If you’re looking for an adventure into Central Florida, consider a day trip to Florida Southern College (FSC) in Lakeland to view the buildings designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
There are more Wright-designed structures here than anywhere else in the world – 13 in all. The college boasts that its Wright collection won recognition as a Historic Landmark in 2012 for being the “largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.”
Another Frank Lloyd Wright house, Lewis Spring House, is in Tallahassee. The owner met Wright at FSC, and a connection was made. However, unlike the collection of buildings at FSC, it is a singular dwelling.
So, how did little FSC capture the eye, the heart and the soul of architectural visionary Frank Lloyd Wright? Well, it was easy back in 1938 when another visionary, then FSC president Ludd Spivey, asked Wright to meet with him to discuss expanding the campus.
Spivey wanted to build a campus that embraced new technologies and modern artistic awareness. Although money was short, Spivey told Wright that if he would design the buildings, he would dedicate himself to raising the funds to pay for it.
Wright leaped at the opportunity to design and build a community, something historians say Wright had long wanted to do. As for Spivey, he thought Wright might like the chance to do his own thing at FSC.
Spivey was right about Wright.
On its webpage, FSC tells the tale of the Spivey-Wright encounter by quoting the telegram Spivey sent to Wright: “Desire a conference with you to discuss the construction of a great educat[ion] temple in Florida. Please collect wire when and where I can see you.”
Wright invited Spivey to Taliesin, his estate in Wisconsin. The rest is history.
Wright made his first visit to FSC on May 8, 1938. At the time, the campus had only seven buildings; most of the property was undeveloped and covered with citrus trees. FSC’s tale of Wright’s first visit to campus quotes him as saying he felt he could design buildings there that would grow “out of the ground and into the light – a Child of the Sun.”
Visitors to campus can wander around and check out the buildings independently. No official tour is necessary; you can see and meander through the treasures before you. But you may fail to grasp the whole story. Doing your homework helps you scope out each building. Signing up for one of the tours at the Frank Lloyd Wright house helps the visitor understand the true significance of this collaboration.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center is just off Hollingsworth Road. There is ample parking for visitors, which is not always available at a college or university.
Most of the Wright buildings are on the southern part of the FSC campus, not far from a very gentle rolling slope around Lake Hollingsworth.
Wright’s first design was for what would become the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, with its 65-foot bell tower, which would become the first college chapel with a modern design that used skylights.
According to the website, Wright began working at FSC immediately following the Depression, when money was scarce. Students provided labor to compensate for funding shortages. When World War II started, “Rosie the Riveter” took over. The wartime FSC student body and the Wright construction crew were made up almost entirely of women.
One thing that stands out as the visitor wanders from building to building is the Esplanade, or covered walkways, that link the Wright-designed buildings that went up during his lifetime. The Esplanade is more than a mile long. It also means you can leave your umbrella at home, which worked well on the rainy day we visited with nary an umbrella among the three of us.
The last structure to be built was done posthumously after Wright died in 1959. When Spivey and Wright first got together 20 years earlier, Spivey asked Wright to build a single-family home to set the stage for what would have become a faculty housing neighborhood on campus using his Usonian residential design style. That didn’t happen, but the plans were still around, and in 2013, the structure was built to serve as the Sharp Family Tourism & Education Center, the heart of all Frank Lloyd Wright activity on campus. That is the 13th Wright-designed structure on campus.
You can sign up for one of three tours at the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center. The introductory tour costs $35, and an in-depth one is $50. Both are offered twice daily. A third, longer, behind-the-scenes tour is $125 and must be reserved. There is also a $15 tour of the Usonian House that includes viewing of a documentary about Wright’s work at Florida Southern.
