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Wade House program to explore 'What Taliesin Looked Like' in Frank Lloyd Wright series

Wade House Historic Site

Dining room and dining Room table at Taliesin. The built-in set of drawers and cabinets line the back wall of the room. A drawing, possibly a Japanese print, hangs above the drawers. WHS Image ID 29072.

GREENBUSH - Wade House Historic Site will celebrate the 150th birthday of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright with a presentation titled "What Taliesin Looked Like, 1911-1912" by Jack Holzhueter, Wright expert and retired Wisconsin Historical Society staff member, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Wade House Visitor Center.

The event is one in a series of season-long exhibits, lectures and educational activities focusing on Wright's life and work in Wisconsin and his relationship with Sheboygan carriage collector and restoration expert Wesley W. Jung.

Triptych of living room fireplace at Taliesin. A built-in bookshelf and bench are to the left of the fireplace. WHS Image ID 29071.

Holzhueter will tell the story of the acquisition of the Taliesin albums as well as explain the significance of the photos in the albums. Holzhueter's presentation will be preceded by a complimentary reception featuring microbrews and light hors d'oeuvres, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Two sets of photographs survive from the brief, three-year period when Wright's first version of his home and studio, Taliesin, stood on the brow of a hill outside Spring Green. One set, taken by one of his draftsmen, Taylor Woolley, appears in a photo album acquired in a famous 2005 eBay purchase. After a hectic, four-day fundraising effort, that album was bought for the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The other set was taken by Wright's preferred architectural photographer out of Chicago, Henry Fuermann and Sons. A set of Fuermann's Taliesin proofsheets was bought in 2011 by the society, again after a hectic fundraising effort.

In 1914, arson fire destroyed the house and left seven persons dead, so these two groups of photographs provide the best record of Wright's initial vision for his home. Wright rebuilt Taliesin in 1914; it burned again in 1925; and he rebuilt it a final time — Taliesin III, the version that survives today.

The "Frank Lloyd Wright: A Wisconsin Original" monthly speaker series will take place at the Wade House Visitor Center located at W7965 State 23 in Greenbush. Admission to "What Taliesin Looked Like, 1911-1912" on Oct. 12 is complimentary.

For more information, visit wadehouse.org or call 920-526-3271.