Taliesin West

In 1937 Wright bought a stretch of Sonoran desert and began building a winter base, working with his apprentices and using what was there: desert masonry, in which local rock was set into wooden forms and filled with concrete, so the walls carry the colours of the surrounding hills. Roofs were originally stretched canvas over redwood frames, letting a filtered light in and keeping the buildings almost tent-like, and although later glazed, the low, sheltering, angular character survives. He kept working here until his death in 1959, and the school he founded continued for decades. It is one of the eight Wright buildings inscribed as World Heritage in 2019, and the only one that is essentially a landscape as much as a house.

History

Frank Lloyd Wright first came to Arizona in 1927 to consult on the Arizona Biltmore, set up the temporary Ocotillo Desert Camp near Phoenix in 1929, and from 1935 brought his Taliesin Fellowship of apprentices south each winter, staying at first at La Hacienda in Chandler; after a bout of pneumonia in 1936 his doctor advised him to winter in the desert. In December 1937 Wright and his wife Olgivanna found a site near McDowell Peak, 26 miles from Phoenix, and his apprentices raised the first buildings in 1938-1941. It was Wright's winter home and studio from 1937 until his death in 1959, it is now the headquarters of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and it is a National Historic Landmark and a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Taliesin West).

Highlights

• Desert masonry - walls of local rock set in concrete, matching the hills.
• The drafting studio - the long low workroom under its angled roof.
• The garden court and pools - the outdoor rooms between the buildings.
• The desert setting - saguaro and mountains framed by every opening.

When to go

November to April is the comfortable season; Phoenix summers pass forty-five degrees and outdoor tour sections become punishing. Access is by guided tour only, and the evening and night tours in the cooler months show the lighting Wright designed for. Book ahead in high season.

Things to know

Everything is by timed guided tour, so you cannot wander, and the tours vary a great deal in length and price. Summer heat makes a visit genuinely uncomfortable and some tours are shortened accordingly. The city has grown out to the property line, so the desert isolation Wright chose is largely gone.

Nearby

Old Town Scottsdale is twenty minutes; the Desert Botanical Garden is half an hour.