52 miles to the triumphal entry to Taliesin. Cue the trumpet voluntary.
Starting from Hillsboro we were on state highway 80 with Ray leading the way. Mary kindly took our panniers in the car so we were without many pounds of gear. At one point I thought that even though I had dumped my bags the pedaling was still hard then looked down at my cycle computer and saw I was going 8 miles per hour faster than the day before.
These rock outcroppings along the road reminded us of the strong horizontal lines of much of Wright’s architecture
We made it to Richland Center at 9:15 and met Lon, the president of the A.D. German Warehouse Conservancy. Wright designed the building in the 1920s and it is the only Wright building in his home town of Richland Center. Lon met us at the building and after going over its history took us on a memorable tour both inside and outside. The Conservancy has great plans for the restoration of the warehouse but now runs tours on the weekends. I’ve included a few photos we took but to get the full impact of the warehouse’s presence and the revitalization efforts, visit their website: www.adgermanwarehouse.org.
The building with its Mayan frieze on the top level stands out in Richland Center and Wright incorporated elements he had used in Midway Gardens and other projects. He and the owner, A.D. German had been friends since childhood and Wright traded design work for supplies needed to feed and care for the apprentices at Taliesin.
Wright developed an innovative (for the time) method of tying the concrete slabs into the columns and capitals so that the weight of the building and its contents were born on the columns and not the exterior brick walls. This construction method is standard practice now.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s father was the pastor at this church (L) in Richland Center and the house on the right is the leading contender among 7 houses that are alleged to be Wright’s birthplace – no one knows for sure which house is truly the one in which he was born.
Our arrival with Wright’s Taliesin as backdrop
We reluctantly got back on our bikes for the remaining 27 miles to Spring Green and Taliesin. We stayed at Tan-y-Deri, a beautiful house Wright built for his aunts. Again, our photos don’t do the place justice so read about its history: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fireproof_House_for_$5000. and http://www.flwright.org/researchexplore/wrightbuildings/porterhouse
Jason, the Residence Life Manager at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, welcomed us in and generously provided us with food and drink to restore our road weary bones. We went to dinner with students and guests at Hillside and shared some of our stories from the trip.
Tomorrow we are off to see more Wright houses in Racine and Madison.
bikewright 2.0 