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EXCLUSIVE TOUR AT TALIESIN WITH LOVING FRANK AUTHOR, NANCY HORAN, ON SEPTEMBER 27

Join us at Taliesin on September 27 for a tour, lunch, private reading and private book signing with Nancy Horan, the author of the New York Times bestselling novel, Loving Frank, and Taliesin Preservation's historian, Keiran Murphy. Space is limited for tours and lunch, so call and make your reservations. For more details about the event, see our poster* or our press release.

*requires Adobe Acrobat reader - click here to download Adobe.

TALIESIN PRESERVATION, INC. AND TALIESIN RECEIVE TRAVEL WISCONSIN GREEN CERTIFICATION

Travel Green Wisconsin (www.travelgreenwisconsin.com) a voluntary certification program that recognizes tourism businesses for reducing their environmental footprint through eco-friendly practices, has just announced that Taliesin Preservation, Inc. and the Taliesin estate have earned certification.

To achieve certification, applicants must earn a minimum of 30 points from a checklist of basic requirements covering a wide range of “green” practices, including: waste reduction, reuse and recycling; energy efficiency, water conservation and wastewater management; air quality; wildlife and landscape; transportation; purchasing; and local community benefits.  The Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, an independent third party, then certifies Travel Green Wisconsin applicants.

For more information, see our "News Releases" page.

FLOODING IN SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN; TALIESIN ESTATE UNAFFECTED SO FAR

Friday, June 6, and Saturday, June 7, 2008, brought heavy rains and flooding to areas of Southwestern Wisconsin and the town of Spring Green (for a news story about flooding and evacuation of Spring Green residents, click here).

An article in Architectural Record magazine updates some of the flooding that occurred in Iowa, affecting buildings by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and others.

Note: while news reports in late July 2008 have highlighted the continued flooding in outlying areas of Spring Green, luckily, the Taliesin Estate has not flooded, tours are continuing, and downtown businesses and attractions in Spring Green remain open (click here for the Spring Green Chamber of Commerce site for more information about things to do in Spring Green).

A fund has been created in order to assist evacuated Spring Green residents and donations can be made to the Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross (scroll down the page to the "Donations" section for information); and the People's Community Bank in Spring Green. The phone number for the Community Bank is available through this web page. Scroll down the page until you come to the information about the Spring Green branch. Donations can be made to the Spring Green Flood Relief fund.

Thank you for your continued interest.

TALIESIN BOOKSTORE CATALOG WINS AWARD

The Taliesin Bookstore was awarded the "2007 Print Excellence Award" for its Taliesin Bookstore Gift Catalog (graphic design consultation and photography by Planet Studio, LLC).  This award was presented by the Printing and Imaging Association of Georgia.

Taliesin added to list for nomination as a World Heritage Site

The Office of International Affairs, in the U.S. National Park Service, has compiled a tentative list of sites that will be submitted to the World Heritage Committee in 2009. Wright's Wisconsin home was nominated as part of a group of ten Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. The other nine Wright sites are:

• Unity Temple (1905-08), Oak Park, Illinois
• Frederick C. Robie House (1908-10), Chicago, Illinois
• Hollyhock House (1919-21), Los Angeles, California
• Fallingwater (1936-38), Mill Run, Pennsylvania
• S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research Tower, Racine, Wisconsin (1936-39; 1943-50)
• Taliesin West (1938), Scottsdale, Arizona
• Price Tower (1953-56), Bartlesville, Oklahoma
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1956-59), New York, New York
• Marin County Civic Center (1960-69), San Rafael, California

Designation as a World Heritage Site would mean that these buildings would be recognized not only for their importance to the United States, but to the citizens of the world. World Heritage Sites include the Acropolis, the Alhambra, Angkor, the Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar and Dessau, the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Wall of China, Notre Dame in Paris, the Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, the Statue of Liberty, Stonehenge, Taj Mahal, and only about 800 more.

The United States has served on the World Heritage Committee from 2005 and will serve until 2009. No sites from the United States can be nominated for World Heritage Status while it serves on the committee, in order to eliminate conflicts of interest. Each site under consideration must be on a list for at least a year; thus, the creation of a tentative list for World Heritage Sites by the National Park Service will qualify the nominated sites for consideration by the World Heritage Committee after the term for the United States has expired.

Click here for information about the World Heritage Tentative List Project.

Click here for the press release from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation regarding the nomination.

Frank Lloyd Wright leading architect in AIA poll; Taliesin listed as 30th favorite building in America

On February 7, 2007, the American Institute of Architects (the AIA) released the results of a Harris Interactive poll listing the 150 favorite buildings in America. This list was comprised in part to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the AIA. While well-known American icons such as the Empire State Building (#1) and the White House (#2) lead the list, Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture appears on the list more than the work of any other architect. His Wisconsin home, Taliesin, was listed as #30.

Interestingly, Monticello, the other personal residence by one of America's great architects, Thomas Jefferson, ranked only slightly higher than Taliesin. Mr. Jefferson's home was #27.

There are a total of 7 Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings on the list. That number does not include the Rookery, in Chicago (#128), the interior of which the architect redesigned in 1905; and the Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix, AZ (#119), which many believe Wright designed, even though he formally worked as its consultant, not the architect.

#29: Fallingwater, the Edgar J. and Liliane Kaufmann residence, Bear Run, PA

#30: Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright residence, Spring Green, WI

#74: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City

#114: The Susan Lawrence Dana residence (the "Dana-Thomas house"), Springfield, IL

#123: Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright residence, Scottsdale, AZ

#131: Hollyhock House, the Aline Barnsdall residence, Los Angeles, CA

#138: The Frederick C. Robie residence, Chicago, IL

For the complete list of buildings from the AIA, click here.

Gift from South Dakotan helps with Taliesin's Save America's Treasures grant

Thanks to South Dakota resident Mr. T. Denny Sanford’s donation of $425,000.00 Taliesin® Preservation, Inc. was able to initiate critical repairs to a bridge at the entry road to Taliesin, complete roofing repairs on the Taliesin residence, and begin master planning for the Taliesin residence, which is a critical step in large scale preservation. Mr. Sanford’s gift was matched by Taliesin® Preservation, Inc.’s Save America’s Treasures grant, doubling its size. Go to our Preservation Programs pages to find out more information about the projects initiated or completed with Mr. Sanford’s gift.