View allAll Photos Tagged Wisconsin
Built in phases between 1911 and 1959, this Prairie and Organic Modern-style house and office were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to serve as his family residence and studio, with two fires leading to substantial reconstruction of the house in 1914 and 1925. The house, which is named “Taliesin”, Welsh for “Shining Brow” or “Radiant Brow”, referring to the hill upon which it is situated, is a long and rambling structure with multiple sections built at different times, with the building serving as a living laboratory for Wright’s organic design philosophy, as well as growing with Wright’s family, wealth, and business. The house sits on a hill surrounded by fields, but is notably located below the top of the hill, which Wright saw as being such a significant feature of the landscape that it should remain untouched by the house’s presence. The house’s westernmost wings served as the home of livestock and farm equipment, as well as a garage, later becoming housing for the Taliesin Fellowship, where aspiring architects apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright. The central wing served as the Frank Lloyd Wright studio, where Wright and his apprentices and employees worked on projects for clients, as well as where Wright often met with clients. The eastern wing served as the Wright family’s residence, and was rebuilt twice, in 1914 and 1925, after being destroyed by fire, and is overall the newest section of the complex, though some portions of the west and central wings were added after the main phase of construction of the residence was complete.
The house is clad in stucco with a wooden shingle hipped and gabled roof, with stone cladding at the base and on piers that often flank window openings, large casement windows, clerestory windows, outdoor terraces and balconies, stone chimneys, and glass french doors, all of which connect the interior of the building to the surrounding landscape. The interior of the buildings feature vaulted ceilings in common areas, stone floors, stone and plaster walls, decorative woodwork, custom-built furniture, and multiple decorative objects collected by Wright during his life. The exterior of the house has a few areas distinctive from the rest of the structure, with a cantilevered balcony extending off the east facade drawing the eye towards the surrounding landscape from the living room of the residence, next to a large set of glass doors that enclose the living room and adjacent bedroom from a shallower cantilevered terrace, while to the west of the residence, and south of the central wing, is a landscaped garden, which rests just below the crest of the hill.
The building was the full-time home of Wright from 1911 until 1937, when Wright began to spend his winters at Taliesin West in Phoenix, Arizona, due to the effects of the Wisconsin winters on his health. For the rest of Wright’s life, the house was the summer home of Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship, and following his death, the house was deeded to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which operated and maintained the house as a museum and the home of multiple programs until 1990. Since 1990, the house has been under the stewardship of the nonprofit Taliesin Preservation Inc., which operates the house in conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The building is a contributing structure in the Taliesin Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Taliesin was one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings listed as The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2019. Today, Taliesin is utilized as a museum, offering tours and interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and work.
The Wisconsin state capitol building is a little hard to photograph. The building is shaped like a big X, with major streets bisecting the angle between the wings. In a photograph, this makes it hard (for me, at least) to figure out just what angle gives you a level horizon. No matter how I turn this, the photo looks tilted.
Completed in 1917 (a little late for the bulk of state capitols), this was the fifth building to house Wisconsin's government. The building is 284 feet tall, making it only three feet shorter than the U.S. capitol building in Washington. The dome is constructed of Vermont granite (because I guess they didn't realize that much of northern Wisconsin is granite) and is, according to Wisconsin, the largest granite dome in the world. The statue on the top supposedly has a badger on its head, though I didn't bring my camera with the superzoom, so I couldn't see that for myself.
These images were made during a journey down Rustic Road 109 in Oconto County on June 25, 2017.
R-109 is referred to by some local residents as “Wisconsin’s Everglades” because the road runs through a large complex
of coastal wetlands that ultimately connect to the Oconto Marsh.
Wisconsin's Rustic Roads system was created to preserve many of the state's scenic, lightly traveled country roads. Features of Rustic Roads include rugged terrain, native vegetation and wildlife, or open areas with agricultural vistas.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved.
Re-bellied Woodpecker flying through a wooded area along the north shore of Lake Wingra in Madison, Wisconsin