If you want to see all of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and buildings, you’ll need to travel throughout the United States… and around the world.
That would take a lot of time and money, let me tell you!
But there’s one really cool place in Florida where you can see the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture anywhere.
How fortunate that this National Historic Landmark, designated as such by the National Park Service in 2012, is practically in my own backyard!
I live in the Tampa Bay Area, and it was just a short drive down Interstate-4 from me.
And guess what?… You can see these amazing Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Florida for FREE!
They’re located on the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland — which is about halfway between Tampa and Disney World, just a few miles south of I-4.
This makes it really convenient to visit these Frank Lloyd Wright buildings if you’re in Florida and staying in Orlando or anywhere else in Central Florida.
Why Are Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings In Florida?
So, what’s up with Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Florida? That’s what I wanted to know.
I love architecture, and I had always associated Wright’s architectural designs with big cities up North — like New York and Chicago.
Wright (who lived from 1867 through 1959) designed more than 1,000 structures over the course of his long and illustrious career as an architect. He was beloved around the world for his forward-thinking designs.
Widely regarded as the American founder of the Art Deco style and Modern style that followed, Wright’s influence is seen in countless structures throughout big cities and small in every corner of the United States.
Some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous buildings include:
- Price Tower — Located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, the Price Tower was built in 1952 and stands 19 stories tall.
- Fallingwater — Easily one of Wright’s most iconic residential structures, Fallingwater is located in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, and was built in 1936 over a waterfall.
- Unity Temple — This Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Illinois, was built between 1905 and 1908 and serves as the home for the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
- R. W. Lindholm Service Station — This service station in Cloquet, Wisconsin, was built in 1958 and is the only service station built according to a design by Frank Lloyd Wright during his lifetime.
- A. D. German Warehouse — This warehouse located in Richland Center, Wisconsin, where Wright was born, was completed in 1921 and features Mayan-inspired decorative elements.
Wright’s incredibly diverse resume was already well established by the time Florida Southern College was looking to transform a 100-acre lakeside orange grove into its new campus in the late 1930s.
So, Wright was tapped by Florida Southern College President Ludd M. Spivey to design more than a dozen buildings for the campus — reimagining the subtropical spread with a variety of distinctive structures that the architect said would “grow out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun.”
List Of Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings At Florida Southern Campus
My wife and I visited the campus of Florida Southern College (which was originally founded in Orlando back in 1883) to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.
The architect designed 18 structures, 12 of which he lived to see built. They totally transform the campus — with its astounding rolling hills and sweeping vistas.
Along with the dozen structures that Wright lived to see, there is an additional building that Wright designed in the 1930s but was not built until the 21st century!
Frank Lloyd Wright structures at Florida Southern College:
- Annie Pfeiffer Chapel — Ground broke in 1938 for what became the first of the Wright buildings at the campus. Named for a philanthropist, Annie Pfeiffer Chapel opened in 1941 to become the spiritual center of the campus and is known as “God’s Bicycle Rack” due to its distinctive wrought-iron crosshatched structure reaching for the heavens.
- L.A. Raulerson Building / Three Seminars — Formerly 3 separate buildings that were constructed over 1940-1941, the L.A. Raulerson Building is the amalgam of the formerly separate Carter, Walbridge, and Hawkins Seminar Buildings, all of which were combined as a single administration building in 1958.
- Thaddeus G. Buckner Building (originally known as the E.T. Roux Library) — Built in 1942 as the campus’s library, it was renamed in 1968 when the stacks moved to new digs. The building boasts a concrete roof with no interior columns and clerestory windows — the latter a Wright trademark.
- Lucius Pond Ordway Building — Constructed in 1952, the Ordway Building offers a massive gathering space that was recently revamped to host the school’s architecture program.
- William H. Danforth Chapel — Dedicated in 1955, the William H. Danforth Chapel showcases Wright’s only foray into leaded glass on campus and is clad in native Florida tidewater red cypress.
- Polk County Science Building — This massive structure is also the largest of all the Wright-designed buildings on campus. Built throughout the mid-1950s, the Polk County Science Building houses the only planetarium Wright ever designed.
- Emile E. Watson-Benjamin Fine Buildings — This administration facility consisting of 2 buildings opened in 1948 donning a copper-lined roof and adorned by an ornamental pool.
- J. Edgar Wall Water Dome — A centerpiece of the Florida Southern College campus, the J. Edgar Wall Water Dome was built in 1948 and was restored in 2007. The 75 jets can send water as high as 45 feet into the air!
- The Esplanade — A series of covered walkways connects many of the Wright buildings on campus. They keep students and other passersby out of the sun and rain. The Esplanade is more than a mile long, but watch your head — the ceilings aren’t more than 7 feet high.
- Usonian Faculty House — Designed by Wright in 1939, the Usonian House was built in 2013 after plans for the two-bedroom, one-bathroom faculty house were found in archives. The L-shaped concrete home is a Mid-Century Modern dream, boasting distinctive Wright trademarks such as a clean design, straight lines, and organic cues.
Some of the buildings constructed at the campus during Wright’s career were built by the college’s students. And during World War II (U.S. involvement from 1941 through 1945), the vast majority of these construction workers were women!
How To See Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings At Florida Southern College
If you want to tour the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern College, you have a few options.
My wife and I took a self-guided tour of the campus. The self-guided tour of the campus is FREE.
TIP: We bought a really cool brochure at the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center detailing the Wright buildings for a nominal fee. This brochure was instrumental in helping us enjoy our personal tour of the campus and for finding out more about the unique buildings!
What if you want to see INSIDE the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern College?
For that, there are tours guided by historians and campus officials! The Florida southern Frank Lloyd Wright tours are not free, but they’re certainly worth the money.
However you plan to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern College, it’s something you must see and do while in the Sunshine State. This goes double for fans of architecture like me!
Let us know in the comments below if you’ve visited (or plan to visit) the Lakeland Florida Frank Lloyd Wright buildings!
