After a successful phase I of the "Wright Virtual Visits", the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation along with the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation is back with a more comprehensive, interactive, and evolved virtual social media series "Wright Virtual Visit 2.0." Apart from offering these in-depth virtual tours, the initiative focuses on highlighting Frank Lloyd Wright’s designed public sites, that otherwise are inaccessible due to pandemic shutdowns.

Started early this Aug 2020, the Wright Virtual Visit goes live on Facebook with a pair of public spaces designed by the famous architect and explores a theme, that can form the basis for interesting analysis, conversations of comparison, and contrast between the buildings. These are platforms for public engagement and are brief and informal. In addition to this, there will also be a live Q&A session conducted on Facebook allowing the global audience to have an interactive experience. 20 other Wright sites will also promote their live events responding to the theme, thereby addressing the broader wright community in a unique conversation.

This Thursday, December 10th, 2020, the Wright Visual Visit initiative is offering a tour of the Fallingwater and B. Harley Bradley House, and the theme for the event is proposed to be "Spaces for entertaining and relaxing". This event is scheduled to be live-streamed at 1 pm EST/10 am PST on the respective Facebook pages. Details of upcoming virtual tours and schedules can be found here.

Image: B. Harley Bradley House, Image © Wright in Kankakee

Jeff Goodman, vice president of communication and partnerships for the Foundation said, “Frank Lloyd Wright’s work was all about connection: connection between people and nature, buildings and nature, and people and each other. When the pandemic shut down our normal way of life, many of us mourned the loss of those connections. We started Wright Virtual Visits with the intention to bring Wright sites together, and connect with people from all over the world to share in the inspiration we can all take from Wright’s work. We hope these virtual visits will not only bring a little beauty and joy to people’s lives, but also inspire them to think differently about how to live more deeply connected to nature, art, and each other,”

In case you have missed previous Virtual tours or wish to take one this holiday season, you can access the archived events on the Conservancy website. 

Some of the past virtual tours and themes have been:

- Allen House (Wichita, Kansas) & Beth Sholom Synagogue (Elkins Park, Pennsylvania); Theme: Wright’s Developing Style 1915-1959

- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House (Buffalo, New York) & Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site (Springfield, Illinois); Theme: Wright’s Art Glass

- Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park (Kraus House, Kirkwood, Missouri) & Weltzheimer/Johnson House(Oberlin, Ohio); Theme: Geometry in Design

- Laurent House (Rockford, Illinois) & Samara (John E. Christian House, West Lafayette, Indiana); Theme: Client Driven Design

- Taliesin (Spring Green, Wisconsin) & Westcott House(Springfield, Ohio); Theme: Hidden Details & Surprises

- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) & The Gordon House (Silverton, Oregon); Theme: Architecture for Democracy

- Hollyhock House(Los Angeles, California) & Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center (Madison, Wisconsin); Theme: Wright Garden Terraces & Vistas

- Taliesin West (Scottsdale, Arizona) & Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois); Theme: Wright’s use of natural light.

Cover Image: Fallingwater. Image © VisitFallingWater

> via Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy