Detroit will host the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s 2024 conference, Frank Lloyd Wright & the American City Today, featuring tours and speakers Sept. 25-29.
Taking place in and around the city and based at the recently renovated Westin Book Cadillac Detroit downtown, the Frank Lloyd Wright conference in Detroit will assemble about 200 attendees from across the U.S. They will include owners of Wright-built homes, building stewards, preservation advocates, scholars, and design enthusiasts.
The American architect was known for transforming architecture in the 20th century, embracing a philosophy that used design to create harmony between people and the environment.
“When people think of Frank Lloyd Wright, they think certainly of large structures—The Guggenheim, Fallingwater, stuff like that,” says Audra Dye, an architectural historian and planner in the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department, in a recent interview. Dye is also a member of the conference committee. “And they think of Illinois, specifically Chicago, and Wisconsin. But Michigan is really kind of like … the third of the ‘big three’ for Wright’s career.”
Dye explained that Michigan has a storied history with Wright, offering the third-most Wright-built structures as well as “a plethora” of unbuilt projects that can be viewed on paper. “It’s really a deep connection that Wright has with Detroit,” she says.
Tours occurring as part of the Detroit conference will showcase six Wright-designed houses across southeast Michigan: Affleck House in Bloomfield Hills (1940), Goetsch-Winckler House in Okemos (1939), Palmer House in Ann Arbor (1950), Smith House in Bloomfield Hills (1946), the Dorothy H. Turkel House in Detroit (1955), and Donald A. and Mary Lou Schaberg House in Okemos (1950). Other stops will include landmarks created by such architects as Ellel and Eero Saarinen, Paul Rudolph, Alexander Girard, William Kessler, and others. Many are private homes not typically available for public tours.
Talks during the event will be presented around its namesake theme, “Frank Lloyd Wright & the American City Today.” Speakers will focus on the relationships of Wright’s work and legacy to historical and contemporary issues of American cities and suburbs.
During the conference, the 2024 Wright Spirit Awards will also be presented. Those who will be honored during the annual conference gala on Sept. 28 include Robert G. Bohlmann, AIA, for his leadership and educational outreach in stewarding the B. Harley Bradley House in Kankakee, Illinois; Thomas B. Hagen, for his role in the preservation, reconstruction and showcasing of the Frank Lloyd Wright/Aaron Green San Francisco Field Office in Erie, Pennsylvania; Lawrence Technological University, for its stewardship of the Affleck House; Susan Jacobs Lockhard, for a lifetime of service to the Frank Lloyd Wright community; Patricia P. McLachlan, for restoring the P.D. Hoyt House in Geneva, Illinois; and Sidney K. Robinson, for contributing to the preservation of Wright’s work through his career as an architectural educator and author.
While many events associated with the Frank Lloyd Wright conference in Detroit are filled, tickets are still available for the opening reception at the Book Tower on Wednesday night and the Thursday through Saturday conference talks. Dye says Thursday and Friday sessions will feature Detroit-centric themes. Waitlist availability remains for the post-conference tour to Okemos on Sunday. Registration is available here.
Opportunities remain for those interested in volunteering for the tours at the sites and homes being visited, or at the conference space itself. Those interested can email Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Conference & Events Manager Glenn Burr at events@savewright.org with the subject line: FLWBC Conference Volunteer Interest. Otherwise, phone directly to 312-663-5500 and ask for Burr.
The conference is part of the Detroit Month of Design Festival, and its presenting sponsor is Chicago-based Tawani Property Management. Future conferences will be held in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; as well as Phoenix, Arizona.