Taliesen West’s Wright archive could go public

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer presides over an architectural treasure in Scottsdale that for years has remained hidden.

The packed drawers reveal little-known artifacts, such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s renderings for a proposed Baghdad, Iraq-based opera house and a cultural complex commissioned in the 1950s by a former Iraqi king.

Wright’s visions for an Arizona State Capitol building, a Tucson bank and Phoenix shopping center, immortalized in print, are also under lock and key.

Thousands of the late architect’s original drawings are carefully tucked away at the Taliesin West archive that Pfeiffer, the archive’s vice president, oversees.

“It’s the largest collection for any one artist in one location,” says Pfeiffer, of the 3,000-square-foot facility on the Taliesin West compound that houses some 24,000 of Wright’s original drawings and 300,000 pages of correspondence that date back to the late 1880s.

It’s a voluminous collection that many of the iconic architect’s legion of fans have yet to see.

That may one day change.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, headed by CEO Philip Allsopp, is forging ahead, researching an ambitious fundraising plan to foot the bill for an estimated $125 million worth of major additions and renovations they want to initiate at Taliesin West.

“We want to become a major destination for artists, engineers and scientists,” says Allsopp, whose “wish list” for Taliesin West includes a 30,000-square-foot archive facility with exhibition space for visitors to view a rotating collection of Wright’s works and an on-site design and innovation center where artists, scholars and students can convene for seminars and share ideas.

The foundation, still in transition from recent board changes, appears to be in a stronger position to surge forward.

Its 13-member board of trustees recently filled two newly created strategic positions, hiring Craig Barth this past March as its comptroller and Robert Jones late last month as vice president of planning, restoration and development.

The foundation also retained A.L. Brourman Associates, a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm, to bolster its public relations and fundraising efforts. Since the beginning of this year the firm has been conducting an international fundraising feasibility study for the foundation. Results from the study are expected in the next four to six weeks.

Allsopp says the foundation’s mission to preserve Wright’s legacy at the landmark Taliesin West and Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis., remains a key focus. Looking to shed its once insular image, he says the foundation is exploring new ways to reach out and express Wright’s views with new generations.

“We need to be relevant and connect across the generations,” says Allsopp, adding that the foundation has also been discussing the possibility of creating a Taliesin Craftsman Guild, paying homage to Wright’s affinity for apprenticeships, so the next generations of masons, plumbers and electricians can learn from masters about restorative architecture.

Pfeiffer says Wright’s message of organic architecture — a concept which promotes harmony between human dwellings and nature through design — is extremely relevant to today’s generation of environmentalists.

“People will see his way of living was a desperate struggle to preserve our planet,” says Pfeiffer, adding the proposed exhibition space would also give visitors an intimate look at items Wright and his third wife, Olgivanna, collected over the years. Those items, says Pfeiffer, include Olgivanna’s collection of designer Emilio Pucci dresses and scarves, the couple’s eclectic library and their rare collection of Japanese prints.

The foundation is aware its visions won’t come cheap.

Hinging on the ability to come up with a successful multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign, Allsopp says he expects to have a clearer picture of the foundation’s next course of action by early next year.

Allsopp says “they are ambitious but achievable plans.”