Finding 12: Frank Lloyd Wright Temporary Building and Exhibition

Frank Lloyd Wright, the renowned and innovative architect, was commissioned to build a permanent building to exhibit and house the Guggenheim Museum’s collection in 1943.  Construction did not begin until 1956, but a temporary glass-pavilion building designed by Wright was erected in 1953 on the grounds where the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum building can be found today. Sixty Years of Living Architecture: The Work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the first and only exhibition held in the building, opened on October 5, 1953. The show, dedicated to Wright’s career and lifeworks, featured drawings, models, and life-size reconstructions of his most famous architectural creations and interior designs. This included a full scale Usonian House, based on Wright’s vision of the future of American private homes that was built on the museum grounds before being sold, disassembled, and moved to a permanent location. The house’s unique flat roof and upper windows can be seen on the left of the picture behind the concrete wall erected around both structures.

—Pete Asch, archives assistant