Frank Lloyd Wright's Bogk House: A Bold Experiment examines the only fully realised Wright house of the 1910s to engage directly with Primitivism — drawing on non-Western sources as a foundation for modern design — and in doing so illuminates the least understood decade of his career.
About This Book
Designed in 1916 for Frederick C. and Katherine G. Bogk in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Bogk House sits at an unusual intersection in Frank Lloyd Wright's practice: a resolved domestic work that reveals his sustained engagement with Primitivism at a time when that influence has rarely been examined. Architectural historians Anthony Alofsin and Richard L. Cleary approach the house as more than a formal exercise — tracing the Bogk family's immigrant story, Milwaukee's civic emergence, and Wright's evolving approach to total interior design. Drawing on previously unpublished letters, photographs, drawings, and documents from the Elsner family's private archive, this book brings new primary source material to Wright scholarship and reframes a pivotal, overlooked period in his development.
Key Features
- 200 pages of architectural history, archival documentation, and new photography of interiors largely unchanged for over a century
- Written by Anthony Alofsin and Richard L. Cleary, both eminent architectural historians and Wright scholars
- New photography of the Bogk House by Alexander Vertikoff, renowned for his use of natural light
- Draws on unpublished letters, photographs, drawings, and documents from the private Elsner family archive
- Published by Wiley, 2023
What You'll Discover
- How Wright's engagement with Primitivism — the use of non-Western sources as inspiration — shaped his design thinking during a period not well represented in mainstream Wright literature
- The social and cultural context of the Bogk commission: an immigrant family's rise set against Milwaukee's emergence as a significant American city
- Wright's philosophy of total design as evidenced by interiors that have remained largely intact for more than a century
- New primary source material from a private archive, including unpublished correspondence and drawings that shed light on Wright's design process in the 1910s
About the Author
Anthony Alofsin and Richard L. Cleary are both eminent architectural historians and recognised Wright scholars. Together they bring specialist expertise to a commission that has received limited sustained scholarly attention, drawing on archival research to reframe its significance within Wright's broader career.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 200
- Dimensions: 28 x 23 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780300282375
- Publisher: Wiley
- Publication Date: 2023
Perfect For: Architects and designers with a serious interest in Frank Lloyd Wright, architectural historians researching early twentieth-century American modernism, and scholars investigating the role of Primitivism in Western architectural practice.