Frank Lloyd Wright

Born in Wisconsin to a Welsh-American family, Wright apprenticed under Louis Sullivan in Chicago — "Lieber Meister", as he called him — before opening his own practice in 1893.

His Prairie style (Robie House, 1910) and later organic period (Fallingwater, 1937; Guggenheim Museum, 1959; Taliesin and Taliesin West) span seven decades. He completed over 500 works and proposed thousands more.

Wright treated buildings as continuous with their landscapes: cantilevered horizontal planes, integrated furniture, native materials, central hearths. His textile-block system used patterned concrete blocks as both structure and ornament.

Eight of his buildings are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The American Institute of Architects named him "the greatest American architect of all time" in 1991.