Frank Lloyd Wright is considered the most influential American architect of the 20th century. His legacy is an architectural style that departed from European influences to create a purely American form, one that included the idea that buildings can be in harmony with the natural environment.

Frank Lloyd Wright(Son) Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright spent more than 70 years creating designs that revolutionized the art and architecture of the twentieth century.  Many innovations in today's buildings are products of his imagination.  In all he designed 1141 works - including houses, offices, churches, schools, libraries, bridges, museums and many other building types.  Of that total, 532 resulted in completed works, 409 of which still stand. 

The Joshua Tree Retreat Center at the Ding Le Mei Institute of Mentalphysics, has the largest known collection of Lloyd Wright buildings. Most of the architecture was started by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed by his son, Lloyd.

Wright's creative mind was not confined to architecture.  He also designed furniture, fabrics, art glass, lamps, dinnerware, silver, linens and graphic arts.  In addition, he was a prolific writer, an educator and a philosopher.  He authored twenty books and countless articles, lectured throughout the United States and in Europe, and developed a remarkable plan for decentralizing urban America (Broadacre City) that continues to be debated by scholars and writers even to this day - decades after its conception. 

Wright is considered by most authorities to be the 20th century's greatest architect.  Indeed, the American Institute of Architects in a recent national survey, recognized Frank Lloyd Wright to be "the greatest American architect of all time."  "Architectural Record" magazine (the official magazine of the American Institute of Architects) declared that Wright's buildings stand out among the most significant architectural works during the last 100 years in the world. 

Wright practiced what is known as organic architecture, an architecture that evolves naturally out of the context, most importantly for him the relationship between the site and the building and the needs of the client. For example, houses in wooded regions made heavy use of wood, desert houses had rambling floor plans and heavy use of stone, and houses in rocky areas such as Los Angeles were built mainly of cinder block.

CARAVANSARY OF JOY

DING LE MEI HOUSE

DING LE MEI HOUSE SWIMMING POOL

WATER TERRACE DINING HALL

WATER TERRACE DINING HALL

WATER TERRACE DINING HALL

RIDGE COTTAGES (INTERIOR)