Frank Lloyd Wright Complete Works, Volume 2: 1917-1942

This volume, Volume 1, covers the early Chicago years and the Prairie Houses, the period which provoked a profound influence on European architects. Wright\\\'s architectural work during these early years was mostly residential, as it would be throughout his career, and from his earliest work, Frank Lloyd Wright demonstrated a knowledge of and respect for natural materials.

In the ten years betweeen 1896 and 1906 he developed and perfected the so-called "prairie house." Wright believed the architect should have complete charge of Architectural Design, and for him this meant interior furnishings as well as exterior landscape. He was not often given this freedom, but the 1908 Avery Coonley residence in Riverside, Illinois is one of the finest examples. With the administration building for the Larkin Soap Company (1903–1905) and the Unity Temple (1905) he could realize bigger commissions. In 1910 he worked on his famous publication "Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe" for the German publisher Wasmuth, which brought his ideas to a worldwide recognition.

The personal tragedy of 1914 brought a shadow over his successful, but struggled life: A servant at Taliesin had set fire to the residence and murdered his mistress Mamah, her two children, a draftsman, and three workmen. But this could not stop Wright on his permanent search for a new architecture.

Volume Two starts with the years spent working in Japan, mainly on the Imperial Hotel, and followed by personal turmoil; in late 1922, Wright divorced from first wife Catherine, and the following year married Miriam Noel. Yet barely six months later she left, initiating a bitter divorce. Shortly after, Wright met his third wife, Olgivanna. During this difficult period a second fire at Taliesin strained his already parlous finances; the bank foreclosed, leaving him without home or studio. With nowhere to practice, he started Writing magazine articles, and his autobiography (published in 1932 to great acclaim).

From 1917 through the Depression, up until 1942, though he designed continually, Wright saw many projects go unrealized, but nevertheless had the chance to build on new concepts and in new regions. His block building system led to idiosyncratic works like the famous Ennis house in Los Angeles, and in 1936 he completed the Herbert Jacobs house, using his new "Usonian" techniques, designed to be affordable for the middle-American family. The same year he moved to Arizona where, at the age of 71, Wright embraced his rugged new life in the desert, and with his students started building the Taliesin West complex. After receiving a Gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, he returned to see his Johnson Administration Building opened to great fanfare, nationwide publicity, and lines around the block waiting to tour inside.

Despite adversity, Wright emerged from this era with reputation restored and vitality renewed—as manifested in Fallingwater and the Johnson building—while his Usonian homes began to alter the way Americans lived.