Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Autograph
“The Autograph” from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Raymond Carlson house (1950) in Phoenix, Arizona.
But first…In 1950, Wright commissioned ceramicist Jeanette Pauson Haber, to make some 25 red tiles inscribed with his initials, that were, in an account preserved in the Wright archives, “intended to be placed in buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright where the consecution and final completion of the opus adhered to his specifications and thus received his personal approval.”
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“The Autograph” next to the red tile is what I believe the one and only time Wright actually autographed directly on one of his designs. Today, the owner told me the story that Wright came to see the house just after completion and the owners were not home. He was in a rush so he left a message directly on the house itself. It reads “HURRAH RAY FLLW, March 15, 1950.” The owners put glass over it to protect the message.
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Now, I have seen a bunch of red tiles and a boot print of Wrights at Taliesin but this autograph is cool. It’s like signing a canvas, why don’t other architects do this?