Visiting Taliesin

Looking down on Taliesin. 5/13/26 dwm

Since we've returned to Wisconsin, I've wanted to see Taliesin, the home of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright near Spring Green.

Thanks to my wife joining the Verona Chamber of Commerce with her business, Bump 2 Baby Doula Services, we were invited to a Chamber Lunch at the Wright Visitor Center May 13.

There are tours of the Wright estate available, and because we were there in connection with the Chamber, we were eligible for a discount.

I was also eligible for another price reduction, because of my age. While I've been a card-carrying member of the AARP for years, this was the first time I received a discount because I am 62 years old. I've been aware of my age for some time now, so it didn't surprise me. It did feel a little weird, but I'm all for saving $5.00, thank you very much.

The Visitor Ctr. 5/13/26 dwm

We ate lunch in a private dining area of the Visitor Center, otherwise known as Riverview Terrace. It was designed by Wright but he didn't live long enough to see it to completion. It's the only surviving work of Wright intended to serve as a restaurant.

It opened in 1967 as The Spring Green. Today, it hosts the gift shop, cafe, and is the starting and ending point for all four tours.

Our group consisted of members of chambers of commerce from nine nearby communities. In addition to lunch, we heard from the Taliesin Preservation's Communications Director a brief history and account of how the property was saved before it was lost to history.

In conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which owns the land, the Taliesin Preservation not-for-profit has a mission of generating income to preserve the buildings of the estate and continue restoration efforts.

When I heard the speaker mention a 15% reduction of the tour's price, I decided this was one of those, if I don't do this today, it will probably never happen situations, and purchased a ticket for the Highlights Tour.

The two fires at Taliesen stopped here. 5/13/26 dwm

While waiting for the tour bus that would take 16 of us to the first stop, I walked around the Visitor's Center to get a few more photos.

As we pulled into the driveway for Taliesin we passed a Wright-made dam in 1926 to generate electricity.

At the top of the hill, we hopped off the bus and through the back door of Taliesin, passing a work shop used today and stalls created by Wright so his students could work on projects.

As we admired a corner garden, Norma, our tour guide, shared the stories of Taliesin One and Two. The first house was built in 1911 and destroyed by fire in 1914, that fire was started by an employee who blocked the exits and set the fire, killing seven and destroying a third of the home.

The living room in the residence. 5/13/26 dwm

Wright began working on Taliesin Two in 1914, as a memorial for those killed in the fire, including his mistress, Mamah Borthwick and her two young children. Wright was in Chicago on business during the 1914 fire.

The second iteration of the home he called Shining Brow, burned in 1925 due to an electrical fire. His third wife, referred to by our guide as, the right Mrs. Wright, Olgivanna, "should come forth and shine again with a serenity unknown before."

Both fires were extinguished before reaching the residence and those of us on the tour can see some of the charred wood left as a reminder of the violence and damage done.

The Bird Walk. 5/13/2026 dwm

As we made our way through the home, you couldn't miss the low ceilings throughout the buildings. Wright was only 5-foot, six-inches tall, for one thing, and he used the short ceilings to direct people into the areas he wanted them to use.

Wright didn't like the smell of kitchens, so he moved them away from most of the house, creating separate spaces to prepare food from where it is plated and served.

In the living room there was a formal dinner table for the Wrights and their guests, with benches built around two sides of the room with places for guests to put their food.

Olgivanna asked Wright for a place where she could be close to the birds. His response was a 30-foot balcony where she could walk among the birds. It creates a dramatic view for any bird-watcher and for people looking over the hills of the Driftless Area in the distance.

The garden looks like music. 5/13/26 dwm

Besides the Bird Walk, I was intrigued by a garden that looks like a musical note (photo left).

For his daughter, Wright added a second floor apartment above the primary bedroom, for his 8-year-old. What he didn't do was worry about adding support beams or bolstering Taliesin's foundation. The guide noted Wright only experimented like this in his home, not in his commissioned designs.

The residential side of the home is one of the areas the Taliesin Preservation group wants to shore up because the building is visibly sagging from all the added weight.

After Taliesin, we drove past the Midway Barn (photo below), which continues to be the agricultural center of the property, before stopping to see Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet is the designer's name for the windmill Wright's aunts asked him to build to pump water for their co-educational boarding school in 1897. Wright designed Romeo facing the direction of the prevailing winds while being supported by the octagonal shape of Juliet.

Romeo & Juliet. 5/13/26 dwm

The windmill was fully restored with Taliesin Preservation support in 1992. It stands high on a hill above a small home Wright built for his sister, Jane Porter. It's called Tan-y-Deri, meaning under the oaks.

The Porter family worked for the two aunts at their boarding school. The house was built in 1907. The home was restored, inside and out, 110 years later.

The final spot on the tour was the Hillside Home School, which originally served as the boarding school, before it became a school for aspiring designers. A major change to accommodate the new purpose was changing the gymnasium into a large drafting studio where students could work.

Wright also expanded the building with space to house apprentices.

The drafting studio. 5/13/26 dwm

Some students stayed a short time while others stayed with the Wright school for years.

On the other side of the building is the Hillside Theater which is used now live performances and movie nights (photos below).

At the end of the two-and-a-half hour tour, you get on the bus for the ride back to the Visitor Center. There are plenty of treasures you can find in the gift shop, which has a lot of interesting mementos. I wasn't surprised to see boxes of some of Wright's creations filled with mini-blocks to build them yourself.

Frank Lloyd Wright's bust in Taliesin. dwm pix

As a Wisconsin native, I'm familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright because a lot of his work can be found here. One of the first I recall was the project now known as the Monona Terrace Convention Center in downtown Madison.

It was designed decades ago, but Wright was a controversial figure and the project was expensive, so it wasn't until 1992 that it was approved by the city. The doors opened in 1997.

Wright designed the S.C. Johnson Administration Building in Racine and the First Unitarian Society Meeting House in Madison among 38 Wisconsin projects.

I'm not a fan or admirer like I think most of the others on the tour bus were, and I don't know all the stories and his personal history. I do know a lot of people admire Wright's work, but many have some reservations about his personal life. It was obvious during the presentation at the Chamber lunch that Taliesin Preservation understands Wright is a complicated figure.

Riverview Terrace/FLW Visitor Ctr. 5/13/26 dwm

After I returned to the Visitor Center I was glad I invested in the Highlights tour and paid the $64 ($64 after discounts).

The Estate Tour is comprehensive; it costs more than $100 per person and is four hours; it's offered once a day.

There are two other tours available: the House Tour which is 90-minutes and costs $66 (all prices as of 5/13/26), and a self-paced house tour that is $40 dollars (if you're interested in this one, be sure to read the details on their website).

The tour did spark my curiosity about this man called Frank Lloyd Wright, enough to get me interested in reading more about him.