Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin. Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1955.
Taliesin, sometimes known as Taliesin East, Taliesin
Spring Green, or Taliesin North after 1937, was the estate of American
architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Located 2.5 miles) south of the village of Spring
Green, Wisconsin, United States, the 600-acre property was developed on land
that originally belonged to Wright's maternal family.
Wright designed the main Taliesin
home and studio after leaving his first wife and home in Oak Park, Illinois
with his mistress, Mamah Borthwick.
The design of the original building
was consistent with the design principles of the Prairie School, emulating the
flatness of the plains and the natural limestone outcroppings of Wisconsin's
Driftless Area.
The structure (which included
agricultural and studio wings) was completed in 1911. The name, Taliesin,
meaning 'shining-brow' in Welsh, was initially used for this building (built on
and into the brow of a hill or ridge) and later for the entire estate.
Wright rebuilt the Taliesin
residential wing in 1914 after a disgruntled employee set fire to the living
quarters and murdered Borthwick and six others. This second version was used
only sparingly by Wright as he worked on projects abroad. He returned to the
house in 1922 following completion of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. A fire
caused by electrical problems destroyed the living quarters in April 1925. The
third version of the living quarters was constructed by Wright by late 1925.
In 1927, financial problems caused a
foreclosure on the building by the Bank of Wisconsin. Wright was able to
reacquire the building with the financial help of friends and reoccupy it by
November 1928. In 1932, he established a fellowship for architectural students
at the estate. Taliesin III was Wright's home for the rest of his life,
although he began to winter at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona upon its
completion in 1937. Many of Wright's acclaimed buildings were designed here,
including Fallingwater, "Jacobs I" (the first Wright-designed
residence of Herbert and Katherine Jacobs), the Johnson Wax Headquarters, and
the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Wright was also an avid collector of Asian
art and used Taliesin as a storehouse and private museum.
Wright left Taliesin and the 600-acre
Taliesin Estate to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (founded by him and his
third wife in 1940) upon his death in 1959.
Julian Carlton was a 31-year-old man who came to work as a chef and servant at Taliesin for the summer. Carlton was an Afro-Caribbean of West Indian descent, ostensibly from Barbados. He was recommended to Wright by John Vogelsong Jr., the caterer for the Midway Gardens project. Carlton and his wife Gertrude had previously served in the house of Vogelsong's parents in Chicago.
Originally a genial presence on the estate, Carlton grew increasingly paranoid. He stayed up late at night with a butcher knife, looking out the window. This behavior had been noticed by Wright and Borthwick, (Wrights girlfriend) who issued an ad in a local paper for a replacement cook. Carlton was given notice that August 15, 1914, would be his last day in their employ.
Before he left, Carlton plotted to
kill the residents of Taliesin. His primary target was draftsman Emil Brodelle,
who had called Carlton a "black son-of-a-bitch" on August 12 for not
following an order. Brodelle and Carlton also engaged in a minor physical
confrontation two days later. He planned the assault, targeting the noon hour,
when Borthwick, her children, and the studio personnel would be on opposite
sides of the property awaiting lunch. Wright was away in Chicago completing
Midway Gardens while Borthwick stayed at home with her two children, 11-year
old John and 9-year-old Martha.
On August 15, Carlton grabbed a
shingling hatchet and began an attack. He started with the Borthwicks, who were
waiting on the porch off the living room. Mamah Borthwick was killed by a
single blow to the face, and her son John was slaughtered as he sat in his
chair. Martha managed to flee but was hunted down and slain in the courtyard.
He then coated the bodies in gasoline and lit them on fire, setting the house
ablaze.
Carlton then turned his attention to
the other six residents, pouring gasoline underneath the door of the far end of
the residence and setting it on fire. Draftsman Herbert Fritz managed to break
open a window and escape, though he broke his arm in the process. Carlton then
entered the other dining room and killed Brodelle. He then hid, waiting for the
other residents to try to escape. As foreman William Weston and his 13-year-old
son Ernest ran through the door, Carlton attacked with the hatchet. The Westons
escaped, but Ernest died from his wounds hours later.
Carlton sought out the final two
residents, laborer Thomas Brunker and gardener David Lindblom. Brunker and
Lindblom managed to fight off Carlton and escape but died days later from their
burns and injuries. With the house empty, Carlton ran to the basement and into
a fireproof furnace chamber. He brought a small vial of hydrochloric acid with
him as a fallback plan in case the heat became too much for him to handle.
Carlton did attempt suicide by swallowing the acid, but it failed to kill him.
Lindblom and Weston alerted a
neighboring farm of the attack. Weston then returned to the studio and used a
garden hose to help extinguish the flames. His efforts saved the studio portion
of the building and the many Wright manuscripts. Eventually, neighbors arrived
to assist in putting out the fire and to search for survivors. Iowa County
Sheriff John Williams located Carlton and arrested him. Carlton was transferred
to the county jail in Dodgeville. Gertrude was found in a nearby field,
apparently unaware of her husband's intentions. She was dressed in travel
clothes, expecting to catch a train to Chicago with Julian to seek a new job. Gertrude
was released from police custody shortly after the incident. She was sent to
Chicago with $7 and was never heard from again.
The hydrochloric acid that Carlton
ingested failed to kill him, but did badly burn his esophagus, which made it
difficult for him to ingest food. Carlton was indicted on August 16 and was charged
with the murder of Emil Brodelle, the only death that was directly witnessed by
a survivor. Carlton entered a not guilty plea. Forty-seven days after the fire,
before the case could be heard, Carlton died of starvation in his cell.
It's believed the man on the left is Frank Lloyd Wright,
surveying the damage after the fire.