Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Engineers Rescue of Phoenix’s David Wright House

The Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy today announced that its exhaustive efforts to save from a developer’s wrecking ball the David Wright House, which the celebrated architect had built in 1950-52 for his son in Phoenix, had succeeded, with its sale to an undisclosed preservation-minded benefactor.

According to the conservancy’s press release:

The transaction closed on December 20 for an undisclosed price. The property will be transferred to an Arizona not-for-profit organization
responsible for the restoration, maintenance and operation of the David Wright House.

Planning has begun for the restoration of the house and grounds, and additional donations from the public will be sought for the costs of restoration at the appropriate time. The new owner will request that the City of Phoenix grant landmark designation to the house. The goal after restoration is to make the house available for educational purposes.

In Fernanda Santos‘ and architecture critic Michael Kimmelman‘s NY Times piece today reporting on the rescue, they at last gave the conservancy the credit that Kimmelman had omitted from his first article about this endangered Wright masterpiece, considered by several architectural historians and critics consider to be “among the most significant Wright buildings,” according to the conservancy.But Kimmelman still doesn’t seem to fully appreciate what the conservancy’s work. Today he tweeted this: