Architecture

When planning your project, one of the first questions that come up is, do I need an architect?

Well, we will not lie. We think that hiring an architect is preferable to try to do your drawings, but there may be times when you can manage perfectly well without one.

So how do you know which category you fit into? We have compiled a list of things to check for, before making your decision to hire or not.

First, some pointers. 

Is Hiring An Architect A Legal Requirement?

The first question our team get asked a lot is whether any laws are stating that you must hire a qualified architect for your home design project.

The short answer is no, but hiring an architect will help keep your project running smoothly and also ensure things are strictly legal and above board.

This is especially the case if your conversion or home modelling requires planning permission. 

In these circumstances, having an architect on board can nip a load of problems in the bud before they happen.

An architect will be experienced in helping liaise with the local planning office and advise you on what is likely to be acceptable.

Hiring an architect might make it easier for you to comply with building regs and other legal requirements, but it isn’t a legal requirement in itself.

How should I vet my architect?

Before hiring an architect for your home improvement project, you must check their credentials out in advance.

Architects are required to register with the Architects Registration Board, and it is easy to check; they are who they say they are. 

Might I get away without hiring an architect for my project?

Indeed, many homeowners complete successful renovations without ever engaging the support of an architect. Sometimes, even significant remodels can be achieved without recourse to an architect.

However, it is a personal decision and what is right for one person, may not be another’s best move.

Times when you may manage fine without an architect include:

• When you have done this type of project before and know the procedure well.
• When you are somewhat experienced with remodels in general and have some knowledge of planning permission etc.
• When you trust your builder implicitly.
• When you are on a tight budget and may not be able to afford it.
• When you wish to deal with as few people as possible.
• When you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve.

When Should I Hire An Architect?

• If you are in any doubt, you should hire an architect rather than not doing so.
• If you are not confident in your abilities to plan and oversee this remodel.
• If there are any complications, for example, planning permission is required.
• If you are a little hazy about the details of what you require/ or need. 
• Suppose you are inexperienced in hiring builders and remodels, especially for first-time renovators.
• When you would like someone else’s professional input.

Pros And Cons

There are pros and cons of hiring an architect. Here are the main points.

Pros

• Keeping your project on track.
• Invaluable advice on procedure.
• Great with the nitty-gritty and details that can make or break or project.
• Can help with reliable sourcing contractors.

Cons 

• Architect fees add approximately 20% to your costs.

Ultimately, the decision to hire an architect is yours alone, but we think if you are unsure, then you need to! 

 

Whether it is a national lockdown or local restrictions that are in force, the rules around renovations need careful checking.

At the moment, England’s national lockdown will be lifted on Wednesday 2nd December. If you are in another UK country, check with your government advice, but as the rules stand you are permitted to have a refit of kitchens as well as other projects. You may also redecorate, landscape a garden, engage an electrician, plumber, construction firm or roofer.

More good news is that hardware shops are still open throughout this second national lockdown, as the government realises they are an essential service.

What Are The Procedures To Follow When Hiring A Professional?

Social distancing guidelines should be adhered to, as should ordinary mask-wearing procedure indoors. 

In addition to this, tradespeople (including architects) should also:

• Check that you or your household have no signs of coronavirus or coronavirus, or are self-isolating.
• Any symptoms, no matter how mild must result in a postponing of the works.
• Contractors should wash and sanitise their hands when they arrive.
• Maintain correct social distancing of two meters at all times.
• Contractors are encouraged to use a buddy system, to ensure a bubble of workers, together in any one context.
• Contractors should not access the household’s refreshment facilities and bring their own. 
• Contractors should be provided with disposable handwashing and drying facilities separate from the family

What Are The Guidelines For Maintaining The Site?

Your home or project will become a workplace for all intents and purposes, and it is important to follow the rules carefully.

You must: 

• Maintain social distancing of two meters.
• Limit the numbers of people on-site together.
• Encourage contractors to arrive by car or van, not public transport.
• Ensure neither contractors or anyone else in the home has any coronavirus symptoms 

What Else Should A Homeowner Do To Prepare?

• Communication is vital for your contractor or architect. Ensure you understand each other and the procedures you are adhering to.
• Have plans to reduce risks wherever possible. Implement a buddy system for contractors to work together in a bubble.
• Plan your project well, especially allowing for deliveries to arrive possibly later than usual. We advise not beginning any job until the materials are ready. 
• Sanitise as much as possible and ensure surfaces are wiped down with antibacterial cleaners frequently. Provide hand sanitation for your contractors. 
• Minimise contact with the work area. This means removing pets and children from space.
• Embrace technology and use zoom, skype and other means of electronic communication for speaking to your contractors where possible.
• Ensure you have the correct insurance in place for all eventualities and contractors. 
• If anyone is shielding or has symptoms of coronavirus, you must inform your contractors. Only emergency work can be carried out in these circumstances.

Finally…

Take heart, it is still possible to have renovation work done during a lockdown, or other local area restrictions, it just requires some careful planning and of course, an experienced architect is well placed to advise you on how! 

Many buildings, large and small, old or new, fall far short of being great architecture, but each has an intrinsic character of its own, either because of the materials or techniques used in its construction, or because of some particular effect desired by the architect. It is much better to respect this special character and to make the most of of the design, rather than to try and turn your home into something else.

Traditional homes, with their particular use of space, proportion and detailing, respond well to the sort of furniture and furnishings which would have been used in them during their heyday, while modern ‘box’-like rooms can often respond better to an up-to-date approach with the use of contemporary materials, colors and textures.

Large eighteenth century homes, built in the Italian tradition with classical proportions, are asking for impressive-looking fireplaces and plaster moldings; the more ponderous and rather grandiose styles of the nineteenth century look well with heavy, carved oak furniture and large Gothic motifs. In the tiny homes that were built in rows for laborers and factory workers, the spaces are much smaller in scale and a simpler treatment is required. Three million ‘between-the-wars’ semi-detached houses were built in Great Britain in the twenties and thirties, which have a clearly recognizable style and these will respond best to Arts and Crafts or Art Deco style; high rise blocks have uncompromising geometric and symmetrical forms which lend themselves well to a modernist look, while modern housing estates, which often seem to concentrate on small homes with very small rooms, call for order and simplicity, whatever the chosen style. You may not have in-depth knowledge of architectural styles, but you can still get a lot of pleasure from being aware of the type of building you are dealing with and a little of its history, you can then use this awareness to make the most of the good qualities of the interior and to conceal what is ugly.

Creating a Harmonious Environment

The inside of a home will depend very much on the tastes and lives of its inhabitants. Some people are happy to live with what seems like no order at all, surrounded by books and papers or the collected paraphernalia of a lifetime. Others are completely organized, with every chair and picture in its allotted place, every inch of space, every color and fabric variation carefully planned. Somewhere in between is what most of us would like: an organized interior where things can be easily found, where decorative objects are shown off to their best advantage, where there is encouragement to entertain, to read or work, with pleasing colors and textures, and a generally comfortable ambiance.

Finding Inspiration

Inspiration rarely comes immediately to mind. By carefully noting down ideas, cutting out pictures from magazines, taking photographs and sketching out interiors that you like, you will begin to get your eye in and a scheme will gradually take shape in your mind until you have a pretty good idea of exactly what you want. There are good sources of inspiration wherever you look, from innumerable glossy magazines to other people’s homes, museums and exhibitions. Up-market stores and fabric shops often have interesting room sets to show off their new collections, which can be an invaluable source of inspiration as they are full of ideas and flair and have been specially created by professionals. Your local library will have a whole section of books on interior design and everywhere you look there are exciting color combinations and textural contrasts. Auction houses often have exhibitions of furniture, carpets and textiles, and sometimes of contemporary paintings of interiors, which can be rich sources of inspiration. Their catalogues can be helpful. Use your camera for photographing shapes and colors (for example, doorways, window treatments, colors of fishing boats in a harbor). They can all add to the file of ideas for the home. Build up your own library of information and keep it in box files, with one for each important room or function of the home, i.e. a file each devoted for Kitchen/ Bathroom/ Flooring Materials/ Fabrics/ Wall-coverings/ Paints. Always try and remember to include important addresses, contact names and telephone numbers of your chosen suppliers.

As a Masters of Architecture student, I am often shocked by the misconceptions people have about the how the architectural profession works. Becoming an architect means getting a Masters degree in the field, spending years working in various capacities in a firm and then taking a series of licensing exams. Maintaining that license also takes work – attending conventions and seminars and staying up-to-date on issues in the field. When people learn that becoming an architect can be as difficult and time-consuming as becoming a doctor or lawyer, many shy away from the field. That said, if you are considering a career in architecture, there are two basic paths you can take (though these converge in graduate school):

Fast Option: you can immediately pursue a Bachelors of Architecture degree. However, this degree counts for little in the field – it will almost certainly not get you a job doing serious design work, and is not sufficient for taking the licensing exam and becoming a practicing architect. It does, however, allow you to save a year of education (and thus a year of tuition spending) over people who select the slower option. With this degree in hand, and a portfolio of your design work accumulated over your academic career, you can apply to 2 to 2.5 year long Masters of Architecture programs.

Slow Option: you can pursue a 4-year liberal arts or other degree, and take certain basic prerequisites (usually in art history, art, math and basic physics). With this degree, and with a design portfolio you can apply to 3 to 3.5 year long Masters of Architecture programs. A portfolio for people taking this option need not necessarily contain architectural design projects. Instead, a portfolio could feature photography, drawings, furniture and other art and design work. Surprisingly, this second option – though it adds a year of study – is becoming increasingly popular. Many Masters programs, in fact, now look for more for students with a diverse (liberal arts) backgroun in order to bring in a mixed population with varied life and educational experiences. Essentially, the first year of education if you select this option is an intensive set of catch-up courses designed to allow a smooth transition into your second year, when you will be mixed with 2 to 2.5 year students with Bachelors of Architecture degrees.

Grades and Scores: In either of the above options, GRE scores and grades are, of course, required components of your application. However, in most cases, by far the most weight is placed on your design portfolio. So, if you pursue the first option be sure to spend significant time and energy on the finished and final drawings and models for your architectural projects. If you pursue the second option, be sure to take enough art courses to demonstrate your visual acuity and graphic sensibilities.

Portfolio: most architecture schools keep examples of nicer student portfolios on file from previous accepted applicants. Looking at these and learning from them can easily make the difference between creating a successful and engaging versus a dull and drab portfolio. Many accomplished and dedicated students are rejected multiple years in a row because of inferior portfolios before being accepted to programs, despite good test scores and grades!

Licensing: Once you have your degree, you will be required to work in a firm in various capacities (from site research to design and drafting) before taking a state licensing exam. While the requirements vary from state to state, virtually all states demand a certain number of hours in a number of different areas of the profession. You should find out early what these requirements are if you want to get your license more quickly, and work with your employer to fulfill these requirements. The licensing exam itself is rather mundane, focusing on the fundamentals rather than on design. In fact, a common pitfall people encounter when taking it for the first time is over-designing. In other words, some people spend too much time trying to draw a building (there is a section in which you do this) that is aesthetically and visually coherent, rather than just making sure the fire exits, heating ducts and other essentials are in the right place. The grading committees who judge these tests are only interested in your knowledge of building codes and other basics, not in your creative skill as a designer!

Exceptions: It should be noted that a surprising number of people who self-identify as ‘architects’ technically aren’t – because they never get their licenses. How can they get away with this? Essentially, as long as at least one person in a firm is a licensed architect, that person can sign off on the drawings of everyone else working in the firm for legal purposes. I, for example, worked in a firm with eight ‘designers’ (calling them ‘architects’ would be legally misleading) of whom only one had an actual architectural license! This firm included two principle designers who had each worked in the field for more than twenty years. So, while a license can help you get a pay raise or start your own firm, it is not an absolute necessity for practicing architecture (using that term more loosely).

The Barnsdall House, or the Hollyhock House as it is more often labeled, has been politely called everything from “distinctly theatrical in character” (McCarter 135) to “a visual experience that, more than any other serious work of architecture, speaks of the world of romance represented by Hollywood in the late teens and twenties” (Levine 128). Regarded by some as Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest California achievement, it is clear that the Hollyhock House is a structure to be admired; yet Wright was not solely creatively responsible for the work. With such a unique design, it is obvious that there were multiple influential factors – mainly the idea of integrating the regional aspects of the building’s area – that led him to choose the materials and style that he eventually settled upon for this majestic construction.

The very name of the Hollyhock House evokes nature; when the house is seen, it is obvious that Wright drew much of his inspiration from the surrounding environment. At first glance, the “largely single-storey house presents an image of solidity hardly matched even by Wright’s public commissions” (McCarter 129), so it is no wonder the house is seen as one of Wright’s greatest accomplishments. The project was commissioned by Aline Barnsdall, who wished to have a majestic property of structures evoking the artistic romance of the era and maintaining the regional integrity of the building through natural influences: “The hollyhocks growing wild there provided the decorative theme for the house and gave Barnsdall the idea of naming her house after her favorite flower” (Levine 129). Wright saw the project as a wonderful opportunity “to produce an integral architecture suited to the climatic needs of California” (Wright, “Cause of Architecture” 12), which he perceived as “a land of romance – land that, as yet, has no characteristic building material” (Wright, “Cause of Architecture” 12).

Despite his concerns that “there were those who would feel ‘that the architect had indulged himself'” (Levine 125) with the extreme grandeur of the residence, Wright had his mind set that the home would reflect not only Miss Barnsdall’s artistic taste and spirit, but the spirit of the rapidly expanding town of Hollywood itself. When it was finally completed, the house was remarked to have had “an originality that permits us to speak of a new, indigenous American architecture” (Berlage 133). Wright seemed fascinated by the “the land of make-believe” (Levine 126), and was convinced that his design must incorporate the historical grandeur that the movie sets and even the other homes in the area had: “As the palaces in which the movies were shown, along with those in which the stars lived, were becoming as exotic as the sets themselves, a context was established that Wright could hardly ignore” (Levine 126). Just blocks from where Hollyhock House was to be built, in fact, was “D.W. Griffith’s Babylonian palace for [the film] Intolerance, built in 1916 on Sunset Boulevard just a block or so to the east of Olive Hill, and left standing for a number of years afterward as a kind of memorial” (Levine 126). Magnificent sets like this were partially influential for Wright when considering the general style and magnitude of the structure, but the main factor he considered in his design was simply the regional aspects of California itself.

One of the biggest factors as to why the Hollyhock House was designed to be so architecturally unique was Wright’s desire to “think of his work as regionally responsive” (Sweeney 236), as he often tried in his work “though in abstract form, to echo the shapes and dominant rhythms of the landscapes in which his buildings were set” (Scully 12). In relation to the Hollyhock House itself, he believed that “any house should be beautiful in California in the way that California herself is beautiful” (Wright, “Autobiography” 226). The terrain proved to be challenging beneath its’ beauty, however: “Never before had Wright faced a landscape of such elemental power and dramatic presence” (Levine 133). Many of the aspects of the home were specifically planned so that the beauty of the California coastline could be taken in at the most ideal moments: for example, the private entrance on the north features “a covered passage [that] has openings at eye-level [. . .] providing intermittent glimpses of the Pacific Ocean that establish from the outset the thematic link between mountain and sea” (Levine 127). All of the rooms “open generously into the central patio, making the house seem ‘half house and half garden’ – which is, Wright told Barnsdall, what ‘a California house should be'”(Levine 137).

The entire residence seems to lend itself naturally to the magnificence of the Hollywood Hills: “Outside, the monolithic appearance of the smooth, lightly tinted walls, roofs, and parapets [. . .] makes the house seem to be part of the hill, at once reinforcing the temple-like character of the precinct” (Levine 128). This idea is heavily ingrained within the Arts and Crafts Movement, and was utilized in many previous architectural works before Wright designed the Hollyhock House. Indeed, this idea was present in the house as a “relationship between building and landscape […] expressed in a symbolic language that predicts the major themes of Wright’s later work” (Levine 133). Wright thought very highly of his own incorporation of nature into his architectural style, even before the Hollyhock House:

“The idea of organic architecture was the flesh and blood of his being. He saw the universe through architecture. He saw it in the structure of all nature, and often referred to his work as harmonious or intrinsic, an architecture of inner harmony with the exterior world. He truly believed that a beautiful building can help man dissolve the conflicts in his life, that a harmonious building has a quieting effect upon us and serves as inspiration” (O. Wright 26).

In order to integrate the house into the surroundings as he wanted, Wright actually had to differ from his original ‘Prairie House’ idea of “relating house to ground through the extended horizontal line of the eaves” (Levine 138), instead utilizing the massive portion of the building “above the line of hollyhocks [to relate] to the sky allow[ing] for the effects of aerial perspective in a land where, as Wright noted, ‘foreground spreads to distance so vast’ that ‘human scale is utterly lost as all features recede, turn blue, recede, and become bluer still to merge their blue mountain shapes, snowcapped, with the azure of the skies'” (Levine 138). Taken as a whole, Hollyhock House is possibly one of the most well thought out houses in relation to the surrounding landscape, incorporating the many geographical aspects of California – ocean, mountains, sky – without hesitation or conflict.

Wright’s choice of materials also took into account the nature of California, but in a different way: as a method of ensuring safety in relation to the frequent earthquakes. Wright had just completed the Imperial Hotel, located in Japan, which was looked upon as an engineering masterpiece when it survived the most catastrophic earthquake in Japanese history. Wright knew that “Hollyhock House [. . .] was designed to be built on the same ‘red line of seismic convulsion’ as the Imperial Hotel, only on the other ‘rim of the Pacific Basin'” (Levine 124). For this reason, Wright knew that “a standardized system of concrete block construction” (Costantino 78) was something he must emulate with the Hollyhock House. Despite the fact that “‘poured stone’, as it was called, was more often considered a poor substitute for traditional masonry” (Costantino 78) and was looked down upon by many traditional architects, Wright had high hopes for the material. Although Wright eventually settled on a structure “not composed of concrete, but of hollow clay tiles covered with stucco” (Costantino 80), it is clear the idea Wright was aiming for was one of “block-like simplicity [. . .] relieved only by the use of abstract patterns in the form of the stylized hollyhock motif” (Costantino 80). The fluidity of stucco and the ease in which it can be molded into shapely designs made it the perfect choice for this majestic home, while still retaining the strength and resistance properties necessary for withstanding California earthquakes. As the main entrance is approached, there are located “a pair of precast concrete entrance doors, each weighing 300 pounds – yet they open easily, and in this unexpected and astonishing way we enter the house” (McCarter 129). This idea is reflective of the nature of the place in which the house is built – a land of lights and mirrors, falsity and unexpectedness.

The Hollyhock House is, on the whole, very unpredictable when it comes to layout and feature placement. Although Hollyhock House, according to Wright, “was to be a natural house, naturally built; native to the region of California as the house in the Middle West had been native to the Middle West” (“Autobiography” 226), some of the positioning of architectural elements seems a little unnatural. The fireplace, for example, has a strange location in comparison to most of Wright’s other designs: “In the typical Prairie House [. . .] one enters the living room around the fireplace and senses it in the background as a three-dimensional, sculptural presence. In Hollyhock House, it is both a focal point and a pictorial element designed to be read narratively and to provide a visual link between the secluded oasis of the patio and the view beyond the Hollywood Hills to the Pacific Ocean” (Levine 142).

The fireplace is also surrounded by a pool of water and set under a skylight. This is not only unique, but recalls the regionalism of the connection between fire and water in California; although close to the ocean, there are often immense wildfires because of the area’s lack of rain and relative dryness. The fireplace, then, represents the unification of “the four natural elements of earth, air, fire and water [. . .] combined in a mythical union ultimately defining the meaning of the house as a form of control over the landscape” (Levine 141). This unexpectedness is actually quite architecturally pleasing and intelligent: “The real mastery of environmental design exhibited by Wright in these houses lies in achieving conspicuously improved performance by taking thought about the rearrangement of known and familiar architectural elements” (Banham 158).

Another major tenant of the Arts and Crafts Movement is the idea that decoration should come secondary, if at all, and should be an afterthought of form and style. The idea was highlighted in Adolf Loos’ famous essay Ornament and Crime, which Wright certainly would have known of but was brought into even closer contact with when he hired Rudolph Schindler, who “had contact with the work of architects Josef Hoffman, Josef Olbrich, and Adolf Loos” (Costantino 78) to work in his Los Angeles office. Wright agreed with Loos’ idea, and it can be seen in the design of the Hollyhock House, as he believed in “simplify[ing] architectural masses, while treating ornament as something secondary” (Berlage 132). The nature of the house, as a “blend of public and private in the programme for [Barnsdall’s] theatre-house, or house-theatre, seems to have led Wright to design the house as an integration of symmetrical front rooms and asymmetrical secondary rooms around the court behind” (McCarter 128). Only after considering what the house would be utilized for, and how efficient each section should be in the grand layout, did Wright begin planning the central courtyard and other stylistic details. The hollyhock flower designs were integrated later at the request of Barnsdall, and “his intimacy with nature enabled him to translate it into architectural terms” (O. Wright 26) as an addition to the plan of the home. Wright also “preferred his decorative motifs highly abstract, geometrical patterns which do not look like the natural forms they represent, but are the essence of these forms” (Costantino 11), which would explain why often times the hollyhock flower cannot be recognized in the highly conceptual vertical ‘floral’ designs incorporated into the design of the house.

It is hypothesized that Wright was also inspired by “specific Mesoamerican buildings of which Wright would have had knowledge from full-size casts displayed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” (Sweeney 293). Wright himself compared the structure to “a good size pueblo on one of New Mexico’s mesas or low clean bluffs seen in some parts of the foothills of the Sierras” (Levine 126). This return to a previous era’s forms and shapes may have been a direct response to the technological changes occurring before and at the time the house was built, when architects were struggling with ways to deal with new materials that allowed them new freedom in design. The Hollyhock House, composed of “hollow terra-cotta tile and wood framing, covered with stucco […] used to convey the impression of solid masonry forms” (Levine 132), was certainly more innovative and creative than it’s time. When confronted with a project of such magnitude, it is possible that Wright was “attempting to make a direct relation in his work towards the great monuments of the Maya in the Yucatan – powerful examples of indigenous place-making” (McCarter 129). These structures had managed to create a regional architecture worthy of praise and admiration, and in “his search for an appropriate American form of monumentality” (McCarter 129), Wright was most likely inspired by this. It is known that he, at the very least, admired so-called ‘primitive’ architecture, calling these immense structures “earth-architectures: gigantic masses of masonry raised up on great stone-paved terrain, all planned as one mountain, one vast plateau lying there or made into the great mountain ranges themselves” (Levine 141). The description of these ‘earth-architectures’ truly is reminiscent of the Hollyhock House itself, which could also be considered a gigantic mass of masonry as magnificent as the mountains around it. It was even noted by observers at the time the Hollyhock House was completed that

“its imagery derives from the two historical models Wright felt were most appropriate to the region. The stepped and layered horizontal masses recall the ‘mesa silhouette,’ as Wright’s son Lloyd put it, ‘characterized and developed by Pueble Indians’ in their terraced adobe constructions. More significant and more obvious, perhaps, are the shapes of Precolumbian Mexican architecture. The profile of the high canted attic, and the squat proportions resulting from the mid-height placement of the continuos decorative frieze, immeadiately bring to mind the temples of Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza” (Levine 139).

Wright, however, considered his techniques exceptionally unique and lacking of any influences from previous architectural styles: “Frank Lloyd Wright studied under Sullivan and, like his mentor, his designs retain nothing that remind us of historical styles” (Berlage 132). Although this is arguable, as every architectural style seems to have roots in another, the Hollyhock House certainly retains an exceptional individuality that is yet unparalleled by any of the other structures in the area.

Although “Barnsdall’s peripatetic lifestyle [. . .] and her annoyance and disappointment at a house too large and at a cost too great eventually resulted in her abandoning the main residence” (Costantino 80), eventually leaving the entire property to be vacated and donated soon after it’s completion, the Hollyhock House remains one of the most beautiful and unique structures in California. It is regarded as one of Wright’s greatest achievements simply because he found the perfect balance of architectural ideas, integrating principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement, regionalism, and monumentality while still maintaining the equilibrium required for the building’s function.

Works Cited

Banham, Reyner. “Frank Lloyd Wright as Environmentalist”. Writings on Wright. Ed. H. Allen Brooks. Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press,1981.

Berlage, H.P. “The New American Architecture”. Writings on Wright. Ed. H. Allen Brooks. Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press,1981.

Costantino, Maria. The Life and Works of Frank Lloyd Wright. London, England: PRC Publishing Limited, 1998.

Hines, Thomas S. “The Search for Frank Lloyd Wright: History, Biography, Autobiography”. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Dec., 1995), pp. 467- 476.

Levine. Neil. The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996.

McCarter, Robert. Frank Lloyd Wright. London, England: Phaidon Press Limited, 1997.

Scully, Vincent Jr. Frank Lloyd Wright. New York, New York: George Braziller Inc., 1979.

Smith, Kathryn. “Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House, and Olive Hill, 1914-1924”. The
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Mar., 1979), pp. 15-33.

Sweeney, Robert L. Wright in Hollywood. Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1994.

Tselos, Dimitri. “Frank Lloyd Wright and World Architecture”. The Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), pp. 58-72.

Wright, Olgivanna Lloyd. “My Husband…” Writings on Wright. Ed. H. Allen Brooks.
Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press,1981.

The Official Hollyhock House Website. December 18, 2007. Friends of Hollyhock House.
April 6, 2008.