Wright Spirit Award Recipients Announced
|
Introduced in 1991, the Wright Spirit Award recognizes the efforts of extraordinary individuals and organizations that have preserved the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright through their tireless dedication and persistent efforts. This year’s recipients, who will be honored at the annual conference in Mason City, Iowa (Oct. 10-14, 2012), include Steve Sikora and Lynette Erickson-Sikora (private category); Mary Jane Hamilton (professional category); Wright on the Park, Inc., the Board of Directors and Executive Director Ann MacGregor (public domain category); and Jack Holzhueter (special honors category).
Prior to its purchase by Sikora and Erickson-Sikora in 2002, the Willey House (1932-1934) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was in a state of disrepair. One of the most important designs of Wright’s career and a prototype for the Usonian designs he would produce from the mid-1930s until the end of his life, the Willey house suffered from rot, water damage, break-ins and serious neglect. After extensive research on the history of the property and proper methods and materials to employ, Sikora and Erickson-Sikora began work on the house and while costs exceeded projections they remained faithful to their restoration plan. The plan itself as well as a history of the house, timeline, massing models, a virtual tour and furniture details are available online and serves not only as an educational tool but also as a model for future restoration projects. Although the Willey House is not a public site due largely to neighborhood considerations, Sikora and Erickson-Sikora have been very generous in opening the house to individuals and groups.
Hamilton has been one of the most valued figures in the field of scholarship on Frank Lloyd Wright and the Lloyd-Jones family for the past four decades. She has written on various aspects of Wright’s life and career and was a major contributor to the 1990 book Frank Lloyd Wright and Madison: Eight Decades of Artistic and Social Interaction, edited by Paul Sprague. This invaluable work grew out of the exhibition Hamilton proposed in 1982 and curated six years later. Among the other exhibitions for which she was responsible, “Frank Lloyd Wright and the Book Arts,” held in 1992 and accompanied by a fascinating catalogue, stands out as having offered a unique insight into an area of Wright’s career too often overlooked. Her book on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Monona Terrace: The Enduring Power of a Civic Vision, co-authored with David Mollenhoff, is a major contribution to the knowledge of Wright’s urbanism and later career. In addition to her scholarly work, Hamilton has been deeply involved with the archives held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin as well as the stewardship of the First Unitarian Meeting House in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin.
Of the six hotels Frank Lloyd Wright designed during his career, the Historic Park Inn Hotel (1909-1910) in Mason City, Iowa, is the last still standing. Wright on the Park, Inc. was formed in 2005 with the sole mission of restoring the Park Inn and City National Bank to function as an historic, boutique hotel. Charged with the monumental task of returning the building to its original purpose, Wright on Park, Inc. faced decades of unsympathetic remodeling and several structural problems. Looking to a variety of funding sources that included grants, State of Iowa legislative appropriations, State and Federal historic tax credits, new market tax credits, private foundations and individuals, Wright on the Park, Inc., led by its board and executive director Ann MacGregor, was able to raise approximately $18.5 million for the restoration. All work done on the Park Inn and City National Bank followed the standards set by the National Park Service. The architectural firm of record was Bergland + Cram with construction management by Henkel Construction Company. Due to Wright on the Park’s diligence, the magnificent restoration of the Historic Park Inn Hotel was completed in 2010, a century after the hotel initially opened, and its doors were re-opened to the public in August 2011.
As befitting of the special honors category, it is hard to summarize all the contributions that Holzhueter has made to Wright scholarship and preservation efforts over the last several decades. In January of 2005, Holzhueter raised over $28,000 in less than four days to purchase 32 rare construction-era photographs of Taliesin dated 1911-1912, a phase of development that had been relatively ill-documented. Six years later, he spearheaded efforts to raise another $25,000 to purchase 25 rare vintage photographic proofs of Wright’s first design for Taliesin, a collection that otherwise would have been broken up and sold on eBay. During his many years as state historian with the Wisconsin Historical Society and an editor of the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Holzhueter served as the state’s authority on Wright and did much to promote Wright’s legacy. Several of his periodic Wisconsin Public Radio broadcasts focused on Wright and he was instrumental in arranging the largest exhibition ever mounted at the University of Wisconsin’s Elvehjem Museum of Art entitled “Frank Lloyd Wright and Madison.” Holzhueter has also been an ardent supporter of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and The Frank Lloyd Wright® Wisconsin Heritage Tourism Program, Inc., and that organization’s on-going restoration of the Burnham Street American System-Built Homes in Milwaukee.
|
|
|
|
Immediate past president Susan Jacobs Lockhart holding a Wright Spirit Award, which she designed.
|
The Willey House. Photo courtesy of Steve SIkora and Lynette Erickson-Sikora
|
|
Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank. Courtesy of Wright on the Park, Inc.
|
Jack Holhueter at last year's Silent Auction. Photo by Mark Hertzberg.
|
|
|
