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Finding aid for 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
Date (inclusive): 1914-1929
Number: 960076
Creator/Collector:
Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M.)
Creator/Collector:
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Physical Description:
1.0 linear feet
(2 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
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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English
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.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence with R. M. Schindler, 1914-1929, bulk 1918-1922, Getty Research Institute, Research Library,
Accession no. 960076.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa960076
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.
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.
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.
Barnsdall, Aline, 1882-1946
Hayashi, Aisaku
Mueller, Paul
Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M.)
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Wright, Lloyd, 1890-1978
Hollyhock House (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Teikoku Hoteru
Architects and patrons--California--Los Angeles
Architecture, Modern--20th century--California, Southern
Concrete construction