Wright in Racine: The Architect’s Vision for One American City

Frank Lloyd Wright devoted his revolutionary creativity to refining his famed Prairie style, especially in Racine, Wisconsin, called “invention city” for all the innovative products developed there. After 1900, Racine witnessed the most significant stages of the architect’s career. Award-winning photojournalist Mark Hertzberg, Director of Photography for the Racine Journal Times, presents a well-researched compendium of warm, lively and revealing anecdotes from people who lived in Wright’s private homes and worked in his public buildings. Special attention is devoted to the SC Johnson Administration Building, the subsequent Research Tower, and the Wingspread residence—Wright’s last and largest Prairie home and built in a unique pinwheel design. Other important commissions discussed and photographed include the Hardy and the Keland houses, the unrealized Roy Petersen House, the YWCA, and the airport lounge/café project. Hertzberg also briefly discusses the Monolith and the Johnson homes, Wright’s dreams for affordable housing.