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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (1867-1959) American architect, one of the most influential of all time, he was the creator of so-called organic architecture utilizing novel shapes and incorporating his buildings into their settings. Rare content, personally typed T.L.S. "Frank" with about a dozen holograph corrections, 1p. oblong 4to., on his Taliesin letterhead [Spring Green, WI, n.d. but docket at head supplies "16 Dec. 1953" to his long-time friend, architectural critic and writer Lewis Mumford. In part: "...I love you just the same. Ill? Don't get me wrong. Shall take my chastisement with my glory and few drops of blood on my forehead shall not mar the integrity of my love for the boy who wrote Sticks and Stones [Mumford's popular 1924 work on architecture]. He is one with me at the center of things. What a misfortune that you should have lived in one of the several houses where the house outran the client by too far. I was engrossed with the idea that the hexagon is more suited to human habitation (owing to easier circulation) than the habitual rectangle that accommodated [sic] the carpenter, and Paul's intellectuality fooled both Paul and me. There are so many houses well conceived as proper homes for those who own them - let's say 90%...But the way of advance in a home as a true (innate) work of Art is not smooth, as a matter of course, and regret, as you must see. I am committed to it, however, and so are you whether you know it or not....". He adds in a typed postscript: "N.B. But even the Hanna House was merciful compared to The Farnsworth", adding a question mark in holograph. The Hanna House was one of Wright's controversial creations, a home so radical in design it helped rejuvenate both his career and domestic architecture. The Hannas battled the architect over many design details, becoming exasperated when they telegraphed Wright after learning that a fault ran through the property, and got the architect's reply in return: "I built the Imperial Hotel!". The Farnsworth House was designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The steel and glass house is widely recognized as an iconic masterpiece of modernist architecture. During the height of the McCarthy era it suddenly became a lightning rod for anti-modernist publications, attacked in the press as a communist-inspired effort to supplant traditional American styles. Wright, only months before this letter, quickly joined the critical voices and denounced the house, along with the Bauhaus and International Style, as un-American. A rare architectural content letter between Wright and his long-time friend. Very good to fine. Provenance: To Mumford: "I was engrossed with the idea that the hexagon is more suited to human habitation (owing to easier circulation) than the habitual rectangle…"