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INVENTORY OF THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT CORRESPONDENCE WITH
R.M. SCHINDLER, 1914-1929, bulk 1918-1922
960076
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Title: Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence with R. M.
Schindler
Dates: 1914-1929
Dates: 1918-1922
Collection number: 960076
Creator:
Schindler, R.
M. (Rudolph M.), 1887-1953
Creator:
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Extent:
1 linear ft.
(2
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
Abstract: The association between the architects Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
and R. M. Schindler (1887-1953) began in 1914 when Schindler first wrote to
Wright asking for a position, and revolved around two major commissions while Schindler worked for Wright: the
Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, known as Teikoku Hoteru (1913-1923), and the Barnsdall
project, which includes Hollyhock house, in Los Angeles (1915-1924). Correspondence between Frank Lloyd Wright and R.
M. Schindler contains
approximately 160 items, primarily letters and telegrams, dating from 1914 (the
year Schindler came to the United States from Vienna) to 1929.
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Language: Collection material in English
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence with R.
M. Schindler, 1914-1929, bulk 1918-1922, Getty Research Institute, Research
Library, Accession no. 960076.
The collection was acquired from R. M. Schindler's son, Mark
Schindler, in 1996.
William Dabars processed and arranged the collection in 1997. J. Gibbs wrote this finding aid in March 1999.
The association between the architects Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
and R. M. Schindler (1887-1953) began in 1914 when Schindler first wrote to
Wright asking for a position, and revolved around two major commissions: the
Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, known as Teikoku Hoteru, (1913-1923) and the Barnsdall
project, which includes Hollyhock house, in Los Angeles (1915-1924).
Schindler arrived in the United States in 1914 from Vienna, joined
Wright's studio in 1918 and worked for him through 1922. During these years,
Wright was immersed in the design and construction of the Imperial Hotel in
Tokyo and spent months at a time there beginning December 1916 through July
1922. Schindler remained at Taliesin (Spring Green, Wisconsin) and Chicago for
Wright until 1920 when Schindler moved to Los Angeles to supervise the
construction of the Barnsdall project.
The Imperial Hotel (Teikoku Hoteru) in Tokyo was first constructed in
1888-1889 to accomodate the arrival of Westerners, instigated by the Emperor's
interest in opening trade to the West. By 1910 a larger and more modern hotel
was needed. Frank Lloyd Wright was recommended for the job in 1911, in part
because of his well-known interest in Japanese art (which had prompted him to
vacation in Japan for three months in 1905). By 1916 the decision was made to
hire Wright and he departed for Tokyo December 28, 1916.
Wright worked closely with the Managing Director of the Imperial
Hotel, Aisaku Hayashi and, to a lesser extent, with the Chairman of the Board
of the hotel, Baron Okura. Wright brought some of his draftsmen (Antonin
Raymond, William E. Smith among others) and contractors (such as the Chicago
builder Paul Mueller) to Tokyo to work with him.
The difficult soil conditions - eight feet of soil on top of about 60
feet of liquid mud - and the frequency of earthquakes necessitated particular
attention to the engineering of the foundation of the building. In late 1919
the Annex of the old Imperial Hotel burned down. This loss made the need for
the new hotel building even more urgent. Wright was asked to rebuild the Annex
and speed up the construction of the hotel. Wright designed and built a new
Annex which opened in 1920. He completed the new hotel in 1923. On the morning
of the hotel's official opening, September 1, 1923, a severe earthquake hit
Tokyo and proved the brilliance of the hotel's structural engineering. The
Imperial Hotel suffered little damage and became the headquarters of refugees
and rescue efforts because it was one of the few buildings still standing.
Aline Barnsdall (1882-1928) commissioned Wright to design a residence
(Hollyhock house, 1917-1922) and other buildings to support a center for the
arts on Olive Hill in Los Angeles (1915-1924). Miss Barnsdall, whose money came
from her family's oil business, was interested in theater and music. She first
commissioned a theater from Wright in 1915, before she had even settled on a
site. In June 1919 she purchased 36 acres in Los Angeles. In the fall of 1919
construction began on the residence.
Wright's son, Lloyd Wright, supervised the early construction
(grading, foundations, pools). By 1920 Schindler was producing working drawings
for the residence, named Hollyhock house after Miss Barnsdall's favorite
flower. The initial plan included Hollyhock house, two smaller residences
referred to as Residence A and B, a theater, a house for a resident artistic
director, an apartment house known as the Actors' Abode (not built), an
entrance pavilion for the public (not built), a row of shops along Hollywood
Boulevard with small houses on the terraces above (not built), and a movie
theater (not built).
In December 1920 Schindler moved to Los Angeles to take over the
supervision of the project. By fall of 1921 Hollyhock house and residences A
and B were nearly completed. Other work on Barnsdall, some of which Schindler,
Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra had a hand in, continued until 1924.
Schindler remained in Los Angeles for the rest of his life. Wright
opened an office in Los Angeles for a brief period, 1923-1924, but returned to
Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin in 1924.
Scope and Content of Collection
Correspondence between Frank Lloyd Wright and R. M. Schindler contains
approximately 160 items, primarily letters and telegrams, dating from 1914 (the
year Schindler came to the United States from Vienna) to 1929. The bulk of the
correspondence dates between 1918-1922. Several items are undated. The
correspondence begins with a letter from Schindler asking about the possibility
of a position with Wright, undated but probably November 23, 1914. It ends in
August 1929 with Wright's letters of recommendation for Schindler to present to
the architecture licensing board in California.
In between, the majority of letters (1918-1922) concern the Imperial
Hotel, which Wright is working on in Tokyo (1913-1923), and the Barnsdall
project in Los Angeles (1915-1924) which Schindler is supervising for Wright
from Chicago and then Los Angeles. Most of Wright's letters are handwritten,
most of Schindler's are typed. All of Schindler's letters, except some
telegrams, are carbon copies. This correspondence was part of Schindler's
personal papers and was acquired by the Getty Research Institute from his
son.
Twelve items in the collection are not letters. These include brief
financial accounts, specifications, a photograph of F.L. Wright, Schindler's
telephone book (probably dating after 1919 because most of the numbers are for
Los Angeles), two poetic manifesto-like essays, a four-page draft from Wright's
autobiography, and a handmade booklet titled "Frank Lloyd Wright Utterances,"
with pencil entries.
Wright's letters give details of the construction of the Imperial
Hotel (Teikoku Hoteru), especially the foundation engineering and the utility
systems, with occasional sketches. He urges Schindler to write every week and
complains when the letters and telegrams do not give enough detail or are
delayed. He requests boring machines, contracts, the detailed drawings he has
asked Schindler to work out for the Imperial Hotel and the Barnsdall project,
and news. The lack of money is a minor but constant theme on both sides of the
correspondence. He addresses Schindler's questions about the design of the
Barnsdall house group (Hollyhock house, the director's house and theater) and
praises Schindler's design for the Shampay house (1919). Several letters
mention Sullivan, including Wright's attempt to bring him to Japan, and the
money Wright sends him. Two of Wright's letters speak elliptically of his
companion Miriam Noel and their troubled relationship. Three letters from 1924
reveal a rift between Wright and Schindler when Wright rebukes Schindler and
blames him for the problems on the Barnsdall job.
Schindler's letters from Chicago, Oak Park and Taliesin (1918-1920)
give details of the work he is doing to reconfigure Wright's Oak Park house
into separate rental units and then find renters. He is in contact with Lloyd
Wright who is in Los Angeles getting ready to start construction on the
Barnsdall house (Hollyhock house). Schindler also responds to Wright's requests
for bids and machinery for the Imperial Hotel construction, as well as the
working out of design details. In two letters Schindler recommends his friend
Richard Neutra to Wright. In late 1920 Schindler moves to Los Angeles and his
letters are filled with news of the Barnsdall job and the difficult Miss
Barnsdall. He alludes to other jobs, including his efforts to finance and build
his own house (the Schindler-Chase house on Kings Road). A file of eight
letters between Wright and Schindler, November - December 1922, relate to the
design of a house for Mrs. Charles P. Lowes in Eagle Rock, California. In these
letters Wright addresses the wider problem of designing the small house. The
last file of letters (1927-1929) contains Schindler's request for a letter of
recommendation for his license application, and Wright's several responses,
some of which, Schindler responds to Wright, would do more harm than good.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged chronologically with the undated items
that are not letters at the beginning. All undated letters have probable dates
and are inter-filed with dated correspondence.
Architects and patrons—California—Los Angeles
Architecture, Modern—20th
century—California, Southern
Concrete
construction
Hollyhock House (Hollywood,
Los Angeles, Calif.)
Teikoku Hoteru
Barnsdall, Aline,
1882-1946
Hayashi,
Aisaku
Mueller,
Paul
Schindler, R. M. (Rudolph
M.), 1887-1953
Wright, Frank Lloyd,
1867-1959
Wright, Lloyd,
1890-1978
Schindler, R. M. (Rudolph
M.), 1887-1953
Wright, Frank Lloyd,
1867-1959