Taliesin West

Taliesin West was Frank Lloyd Wright's desert winter home and studio from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. It is now the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's headquarters. Taliesin West is open to the public for visits and is located on Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard in Scottsdale, Arizona. Taliesin, Wright's home in Spring Green, Wisconsin, inspired the name of the complex.

The tower's walls are built of native desert boulders that have been placed within wood frames and filled with concrete – a technique known colloquially as "desert masonry." The flat surfaces of the rocks were oriented outward, and enormous boulders filled the interior area to conserve concrete. Natural light was also used extensively in the design. Wright utilized translucent canvas as a roof in the drafting room. Wright did not take the brick walls from floor to ceiling in the south-facing dining room and planned the roof to dangle past the barriers, preventing undesirable sun rays from penetrating but enabling horizontal light to stream through the area. He was continually changing and improving his design in order to solve difficulties and address new scenarios. He expanded the dining room over the years and added the cabaret theatre, music pavilion, and various other rooms. Wright designed all of the furniture and decorations, and most of them were created by apprentices.

Many of Wright's most iconic structures, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Grady Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University in Tempe, were designed in the Taliesin West drafting room. Taliesin West is still the home of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and its various activities. On February 12, 1974, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and on May 20, 1982, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark. In 2008, the United States Taliesin West, together with nine other Frank Lloyd Wright properties, has been nominated for World Heritage status by the National Park Service. In July 2019, Taliesin West and seven other properties were inscribed on the World Heritage List as "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright."

Address: 12621 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85259, United States

Construction started: in 1911

Architectural style: Organic architecture