Where is the biggest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright structures, commissioned by a single client, located? .... Of course, Lakeland Florida, on the campus of Florida Southern College. In 1938, Florida Southern College, a private college, had already moved locations a couple of times, because of fire and hurricane damage. The president at the time then had a stroke of genius. After selecting the new site, in Lakeland, a town in central Florida, President Ludd Spivey sent a telegram to the most famous architect in America, Frank Lloyd Wright, then 70 years old and having suffered several personal setbacks. The short missive simply said, " Desire conference with you concerning plans for great educational temple in Florida." Educational temple? That phrase says a lot about President Spivey and about the esteem he held for Wright. (The writing at the bottom of the telegram is Wright's.)
That telegram and the subsequent meeting established a twenty year partnership between Wright and Spivey, as they worked together to build a totally new, "American" college, abandoning the traditional red brick and ivy-covered walls that dominated most college campuses. Between 1938 and 1958, Wright (Aged 70-90) designed 18 structures, 12 of which were built, under Wright's direct supervision. The 13th was built in 2013. Supposedly, Spivey said, "I have no money with which to build the modern American campus, but if you'll design the buildings, I'll work night and day to raise the means." And Spivey did just that. The student body (just a few hundred at the time, and, during World War II, disproportionately female) was even pressed into action to do much of the building themselves. In Wright's eyes, he saw buildings rising "out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun," surrounded by orange groves, slightly rolling hills (very slightly; it is Florida, after all), and overlooking a beautiful lake. Wright devoted the last 20 years of his life to the project, dying in 1959. Over the years, the college has expanded, of course, but all of the construction since 1958 has been carefully overseen by Wright's former apprentices and architects who are firmly ground in the Wright style.
In 2013, a visitors center was built (in a Sears and Roebuck catalog kit house), and the college started offering tours of the campus. My wife and I took the 2 and a half hour tour recently, and it was incredible. We had a fantastic tour guide name Carol, a retired teacher and college employee, whose knowledge and love of the campus were almost palpable. The first stop was the faculty house next door to the visitors center. Wright had envisioned a couple of dozen of these usonian homes on the outskirts of the campus, but none was built before his death. In 2013, one was built as a model home (the 13th Wright structure to be built), at a cost of $1.3 million. It had all the details you'd expect from a Wright home: compressed, claustrophobic spaces opening into tall spaces, horizontal lines, custom designed furniture, tall glass windows opening up onto nature, and every screw head pointed in the same direction.
From there, it was onto the campus proper, and to the outdoor structures that Wright designed between buildings, the esplanades, partially covered walkways, following the hills and with pillars designed to be abstract orange trees.
The focal point and gathering place of the campus was designed to be a giant fountain and pool called the Water Dome. The Water Dome is a circular arrangement of jets blasting watery arcs into the air, creating a bundt cake effect as tour guide Carol called it. The fountain only operates at 30% capacity today during limited hours. On one or two special occasions a year, the fountain operates at 100%, creating 45 feet high arcs. Even though he designed it, Wright never saw it in operation himself. The technology that makes it work was developed after his death, but he insisted that it be built anyway.
On the other side of the Water Dome are the two chapels, the Annie Pfeiffer and the Danforth. Both were beautiful and serene, and unique.
(Pfeiffer)
(Danforth)
The tour also includes the Science Building, the original Library, Administration Building, and Seminar buildings.
(interior of original library)
(Pfeiffer)
(Danforth)
