Frank Lloyd Wright

He married Catherine Wright in 1889. The couple had six children. After several years of marriage he abandoned his wife and family to be with a married woman – Mamah, who was murdered later on by a mentally unstable servant. His first wife divorced him in 1922.

His second marriage was to Maude Noel in 1923. This marriage lasted only four years before ending in 1927.

His final marriage was to Olga Ivanovna in 1928. They remained married till his death.

He was the oldest son of William Carey Wright and Anna Lloyd Jones. His father was an orator, preacher and music teacher while his mother was a country school teacher. He had two sisters.

His mother bought a set of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fr�bel for her children to play with. Frank was fascinated by these geometrically shaped blocks which he assembled for hours—he credited these blocks for kindling his creative young mind.

His father did not have stable employment and the family faced financial problems. His parents separated when Frank was 14 years old. As the only male in the family, the responsibility of providing for his mother and sisters fell on him.

He attended Madison high school and went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a special student in 1886. In order to pay his tuition fees, he assisted the architect Joseph Silsbee with the construction of the Unity Chapel. This experience motivated him to become an architect.

He went to Chicago in 1887 in search of employment. He found work as a draftsman with the architectural firm of Joseph Silsbee with whom he had worked as a college student.

Even though this work helped him earn his livelihood but he was not satisfied with that. Soon he started looking for a new job and was hired by the firm of Adler & Sullivan.

Working with the legendary architect Louis Sullivan had a profound influence on Wright’s creativity and designing abilities. Sullivan granted him a five year contract. However, due to financial troubles Wright began accepting independent commissions as well. He was fired by Sullivan in 1893 for breach of contract.

He established his own practice after leaving Sullivan. His first independent commission was the Winslow House which was simple yet elegant and characterized by open, expansive interior spaces. This design soon came to be called the “organic style”.

Determined to develop an architectural style that was uniquely American, he designed several residential and public buildings over the next several years that came to be known as “prairie style”.

The Fallingwater, a house designed by him was named the "best all-time work of American architecture” in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects. The home was partially built over a waterfall which adds to its aesthetic appeal.

He designed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum which is a cylindrical museum building considered to be one of the most important landmarks of the 20th century.