Over the course of his career which spanned more than seven decades, legendary designer and architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed more than 1,100 structures – most of which were never built. In partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Spanish architect David Romero has been working to bring these lost projects to life, or reviving his buildings that have been demolished, with 3D renders based on Wrights original sketches and plans.
After first partnering with the foundation in 2018, Romero recreated six different designs of Frank Lloyd Wright’s that never broke ground and recently has released a further three projects that highlight the grand scale and vision of the architects work. You can check out more images of the work Romero has been doing, but let’s take a closer look at the nine buildings Frank Lloyd Wright originally designed that he’s recreated.
The Illinois (Chicago, Illinois)
This is the most famous Frank Lloyd Wright design that was never built, mainly because it’s sheer scale would have made it almost impossible to construct. Invisaged as a tower that stretched a mile into the sky, it would have stood twice as tall as the Burj Khalifa and counted 18 million square feet of space across its 528 stories.
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Roy Wetmore Car Repair and Showroom (Detroit, Michigan)
This was a project that was much closer to realisation, after Wright was engaged to remodel the showroom and service area of the Roy Wetmore car dealership. With bold futurist lines, it received some work to the interior based on Wright’s designs, but the project was never finished to completion.
Gordon Strong Automobile Objective (Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland)
Architecture enthusiasts might recognise some similarities between this design and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which Wright also designed (and served as a location for a gun battle in the Clive Owen and Naomi Watts thriller The International). Imagined as a planetarium and scenic lookout, its spiralling conical structure would have been iconic if it had ever been constructed.
Trinity Chapel (Norman, Oklahoma)
Wright’s enthusiasm for non-right angled structures is well recocniseg, but this place of worship would have been the quintessential example had it ever been built. Commissioned by Fred Jones as a chapel at the University of Oklahoma, it became clear as soon as the plans were finalised that a misunderstanding had occurred, where the chapel was meant to be integrated into an existing building, rather than a freestanding structure.
National Life Insurance Building (Chicago, Illinois)
Ahead of his time in many ways, this tower for the National Life Insurance Building would have been one of the first glass-facade city buildings had it been constructed, in response to what he perceived as “congestion” in CBD areas. Has the project come to life, it would have been a 25-story behemoth, with no load-bearing on the exterior.
Larkin Administration Building (Buffalo, New York)
The 1904 Larkin Administration Building was Wright’s first completed work, as a monolithic red brick structure that boasted an internal courtyard with walls nearly 25m tall, as well as unusual features such as air conditioning and built-in desk furniture. It was demolished in 1950 following financial hardship the Larkin Company fell into, with plans announced to replace it with a truck stop. No truck stop was ever constructed.
Butterfly Wing Bridge (San Francisco, California)
Anothe project that would likely have been a Frank Lloyd Wright icon had it’s grace not been lost on planning committees, this bridge was intended to be a southern crossing for the San Francisco Bay and designed to offer an elegant antidote to the famous Bay Bridge. Plans to build it were abandoned in favour of an underwater tunnel.
Crystal Heights (Washington, DC)
This impressive and sprawling complex featured apartments, a hotel and a shopping mall, with original plans outlining 2,500 hotel rooms, parking for 1,500 cars and a 1,000 seat theatre. Designed to include a total of 15 towers, the project was eventually rejected for failing to meet zoning requirements.
Rose and Gertrude Pauson House (Phoenix, Arizona)
This home was another Frank Lloyd Write design that was actually built, with designs completed in 1939 and construction finishing in 1942. However, just a year later it burned down and earned the “Shipwreck” for its unusual shape and the silhouette its ruins added to the horizon.
