Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 to 1959) is currently recognized as a dominant figure in the history of modern architecture and the greatest influence related to design in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. During his long and highly creative career, Wright designed and constructed a unique body of work that endures to this very day. Beginning in 1889 with the design of his own home in Oak Park, Illinois, Wright went on to create and design hundreds of private, commercial and civic buildings, ranging from homes of the rich and famous to churches and schools. .

             His varied architectural style is generally unified via underlying principles related to change and innovation which are reflected in his structures, all bearing a sense of unity, privacy and a free expression of interior space. Wright also designed and created furniture, art glass, lighting fixtures, table linens, carpets and garages. But most important, Wright always experimented with form and materials, aided by technology, which helped him to create structures that encompassed many artistic movements developed in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

             Born in Richland Center, Wisconsin on June 8, 1867, Frank Lloyd Wright's early childhood was marked by the desertion of his father when Wright was only sixteen years old. Amazingly, his mother, a strong yet compassionate woman, had decided long before her son was born that he would be an architect, and when Wright was a small child, his mother provided simple wood blocks, paper and other materials which he would "arrange, with her assistance, into shapes resembling rudimentary furniture and buildings. According to Wright himself, these early experiences with his mother "left their mark on my mind and greatly affected my future work as an architect" ( Twombly, 45).

             At the age of eighteen, Wright became a student at the engineering school of the University of Wisconsin but dropped out after only two years of study.