for the benefit of the School, while the School will operate the property, educational curriculum and all community and cultural activities.

 

We could not be more enthusiastic about the future of the School and the David Wright House, and look forward to the learning opportunity this gift presents for future generations of architecture students, architects, and the cultural community at large. We thank you for your continued interest and support.

 

Aaron Betsky and Zach Rawling

 

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