Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Building: Myth and Fact by Jack Quinan, and: Louis H. Sullivan: The Banks by Lauren S. Weingarden (review)

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S LARKIN BUILDING: MYTH AND FACT byJack Quinan. The Architectural History Foundation and MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.SA., 1987. 186 pp., illus. ISBN: 0-262-17004-3. LOUIS H. SULLIVAN: THE BANKS by Lauren S. Weingarden. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.SA., 1987. 144 pp., illus. ISBN: 0-262-23130-1. Reviewed byEva Belik, 1610 Mulcahy, Rosenberg, TX, 77471, U.S.A. The first book, byJack Quinan, is an abundantly illustrated documentation of a single building by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Larkin Building. In 1904, the Larkin Company commissioned Wright to design the headquarters of their soap manufacturing and mailorder business in Buffalo, New York. Once an architectural masterpiece, the Larkin Building was tom down by the City of Buffalo in 1950. The author presents the building's history and its impact on modem architecture , including several appendices containing relevant support material. In the first chapter, 'The Commission ", Quinan gives an entertaining account of Frank Lloyd Wright's first contact with the Larkin Company, including personal letters between the chief executives. He also describes the working relationship, the process of compromise between the client's requirements and the architect's notions . The next chapter discusses the history of the Larkin Company, providing key information for understanding the character of the company that the building was meant to reflect. In the third chapter, "Evolution and Sources of Design", the author traces the development of new features such as the external location of staircases. He discusses different influences, including the initial influence of Louis H. Sullivan, Wright's former employer. Technical data such as the materials used and air purification and conditioning, as well as lighting and furniture design, are documented in the fourth chapter. Chapter 5 focuses on the symbolic content of the building in its sculptural decoration and layout of working areas and departments within the six-story complex, reflecting the ideology of the Larkin Company leaders. The positive and negative critical evaluations of the building are detailed in Chapter 6. Finally, the last chapter explains the demolition, brought on by unfavorable economic conditions. Quinan states that the three aims of his book are "to bring back to life [the Larkin Administration Building] as nearly as possible and in form useful to anyone studying Wright's work", "to recreate the context of the building in both a historical and architectural sense" and "to review and comment on the critical evaluations of the building over the years." The second book, by Lauren S. Weingarden, documents eight rural banks that Louis H. Sullivan designed between 1906 and 1920. The book consists of three parts. In the first part, entitled "Historical Survey", the author reviews the banks as a group. She discusses topics such as the critical legacy of the banks, the colors, the notion that 'form follows function' and Sullivan's shift from 'transcendental idealism' to 'pragmatist realism'. The second part contains color plates illustrating some of the ideas discussed in the first part, for example the 'jewel box' character of Sullivan's banks. In the third part, "A Catalogue of the Banks", Weingarden describes the banks individually, providing technical and chronological details as well as a critical evaluation. Weingarden's aims in this book are "to restore the original integrity of Sullivan's designs for rural town banks" and to "highlight in each bank a different facet of Sullivan's approach to the midwestern rural bank". Both books document achievements in architecture of the early twentieth century. Before his own move from domestic to public architecture , Frank Lloyd Wright worked as a chief draftsman for Sullivan's firm. In the preliminary drawings of the Larkin Building, Wright used arches and decorations reminiscent of Sullivan's banks, but these were eliminated in the final design. The two books together provide a direct comparison of the different styles and concerns ofWright and Sullivan. Both Quinan and Weingarden are practicing art historians. Although the analysis of their respective subjects may seem similar, the presentation of each author is quite different. Quinan discusses both the positive and the negative aspects of the Larkin building and Wright himself. For example, he points out discrepancies between Wright'S autobiography and the facts found...