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690

Frank Lloyd Wright

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Frank Lloyd Wright

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Auction Date:2010 Jul 14 @ 22:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Fascinating archive of correspondence between Wright and restaurant consultant and designer L. I. Graham for work on the Rogers Lacy Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Proposed by Texas oilman Rogers Lacy after World War II, he retained Wright to design the property. News coverage of the plans made the front page of Dallas newspapers and was the talk of the town. Correspondence dates from between July 30, 1946 up to August 6, 1948. Highlights of the archive are seven one page TLSs from Wright, all signed “F.L.L.W.,” including one in pencil, all on his Taliesin letterhead, with three accompanied by their original envelopes, and a one page DS, signed Frank Lloyd Wright.

Correspondence between the two begins with an August 2, 1946, Western Union telegram to Graham from Wright asking him to fly out for consultation on the “Dallas Hotel.” A carbon of a letter from Graham on August 10 reads, in part: “It was very interesting … to learn that Mr. Lacey [sic] intends to go ahead with the project. It was however, somewhat disconcerting to hear that it might be postponed two years. However, when one is bidding to stand in the shadows of the Hall of fame one must have patience,”

Wright’s first letter to Graham, dated August 29, briefly states: “Enclosed is a check for expense account. Also slightly revised copy of agreement.” The aforementioned one page agreement follows, dated August 30, 1946, on Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation stationery. Agreement reads, in part: “This is to confirm the understanding between Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect, and L. I. Graham, Consultant, that … Wright has retained L. I. Graham as Restaurant Consultant on the Rogers Lacy Hotel, Dallas, Texas. Graham is to be available for consultation in Wisconsin, New York, or Texas on a reasonable number of occasions and is to advise the architect on all phases related to the planning of the food service in the proposed hotel … It is contemplated that this service be rendered at the architect’s convenience and command in any event until the architect’s full plans and specifications are completed … For Graham’s services, Frank Lloyd Wright is to pay him $15,000 plus one half of his traveling expenses.” Signed at the conclusion by Wright and Graham.

After another letter from Graham asking who is to pay the other half of his expenses, Wright responds: “You pay the other half. But when the project is under full swing you will have no reason to argue or complain.”

Telegrams and a short letter from Wright are exchanged in November of 1946, with no further communication until Wright sarcastically writes Graham on January 21, 1947. In full: “Yes, New Yorkers are doomed to ulceritis. Why don’t you put in a little time on the layout we sent you?”

Graham’s carbon of a letter to Dallas architect George F. Harrell asks about restaurant and hotel facilities in the area, with Harrell’s response stating: “Your connection with the proposed new hotel here which Frank Lloyd Wright is designing is extremely interesting. There have been numerous rumors lately pertaining to the hotel and I have heard several dubious remarks about its completion.”

Wright sends a letter to Graham on July 18, 1947, quickly stating: “The enclosed is all we know of the project to date. I have not had time to go into the data you have sent—will be seeing you in New York?”

The relationship between the two continues to be rocky as Graham writes on the bottom of a carbon to Wright, “How about some response to my notes of March 28, April 12, May 13 and 31. Methinks Wisconsin may be a contributing cause to New Yorkers ulceritis. Have a heart and let me know the score.”

After submitting an invoice for $5500 to Wright, Graham follows up with a letter on August 31, 1946 looking for some answers about the project. “Yes, I am afraid this is a dunning letter. It is almost two years since you and I made our arrangements regarding the Rogers Lacy Hotel and over a year since I sent you completed preliminary plans … It is over six months since I have heard from you or you have heard from me and I have heard that Mr. Rogers Lacy has died during that time … Would you please let me know (1) the status of payment on the work already completed ($5500), and (2) what is to be done on the balance of the agreement.”

Three months later Wright responds: “Is there some misunderstanding on your part concerning our agreement? This ‘dunning’ looks like it. Please read it all again. It has been a long way to actual performance by Lacy. There is no definite plan-making yet. Only preliminary sketches—and I am as sorry as you can be. Even the preliminary sketches have not yet been paid for by Lacy though all the talk might make it seem otherwise.”

The correspondence concludes with Wright’s August 6, 1948, letter to Graham bearing bad news. In full: “As I have already told you there is nothing in the Rogers Lacy project. He is dead. The estate is in litigation and we have not been paid ever for the preliminary sketches. Please forget, as we must.” Wright has underlined the last three words of the letter for extra emphasis.

Also included is the front page of the June 22, 1947, Dallas Morning News with the headline proclaiming: “Wright Bares Lacy Hotel plans,” with two images of Wright’s designs of the interior and exterior; three handwritten pages of notes and expenses titled “Time spent on Frank L. Wright Job,” presumably by Graham; two clipped magazine articles; a letter from Wright’s secretary to Graham, and a couple other pieces of correspondence. In fine overall condition.

The greatest hotel that never was, this ensemble is truly an astonishing read as the great architect’s grand plan unravels over a period of two years—its optimistic start and eventual decline carefully recorded in this archive. Through this arrangement, Lloyd was given the opportunity to leave his stamp on Dallas via the revolutionary design of the Rogers Lacy Hotel. The project—clearly ahead of its time—began in 1945, with Wright envisioning a gleaming spire of steel and glass rising into the Texas sky...for a price tag of $1,000,000. “It was very interesting…to learn that Mr. Lacey [sic] intends to go ahead with the project,” Graham wrote in 1946. Lacy negotiated to pay only a portion of the fee in advance of the design work. Wright noted in 1946 that “there is no definite plan-making yet. Only preliminary sketches,” but finally delivered in 1947. Cracks in the plan began to show as the two men seemingly avoided contact with each for months at a time, forcing the architect to write at one point, “Why don’t you put in a little time on the layout we sent you?” Despite the ensuing conflict, news coverage of the plans made the front page of Dallas newspapers and was the talk of the town in Dallas’ post-World War II community. Although many of the aspects of contemporary hotel architecture can be found in this hotel project, what would have been a grand structure—at the time twice as high as any man-made structure west of the Mississippi River—would never get off of Wright’s paper, the result of Lacy’s death in December 1947 and an estate saddled with an estimated debt of $20 million. Wright clearly...and bluntly...resigns himself to the fact in an August 1948 letter: “As I have already told you there is nothing in the Rogers Lacy project. He is dead. The estate is in litigation and we have not been paid ever for the preliminary sketches. Please forget, as we must.” A sad end to what would have been a spectacular accomplishment.
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