Scottsdale, Arizona.

This week, Amy suggests we focus on architecture and features an incredible gallery of images from Machu Picchu. You can read her challenge post here. That ancient area was abandoned sometime in the 16th century. I appreciate beautiful examples of architecture, especially in the construction and design of older churches in our country. But this post is about a 20th century architectural phenom and his world famous school of architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright believed that structures should be designed in harmony with their environment. His portfolio includes the design of over 500 structures completed with many still in use today. Nestled in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains above Scottsdale, Arizona, his school of architecture and winter home was built in 1937 and is open still today. My challenge response features a small collection of images captured during a tour of Taliesin West.

His life and the background design of Taliesin West are well covered in Wikipedia entries so I will point you at that source if you’d like more specific information about the man or his school of architecture. The image above features a view to the southwest overlooking what is now the sprawling Phoenix metro. When it was built in the 1930’s, it was well away from the desert community. These days, it’s but a short drive from metropolitan Scottsdale.

Visitors to the National Historic Landmark, School of Architecture at Taliesin can purchase tickets for guided tours from just over an hour to some three hours in length. He considered it his desert laboratory and its construction and maintenance is a product of the school with immediate oversight by Frank Lloyd Wright himself.

The site is open daily during the cooler seasons but in the warmer summer months, tours are suspended on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A full schedule of tours is available on their website. If you plan to be in the Phoenix area and would like a crash course in Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and style, I can highly recommend the 90-minute tour. More information about Taliesin West can be found on the Foundation website here.

For more images and my photo tour of the school in 2016, you can find my Travel Tuesday post here. Amy’s challenge this week reminded my of our tour and made me realize I hadn’t kept a promise I made to myself to come back and check out one of their longer and more detailed tours.

John Steiner