The Wright Questions Trivia Quiz

Answer: His mother, Catherine

Frank's middle name, Lloyd, came from his mother. Frank was born on June 8, 1867 to Catherine Lloyd Jones and William Carey Wright while they were living in Richland Center, Wisconsin.

Answer: His mother

Catherine wanted her son to be an architect. Once while attending the country's centennial, Catherine bought Frank a set of Froebel Gifts which contained a set of building blocks.

Answer: Illinois

Frank moved from Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois, in 1887 in search of work as an architect/draftsman. His decision was made after watching the dome at his Wisconsin college collapse because of inferior products. In Chicago, Frank became an apprentice of Louis Sullivan, a draftsman. Together the two men worked on the Transportation Building for the 1893 Chicago World's fair and the Auditorium Theater.

Answer: Costume party

Frank went to a costume party given by some friends. On his way to mingle, he knocked over Catherine Tobin. The two of them began talking and the day they were married, later that year, Frank was twenty-one and Catherine was eighteen. The couple moved into a house that Frank designed in Oak Park, Illinois and together they had six children: Francis, Robert, Catherine, Lloyd, David, and John.

Answer: Escalator

The Larkin Company was a home goods company that sold everything from soaps to furniture. Frank Lloyd Wright was the first architect to design a building with air conditioning throughout the entire building. He designed a skylight to be put in above the secretarial pool so they could have natural light and all the private offices had balconies overlooking the secretarial pool and fireproof furniture.

Answer: Germany

When Frank was given the opportunity by German publisher, Ernest Wasmuth, to go to Germany to put together a portfolio of his work, he jumped at the chance. Leaving his wife and children behind, Frank moved to Germany taking his mistress Martha "Mamah" Cheney with him.

The portfolio contained one-hundred of Frank's designs and was known as the Wasmuth Portfolio. Martha's husband divorced her immediately and took custody of the children while Catherine waited patiently for Frank to return home to her.

Answer: False

Frank's mistress "Mamah" Cheney and her two children were murdered by a disgruntled member of their staff in August 1914, while Frank was in Chicago. Catherine had already petitioned for a divorce from Frank. Frank remarried two more times having a daughter with his third wife, Olgivanna Hindenburg in 1925. All together Frank had seven biological children from two of his wives.

Answer: Time

Frank was pictured on the cover of the January 17, 1938 edition of "Time" magazine. The article in the magazine was written about the home Frank built known as Taliesin. "Time" credited Frank with being the greatest architect of the twentieth century.

Answer: Art

Frank was seventy-six when he began the design for the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Frank's design was of an ancient Ziggurat turned upside down to look like a nautilus shell. It took years to find a place in New York to build the museum and then to get building codes approved. Finally in October 1959, the Guggenheim Museum opened its doors, but Frank never saw the opening (he died earlier that year).

Answer: April

Frank died shortly after Easter in April of 1959. He had gone through intestinal surgery days before. Frank's architecture career had spanned seventy-two years.