1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:04,760 Speaker 1: There's always a backstory. I'm Patty Steele. Behind every big 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: story are fascinating smaller stories, No doubt about it. Frank 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: Lloyd Wright was a game changing architect. I don't know 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: one hundred years ago or so, but in a moment, 5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you why he was one hot mess. 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: The guy built spectacular buildings like the kind of tornado 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: shaped Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and maybe, at 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: least in my mind, the most beautiful early modern home 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: ever called Falling Water, built in a forest over a 10 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: huge waterfall in Pennsylvania. I'm telling you, you look at 11 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: it and you just want to exhale. Oh, it's incredible. 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: But Frank has a crazy backstory and has nothing to 13 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: do with architecture and everything to do with his libido. 14 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: It's about Frank's multiple affairs, including one with a married 15 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: woman and the mass murderers that followed. Yeah, Frank is 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: an icon, but he's an icon who's also the ultimate 17 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: narcissist and he defines the term hot mess. Okay, it's 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: nineteen oh three. He's a young architect. He's in Oak Park, Illinois, 19 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,639 Speaker 1: which is right near Chicago. He's married, He has six 20 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: kids at that point. When his wife brings him a 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: client who wants him to build a house, Frank takes 22 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: the job and he gets to know the wife really well. 23 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: Her name is Mema. They become totally obsessed with each other. 24 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: A few years go by and the passion only gets 25 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: more intense, so intense that they both feel like the 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: hell with the spouses and the kids. They just want 27 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: one thing, and that is to be together. Now. The 28 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: problem is it is he early nineteen hundreds, nobody, but 29 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: nobody leaves their family for somebody else. But that's what 30 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: they do. Frank leaves his wife and all those little kiddies, 31 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: and Mama leaves her husband and two toddlers. Of course, 32 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: Frank's business begins to dry up, so they decide they 33 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: got to get out of town. They meet up in 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: New York City and hop a ship to Europe. Once there, 35 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: Mema works for a Swedish feminist, interpreting her books on 36 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: female sexuality, and Frank meantime, takes a really deep dive 37 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: into his passion for Japanese art and architecture, which by 38 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: the way, actually helps evolve his exquisite style. But then 39 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: after a few years he and Mema want to head 40 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: back to America. He'd like to re establish his career, 41 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: but Chicago is out due to their sketchy reputation, So 42 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: they head to Frank's hometown, Spring Green, Wisconsin, and he 43 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: builds them an awesome house. He calls it Taliesen, but 44 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: the locals there aren't thrilled either. They call it his 45 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: love cottage. Who cares, says Frank. In fact, he says, 46 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: laws and rules are made for the average. Two women 47 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: are necessary for a man of artistic mind, one to 48 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: be the mother of his children and the other to 49 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: be his inspiration and soulmate. Would a guy? I wonder 50 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: how he'd feel if Mema thought the same thing and 51 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: needed more than one man. Anyway, it's a beautiful life 52 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: for a few years. Finally Frank gets a major job 53 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: to build a massive three hundred and sixty thousand square 54 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: foot entertainment venue in Chicago. It was called Midway Gardens, 55 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: and it's really spectacularly beautiful. It's a triumph for him, 56 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: but it means he spends a lot of time away 57 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: from home. Now it's August of nineteen fourteen. Frank's in Chicago, 58 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: Mema up in spring Green, and her two kids are there, 59 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: spending the summer with her working at the house. There's 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: a husband and wife, Gertrude and Julian. Okay, it's lunchtime. 61 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: Mayma and the kids are out on the porch and 62 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: six of Frank's students and workers are in the dining room. 63 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: Julian serves the meal in the dining room and then 64 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: proceeds to lock all the doors and pours gasoline around 65 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: the exterior of the dining room, inside and out of 66 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: the house clearly nuts. He heads to the porch with 67 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: a hatchet flailing away. He slaughters Mama and the children, 68 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: actually cleaving Mama's head into vertically right down the middle God. 69 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: Next he likes the dining room on fire. Those inside 70 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: tried desperately to get out, but remember the doors are locked. 71 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: Then they try to jump out the windows, but outside 72 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: is Julian with the hatchet chopping away. He kills three 73 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: of them. The others had a different way and are burned, 74 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: one of them dying a day later, so in all 75 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: seven are dead. Only to survive. There's a frantic phone 76 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: call to Frank in Chicago. He's in total shock. He 77 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: takes the first train north and ironically runs into Mama's 78 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: ex husband, also headed north to collect the bodies of 79 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: his dead children, and they share a private compartment. Once 80 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: in Spring Green, Frank buries Mema in a plain pine 81 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: box in his family cemetery, in an unmarked grave. He 82 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: actually throws the dirt into the grave with his bare hands. 83 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: No one really knows why Julian killed all those people, 84 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: because he died weeks later. Despite the tragedy, Frank rebuilds 85 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: the house, saying in his autobiography Anguish would not leave 86 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: Taliessen until renewal began. Talk about renewal, while he says 87 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: in his bio that he grieved Mama's loss for the 88 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: rest of his life. Within weeks, we're talking weeks a months, 89 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: Frank had already fallen in love again, and over the 90 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: course of the next decade or so, he married two 91 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: more times. Here's what's ironic about his life. He literally 92 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: introduced into architecture this sense of serenity and earthy beauty, 93 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 1: raw wood, stone glass. But his life was red hot 94 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: and chaotic. Do you think he was searching through his 95 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: art for the piece he could never find in his 96 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: personal life.