Final Additions

03/24/09

Home
The Early Years
Expansion
Final Additions
The Future
Photo Galleries
Links and References
Acknowledgments

 

Florida Southern College and the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright

"...out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun."
Frank Lloyd Wright describing work at Florida Southern College.

 

During the 1950's, three additional structures were constructed.  Wright visited the campus frequently and is shown below undoubtedly discussing his plans for FSC.

 

 

Image courtesy of Special Collections, Florida Southern College Library, Lakeland, FL

The Lucius Pond Ordway Building shown below shortly after completion, was originally designed as a student center and cafeteria. The building complex was completed in 1952 at a cost of $52,200, and has often been compared to Taliesin West.  Wright felt this was one of his better designs because of its simplicity.


From The Interlachen, 1952, images courtesy of Special Collections, Florida Southern College Library, Lakeland, FL

Following are images of Lucius Pond Ordway as it is today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William H Danforth Chapel, shown below with an interior view following, was the second chapel Wright designed for FSC, and is the only use of leaded glass on the campus. It was completed in 1955. This chapel is similar to Wright`s design for the Unitarian Church, Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin, completed in 1947. Wright completed the award winning Guggenheim Museum just one year later in 1956.

An interior view of the stained glass in the front of the building is shown below.

The Polk County Science Building, shown left was finished in 1958; the last Wright building and the tenth in the plan completed. This building was recently given a $13,000,000 renovation and is an example of how FSC has integrated stewardship of the Wright structures and Wright's legacy with the needs and future plans of the college.  A view of the front is shown below right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wright completed twelve structures in the more than two decades he designed for the FSC campus.  Numerous others, by one count 20 total structures, were planned by Wright.  Those buildings never constructed included, among others, theatres, music buildings and studios.

 

After Wright's death on April 9, 1959, his protégée Nils Schweizer continued work on the campus as the FSC Architect and designed the new Roux Library (1968), the Branscomb Auditorium (1964), the Ludd Spivey Humanities and Fine Arts Center (1970), the Carlisle Rogers Business Center (1984), and the Pearce Centennial Tower (1985).

Additional images of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and other campus views may be accessed through the Photo Gallery page.

This website is organized chronologically and by structure.  Follow the links on each page to go to the next or skip to the page of interest.

Home | The Early Years | Expansion | Final Additions | The Future | Photo Galleries | Links and References | Acknowledgments

This site was last updated 03/12/09

The content of this website is owned by William B Carpenter. All images and text on this site are the work of William B Carpenter unless otherwise noted. 

Copyright © 2005  William B Carpenter - All rights reserved.  Historical images courtesy of Special Collections, Florida Southern College Library, Lakeland, Florida.  Some historical images are from The Interlachen, Florida Southern College Yearbook.  All rights reserved.