Florida Southern College and Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright has been a somewhat recurring theme on our road trips. In 2012, we made a special excursion to Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater, in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, and in 2016, we stopped at the Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago, Illinois. On the way home from Fort Myers through central Florida, we stopped at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. (I had discovered Florida Southern through Altas Obscura website and added it my list of must see attractions for the drive home.) In 1938, the Florida Southern's president, Dr. Ludd Spivey, met with Wright, who was 70 years old at the time, and engaged Wright to develop a master plan for the college. Wright said that he envisioned buildings "rising out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun." From 1938 to 1958, Wright devised and revised a master plan for the "Child of the Sun" campus, designing a total of 18 structures, twelve of which were constructed under Wright's guidance, making Florida Southern the largest and most fully articulated collection of Wright's work in the world. In 2012, Florida Southern was designated a National Historic Landmark for being the largest single-site collection of Wright architecture in the world. The 13th Wright-designed structure, the Usonian House (second photo below), wasn't built until 2013. Clare and Conor weren't as enthusiastic about the self-guided tour of the Florida Southern campus as I was (it was very hot and humid during our tour), but they soon warmed to the idea and had, I think, a good learning experience. If you're a real fan of Wright, it's definitely worth the visit if you're ever in the area.


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