So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright Trivia Quiz

Answer: Imhotep

Imhotep was the chancellor and high priest of the pharaoh Djoser from the third dynasty of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. He is considered to be the world's first architect. As well as this, Imhotep, a polymath, was also a physician and an engineer. His designs include the pictured Step Pyramid at Saqqara, famous tombs, and other fine building projects.

He also created many new building techniques for the builders to work with on these constructions. One of the top ranking figures in Egypt, he was venerated for several thousand years after his death.

Answer: Reims Cathedral

Jean d'Orbais was an architect of a style known as High Gothic. He lived from 1175 until 1231. He modelled the design of the Cathedral of Reims on that of the Cathedral of Chartres which had commenced construction in 1194. Reims lies approximately 130 kilometres to the northeast of Paris. Chartres is to the southwest of that city.

Reims once played a very important role in the history of the French monarchy, as the cathedral where many of that country's monarchs were crowned. It is the equivalent of Britain's Westminster Abbey in that regard. It was built on the site of the church where Clovis, the first King of the Franks, was enthroned in the year 496. When that earlier building was destroyed by fire in 1210, work began in 1211 on the mighty structure that still exists there today. Apart from its magnificent overall appearance and architectural innovations, Reims is known world wide for its beautiful stained glass windows.

Answer: Charles Bridge

Peter Parler's father, Heinrich, was a master builder and mason, so the boy was lucky enough to grow up in an environment where the building and construction trade would become second nature to him. Many other members of his large extended family also worked on building sites around Europe at that time as well. Peter became a master mason himself, working directly on the construction of the magnificent Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague, after its original designer died. He then went on to design many main buildings in Prague, and the lovely old Charles Bridge which still can be seen in that lovely European city today.

At 620 metres long and 9.5 metres wide, the Charles Bridge, with its Old Town bridge tower, is celebrated world wide for its classic gothic style design. Thirty baroque style statues adorn the sides of this beautiful monument which has witnessed so much history during its lifetime. Wars, battles, glorious celebrations, disasters, floods, all have played out along, under, or beside this old gracious lady of Prague. She nods on serenely still, safe in the knowledge she is deeply honoured for her longevity, her beauty, and her place in history.

Answer: Leonardo da Vinci

Indeed, da Vinci's early education was in Latin, geometry and mathematics, so he had a solid background on which to base his architectural and engineering inventions. Then, when he turned fourteen, he was apprenticed to an artist who trained him, not only in those varied fields, but also in drafting, mechanics, carpentry and a whole range of other technical skills as well. Leonardo (1452-1519) when applying for one of his first jobs, described himself more as an engineer than a painter. He listed all the many things he could manufacture in the engineering field, and added, almost as a postscript to his curriculum vitae, that he could paint as well.

Employed by the Duke of Milan, Leonardo's works included the design and manufacture of equipment for various court and country celebrations, various monuments, and the design of the huge dome on the Milan Cathedral. He was also employed in Venice as a military architect and engineer where he designed massive projects to safeguard the city from attacks by its enemies. The greater part of his paid employment career in fact was in the field of architecture and engineering. This is pretty astonishing, considering his historical reputation as one of the greatest artists who ever drew breath. Think then what he achieved in these lesser recognised fields of his work.

Answer: Sistine Chapel

This of course was the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, painted by none other than the great Michelangelo himself. This High Renaissance genius was known for his superb skills in the fields of sculpture, painting, engineering, architecture and poetry. These areas all deserve individual quizzes in their own right, but his architectural designs are the focus of this quiz.

Just a few of the magnificent works designed by Michelangelo in Rome include the completion of the design of St Peter's Basilica, the tomb of Pope Julius II, the Piazza del Campidoglio, Palazzo Farnesse, St John of the Florentines Church, Sforza Chapel, Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the Porta Pia; and the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the Medici chapel and the Laurentian Library in Florence. Then there were his sculpting creations and astonishing output of other works. There just wasn't enough of Michelangelo to go around. All this - all this breathtaking beauty - yet what do many people focus on today when talking of this great soul? His sexuality. It's incomprehensible. As if that matters one drop of paint or marble chip.

Answer: Inigo Jones

Inigo's contributions to the field of architecture include his innovative design of movable stage scenery, brilliant set design, and the proscenium arch for the great concert halls of England. Comically so, he once became involved in a rather heated argument with the great Ben Jonson over this very subject when the two butted heads as to whether the scenery or the literature mattered most in the production of drama.

His monumental designs on a larger scale include the beautiful Queen's House in Greenwich, the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace, Whitehall's Banqueting House, Covent Garden Square, and more than one hundred other buildings in England. He even worked on the repair and redesign of the old St Paul's Cathedral before that magnificent structure was gutted in the Great Fire of London of 1666. The architectural designs of Inigo Jones were very classical in nature, with straight beautiful lines and definite mathematical form and structure.

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was one amazing man. He was interested in just about every skill needed to help a new country develop and prosper. As well as the "minor" fact that that he was President of the United States from 1801 to 1809, he displayed a keen skill and an applied knowledge in mechanical innovations, new methods of crop production, soil nurturance techniques, architecture, the law, foreign policy, diplomacy, languages, religion, philosophy, history, birds, wine production, furniture and agricultural machinery design, writing, translations, politics and firearms. The man was a genius.

If one could name three of the most important architectural designs by Thomas Jefferson, these would be that of his own large mansion, the lovely Monticello in Virginia, the conception and design of the magnificent University of Virginia - and that of the United States of America itself.

Answer: John Dobson

Did you get the clue? A dobbin is a term for a comfortable old horse. John Dobson was the most noted architect in the northern half of England during his long career. Even as a child, his displayed as astonishing gift for drawing and perspective, and, by the time he was just eleven, he was being hired to design patterns for local weavers. This led him into being apprenticed to a well known architect in Newcastle. After he finished he studies, he left for London to try his hand at art, with a focus on watercolours. It wasn't too long, however, in spite of pleas from his friends and teachers there, before he decided to return to Newcastle and the field of architecture.

Dobson could design and build houses and city structures in any style but his preferred choice was Georgian, with its emphasis on balance, symmetry and proportion. He favoured sandstone as his choice of building material, with gracious pillared entrances to his designs and large sweeping staircases. Just a very few, a few mind you, of his lovely creations include Meldon Park, Mitford Hall, Longhurst Hall, Eldon Square, Church of Saint Thomas the Martyr, Lilburn Tower and Nunnykirk Hall. These old structures are very beautiful indeed.

Answer: England

Wells Coates was born in Tokyo in 1895 and died in Canada in 1958. His parents were Christian missionaries working in Japan when he arrived into the world. His mother had studied architecture when she was younger with the great American designer of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan. It was her direct influence that led her son to become interested in that area of work. Interestingly Frank Lloyd Wright had also studied with the same expert. Coates spent most of his early years travelling around the East with his father, enlisted in the First World War as a gunner and pilot, studied architecture at the University of British Columbia, and polished this off with a doctorate in engineering in England, worked for a time as a journalist, and then eventually set up his own architectural and design firm in England in 1928. He was a true cosmopolitan.

His best known work is the 1930s Isokon building in London, a block of apartments in Hampstead, originally designed for quasi-communal living with one large kitchen for all. It is very modernist, and the powers that be in that country consider it to be "among the most architecturally significant historical buildings in the UK".

Answer: Fallingwater

Fallingwater, partially constructed over a small waterfall, was created in 1935 by Wright for a successful businessman in Pennsylvania. In it, Wright has combined modernistic design to blend beautifully into the surrounding environment, and not, as many builders and architects do, slashed, burned and altered the natural environment to fit into a manmade design. That was the secret of Frank Lloyd Wright's success. He blended and incorporated, he didn't destroy, and he produced designs that he like to call organic architecture. During his career, this amazing man designed over 1,000 amazing works, most of which were along the same lines.

A further element of this amazing architect's work was that he wasn't afraid to incorporate any or all periods of architectural style into his work. The beautiful 1893 Walter Gale house in Chicago, for example, is an exquisite example of Queen Anne style that blends perfectly into the modern homes constructed about it, and sets off its surrounding environment to perfection. Yet with the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and unable to alter the tall cement and brick skyscrapers by which it was surrounded, Wright went in the opposite direction and designed an ultra modern piece of work that made its neighbours look like unadorned headstones. I personally think it's hideous though, and the reason for that is not the peculiar design as such, but that it lacks the softening and beautifying touch of a natural environment to enhance its visual appeal.