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Being a third-generation Wright, as in Frank Lloyd, can be both a blessing and a curse. Especially when you're an architect too, like Eric Lloyd Wright, the legendary architect's grandson.
"I think it works for me in that it gives me recognition, and people associate me with Frank Lloyd Wright, and I am working in what we call organic architecture, a form of architecture developed by my grandfather, so I am happy to have that recognition," said Wright, 62, who will give a talk at 7:30 p.m. today at Sherwood Auditorium in La Jolla.
"But, being a grandson, there is a lot of time required of me to give information about Frank Lloyd Wright, which takes a lot of time away from my own work."
Wright's talk tonight will cover both sides of his career. He will discuss the architecture of two earlier generations of Wrights, including Frank Lloyd Wright and his sons John Lloyd and Lloyd, Eric's father. He will explain his involvement supervising the restoration of several of the houses designed by his forebears.
But Eric Wright will also show some of his own projects. He is a respected architect and planner who carries on Frank Lloyd Wright's "organic" approach to architecture.
Wright has headed his own architectural office in Los Angeles since 1978, when his father died and he took over the practice. He has designed projects ranging from an animal shelter in Ojai to an office building in Glendale and several houses, including one under construction in La Crescenta.
"Some come for the name, but some come because they've seen the work I've done and liked it," said Wright, who is soft-spoken, patient and easily likable, qualities seldom attributed to his grandfather.
One of his largest current projects involves master-planning a pair of large residential developments.
"We think he is a very unique fellow," said Buck Johns, president of the Inland Group, which hired Wright and Taliesin Architects to master-plan a 550-acre development known as Greer Ranch and a nearby 270-acre tract called Murrieta Oaks, both north of Temecula in Riverside County.
"He has had exposure that very few of us can claim to have had. He's traveled the world and is probably the most knowledgeable guy when it comes...