ABSTRACT
During the first decade of professional independence, Wright’s architectural designs were overtly contrived, no doubt in a frantic effort to find his own stylizations. Buildings were at times awkward in plan, massing, and elevation, now and then lapsing into bold display, noticeably for several houses. While working as a draftsman in Wright’s office, architect Charles White witnessed the latter stages of those struggles and, in 1904, remarked that Wright
was trying to break away from Sullivanism, and casting about for methods of self expression. His works of those days . . . [lacked] the stability and refinement of his present work. It was over-elaborated – covered with “ornamented ornament.” His tendency of the last two years has been to simplify and reduce to the “lowest elements” (as he says). . . .1
