Trip Rewind Arizona 2002 : Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin West

I do not think I realized the magnitude of what I was about to visit at the time. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. In hindsight I pretty much want to slap myself silly for not understanding just how amazing this was. It was officially the first FLW house I ever toured but as you will read or have read, I now try to find a FLW house anytime I go anywhere. I am often heartbroken as many do not offer tours as they are still private residents. I guess it’s understandable – I would not want people traipsing through my private home either. But come on people – you own a Frank Lloyd Wright house!

Taliesin West was built by Wright for Wright. It was his winter home, saving him from the snowy winters of Wisconsin where Taliesin, his main home is located. Also included in Taliesin West is the Frank Lloyd Wright school of architecture’s “winter location”. It is still an active school to this day and we even saw students out and about while we were on the tour. The “summer location” is at Taliesin in Wisconsin, where they have much more agreeable temperatures in the summer.

Wright was well known for being an innovator and much ahead of his time. In the spirit of that the Frank Lloyd Wright foundation who manages Taliesin West has begun a little innovation of their own recently. Taliesin West is on it’s way to becoming a net zero energy consumer. The building is being outfitted with solar panels, which luckily for any tourist visiting Taliesin West, the panels will not be seen by visitors. You can read more about the project here. I think this is a great idea as they were able to preserve the integrity of the building but also implement a cost savings that will eventually pay off. It will then allow for admission funds that were being spent on energy bills to be reallocated to preserving the building.  For anyone who has visited a FLW building, they know there is a lot of upkeep. He has amazing designs but they certainly were not made to last forever!

Our tour consisted of an exterior and interior view of the house. Inside we of course found Wright’s classic Cherokee red color that he used throughout his designs along with bright punches of blue as seen in this chair that Wright designed.

It was pretty amazing to see this building and like I had mentioned I wished I would have realized just how cool it was to see this building. I pay much more attention and take way more photographs on FLW tours now.

If you would like to take a tour of Taliesin West they are located at 12621 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd Scottsdale, AZ 85259 (use 12345 N. Taliesin Dr. Scottsdale, AZ, 85258 for GPS). There are multiple tours to choose from ranging an hour to three hour tours depending on what you are looking for. All tours tickets are recommend to purchase in advance.