Frank Lloyd Wright and Mason City

Description

In 1908, the world's most famous architect came to a small Iowa town — and changed it forever. Frank Lloyd Wright and Mason City: Architectural Heart of the Prairie tells the remarkable story of Wright's deep connection to Mason City, Iowa, where he designed some of his most innovative Prairie Style buildings. At the heart of the story stands the Park Inn Hotel (1910), the last surviving hotel designed by Wright anywhere in the world, rescued from near-demolition and lovingly restored. Around it cluster the Stockman House (1908) and other Wright commissions that turned this prairie town into an unexpected pilgrimage site for architecture lovers. Roy R. Behrens, professor of art and design at the University of Northern Iowa, brings scholarly depth and local pride to this account of how visionary architecture took root in the American heartland — and how a community fought to save it.

What makes this story so compelling is the unlikely setting. Prairie Style architecture — with its low horizontal lines, open interiors, and deep connection to the flat landscape — is usually associated with Chicago and its suburbs, not a farming town in Iowa. Yet Mason City holds one of the densest clusters of Wright's early work anywhere, and this book explains how that happened: who commissioned the buildings, why Wright took the work seriously, and what the designs reveal about his thinking at a turning point in his career. You will also follow the rescue of the Park Inn, a decades-long effort that shows what it takes for a small community to save a landmark the world had nearly forgotten.

For Wright enthusiasts, architecture students, and travelers planning a prairie pilgrimage, this is an essential guide to one of the most surprising chapters in the master's career. Read it before you visit Mason City, and the town's streets will read like an open-air museum. Get the ebook edition here at a discount from Tellebook.