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CORRECTION PUBLISHED 01/06/05: This article included a phone number for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. The correct number is 312-63-5500.
Tear down a Frank Lloyd Wright building? It sounds ridiculous, but it happens.
Wright died in 1959 after designing approximately 1,000 buildings. Of the 500 that were built, about 385 remain. Many masterworks, including the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Midway Gardens in Chicago and the Little House in Deephaven have been lost.
The nonprofit Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy was formed in 1989 to prevent the demolition of other Wright buildings. With many of the original clients over 70, Wright's later houses are facing changes in ownership that can lead to their demise, said Minneapolis architect Tim Quigley, the current president of the Chicago-based conservancy.
"With octogenarian owners sitting on large lots of desirable land, it's tear-down city and McMansions," he said.
In addition to watchdogging Wright houses, the conservancy raises awareness of the premier American architect's work and offers technical assistance to owners of his buildings.
In the 15 years since the conservancy was founded, no Wright house had been lost. Until this summer, that is, when the 1916 Carr House in Grand Beach, Mich., was bought and torn down for a larger vacation home.