Why Frank Lloyd Wright Is America's Best Architect | The Man Who Built America | The American Story 

As a small child in 1960 I saw a black and white photo of Fallingwater in a magazine in England. It stuck in my head for some reason. It took me nearly fifty years to visit, and when I did I realized even a child could see it's simply a perfect place and unforgettably beautiful.

Had the pleasure of visiting Fallingwater last Summer. It is absolutely breathtaking. Built in 1935 and still looks modern in 2024. Timeless classic. Wright was way ahead of his time.

Thank you for this documentary!

I have been fascinated by architecture and architects for most of my 74 years. My grandfather, Dr. Kurt Meyer Radon, was a prominent architect, first in Germany, before and after WWI and then in Southern California. He knew Wright, along with Neutra, Schindler and Jock Peters. I read many books about Wright, and was particularly taken with a black-and-white photo book of Fallingwater, including scenes from the construction, released in the 1960s. I finally made my pilgrimages to both Taliesin Wisconsin and Fallingwater. We walked down the road from the visitors center, then, suddenly, through the trees, there it was. I first noticed the color- you have to see it with your own eyeballs. No photograph captures it. Second, it seemed smaller than I had pictured it. Third, I "got" the industrial red color of the windows and door frames. The oddest thing was the parapet walls around the cantilevered terraces. The terrance look robust and thick on the outside, but, when you are standing on them, the parapet walls are only about 2' high and rounded on the top. Absolutely terrifying! No way you could sit on the edge and look down at the stream. This is not a house for children.

I love all of Frank Lloyd Wrights homes and other buildings. God bless him

Really enjoyed this program. Thank you 😊

Thank you, this is one of the best summaries of his work I’ve ever seen.

In all these documentaries about Frank Lloyd Wright, I’ve never seen Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Price Tower was one of two vertical structures Wright designed. Price Tower is gorgeous and deserves a place in these documentaries more than a brief flash of narrative.

Superbly made documentary. Completely absorbing.

FLLW was a man of the future and proponent of ergonomics.

The life of an architecture rock star!

As a student of architecture 50 years ago, I spent a summer at Fallingwater. not long enough. Thanks for a great study /refection of Frank Lloyd Wright

How I would’ve loved to meet Wright. What a fascinating person he was. The houses he did impress me the most. All of them are so beautiful and outstanding works of art. I particularly love the glass designs and furniture he did. Most of the homes had their own unique style of furniture. If you visit Oregon, definitely go on a tour of the Gordon House at the Oregon Garden. It’s a Usonian designed in 1956 and is one of four homes Wright built here in the Pacific Northwest and the only one open to the public. The house was moved from its original location and reassembled piece by piece at the garden.

That was great. Thank you for a Welsh angle here and there.

That's great story telling ...thanks alot for this ..

Well done! Excellent storytelling.

Fabulous homage to the genius of the mensch and his legacy

What a wonderful documentary. Beautiful video and thoughtful commentary. Thank you--I enjoyed every minute.

Excellent. Enjoyed every minute.

This is excellent! Thank you so much for this incredible production. It is a priceless contribution to continue sharing the brilliant contributions of this great genius.

a genius/monster who created and also conned and ate up so many lives.

Excellent !!!!!

I adore Frank Lloyd Wright, his energy, and his architectural successes. Influenced by Sullivan, a relative through my GGrandmother. I share Wright's Basque Welsh blood, through my Basque Irish lineage. 🔑 41:50 What h8s statement further expresses to me: (Time to embrace our place in the whole, with Harmony.)

Thank you.

It's a matter of FAITH friends, God decided for human specie to have the sense of beauty, to be creative and seek for the perfect happiness, for having engineering skills and create the best environment to live in, we just have to follow the pure... human nature. Some genius minds instead show us the way and learning from such genius architects is never enough. Looking back in time we understand how much gifted architects already changed the world and we still have to do more. We can invert modern architectures to green lungs, to eat pollution and release oxygen and that's the biggest challenge of our times, the environmental revolution we need the most, living in perfect harmony with the Holy Creation

Teşekkürler 🇹🇷🌹❤️🌷

Superb documentary. 👏🏼👍🏼 On a personal and subjective note, I think the destruction of Taliesin, and the killing of FLW's wife and children, meet all the requirements to make you think it was a plot. It was ordered. It's so weird that nobody ever wanted to discuss it in depth. The American society of the Middle West in the late 19th and early 20th century was deeply conservative and rooted in Christian fundamentalist moral values. And here we have the well-known architect FLW, shocking his community when he fled to Europe with Mamah, the wife of one of his clients. This should've caused significant public humiliation and betrayal for Mamah's husband, E. Cheney, also a respected person in the community. FLW and Mamah then returned to America just a year after the scandal (!), now as a married couple (!), and settling in Spring Green, Wisconsin, not far from Oak Park, Illinois (!), further fueling the community's outrage and adding insult to injury for Cheney. This could've created the perfect conditions for a potential murder plot. In my opinion, the idea that a domestic male servant, who happened to be Black, suddenly went berserk and killed everyone seems highly implausible. Especially considering the environment of racial tensions and lack of civil rights for Black people during the 1910s. This would have made it easy to scapegoat a Black person without any questions asked, and close the case without proper investigation. I also think that FLW could've been assasinated as well, or perhaps they spared his life on purpose to send him a message. And he understood it, because he never protested. He never denounced anything. In a few years, nobody ever mentioned it again. And then they left him alone, because they thought this would destroy him. And it almost did. But they were wrong. Thanks to the support of some of his friends and former clients, the love of his third wife Olgivanna, his unbreakable will and his genius intact, FLW was able to prevail and conquer the world again. He was able to overcome sorrow, fear and hatred. To unifiy the best of America, the best all American arts and crafts and become one of the greatest architects of the 20th century. The Greatest American Architect of all time. Some day the true story of this horrifying moment will come out. Cheers!

interior sacrators rimes with inter designers...lol... The BMW Museum in Munich, next to its Factory, also has this Rotunda Guggenheim ...Vatican or FLW-inspired Rotunda that spirils 6 stories upwards..

Looked him up because of reading "fiction" Loving Frank--was appalled both by someone writing such a fiction about a historical figure's adultery 59:47 and the devastating deaths. Then surprised to find out those parts were true after all. Thanks for clarification and showing his work.

Did you call that Oak Park mansion a small cottage?

🔑 41:50 What h8s statement further expresses to me: (Time to embrace our place in the whole, with Harmony.)

-- de la rigueur totalitaire à la liberté des formes de l'architecture de FLW; un beau voyage,

Several points: 1. Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O'Keeffe were from rural Wisconsin, and from their beginnings, art flowed from their beings. Yet, no book has ever been written about their similarities. 2. Louie Sullivan hired Wright in Chicago and was famous for the principle "Form follows function." Later, Wright said form and function were the same. 3. Wright and Ernest Hemingway lived in Oak Park at the same time. Yet, no book was ever been written about their common rejection of the city. Hemingway referred to Oak Park as a city of wide avenues and narrow minds. Wright would agree. 4. Last, I took high school students to Chicago and Oak Park to see architecture and there was not a single student who stood in awe. It takes maturity to create a love and reverence for architecture.

Wonderful documentary. Unfortunately commercials are obnoxious and ruin the whole thing.

Notice the marker at the end of the film: Frank Lloyd Wright 1869-1959. This is not true! He was born in 1867. He lied about his age! In 1959, when he died, he was almost 92 years old. Not 90, as the marker says.

Para el resto de las Américas seria, FLLW EL HOMBRE QUE CONSTRUYO USA o ESTADOS UNIDOS.

Guggenheim looks like a parking garage in Los Angeles. which came first?

Pyro

The canal is called The American story, video is called Why Frank Lloyd Wright Is America's Best Architect. And the narrator is from Welsh, like wtf

Aztec, mixed with churches. Aztec outside, church inside.

Nope. John Lautner. It did not take long for the student to surpass the master.

Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to build houses .without walls and without doors. He wanted to have a grand open space. What can we see in this film? We see a large dining room and a large living room. A grand open space. What is not seen? What is not shown? We never see a bedroom, never see a room for children, never see a kitchen, never see a bathroom. Why not? When Frank Lloyd Wright designed a kitchen, it was small and traditional. When Frank Lloyd Wright designed a bathroom, it was small and traditional. He did not understand the need for a large kitchen. He did not understand the need for a large bathroom. In some ways he was ahead of his time. In other ways he was a product of the time in which he lived. Very traditional. Not able to break out of the traditional box.

I am not sure there is a single "best ever" American architect. He is one of them, to be sure, but not the only one. I personally do not like the Guggenheim Museum. Every picture displayed there looks like it is hung crocked because the floor is angled away from it. There are several other superb American architects, e.g. Richard Neutra.

His work was unsatisfactory to put it mildly.

He built homes for the rich. Now what?

FLW’s creations are goofy eyesores. The Guggenheim is a contest for the most absurd. America’s Best Architect was his mentor: Louis Sullivan. Forever!

What’s with draping the flag over Wright? I have nothing against the flag except it’s excessive and unthinking use. And as a design element, Wright would not have approved. And, “The Man Who Built America,” is a silly title. FLW’s influence on architecture is enormous. He was a true genius. But the vast majority of building in the United States involves nothing of genius. Wright’s designs, even from nearly a century ago, still look radical in comparison to most building in the US being done more than a half century after Wright’s death. It would be a more beautiful country if Wright “built America,” but he didn’t.

I find most of his buildings ugly and repellent

Great documentary but he is not the greatest american arcthitect.