Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Restoration, WI

Taliesin was Frank Lloyd Wright's home from 1911 until his death in 1959. The site includes 75,000 square feet of buildings designed and constructed by Wright, including his home, studio, farm, and architectural school. The 600-acre site also represents one of Wright's largest landscape projects. With the three major building complexes, it clearly illustrates Wright's concepts of planning and of organic architecture: architecture and nature in harmony with each other. Taliesin is often referred to as Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography in wood, stone, and glass.

Between 1991 and 1994 The Burley Partnership worked on a consulting basis for the Taliesin Preservation Commission, organizing and directing a new preservation program for Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin. During that period Robert Burley spent the majority of his time in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and served as the Executive Director for the Commission.

The scope of work during 1991-1994 included organizing staff and setting up systems for a historic structure report (HSR) analysis, establishing a restoration work crew, stabilization-restoration of critical areas, remedial environmental work, permitting, approvals, obtaining $8,000,000 of State funding, passage of the Taliesin Preservation Act (S-150) by the U.S. Senate, establishing advisory committees, and purchasing and adapting Wright's Riverview Terrace restaurant building as the Taliesin Visitor Center in 1994.

Historic Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust, describes the project and Burley's work in greater detail in its November-December 1993 issue.

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