Last week I stumbled across Gizmo’s blog post regarding the Florida Southern College, home to the world’s largest one-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright. I was amazed and truly excited to be taken on a virtual tour of this amazing place! For those of you who do not know, I studied Residential Design at the Art Institute of Seattle and (of course) I fell in love with one of the greatest American architects of all time!
Since Carmel-By-The-Sea is known for inhabiting people who have lots of money and for employing Dirty Harry as the town’s mayor for two years, I figured it was worth a shot to see if any Frank Lloyd Wright homes were built here. Alas, there was one!
The Della Walker House, aka the Mrs. Clinton Walker house is located (on my beach) on Scenic Road at Martin Street in Carmel, CA. The house was built in 1948, originally only 1300 square feet for $125,000 - even converted to today’s money it is a steal for $1,174,382. FLW later added a master bedroom in 1956. Why a master bedroom was not originally included in the design is a mystery, but apparently this house was featured in the 1959 movie “A Summer Place” which I have not seen.
For those of you who know about FLW, you know Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment. I can’t tell you how many times I have walked this beach not realizing that I was starting at a FLW house. That is how brilliant, organic, and modern in nature his designs were.
So, just like the common tourist (even though I live here) I told my beloved husband we were going to stalk one of my favorite architects. He just looked at me and smiled.