on August 15 19 the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was working on a
project in Chicago when he suddenly received a devastating piece of news his beautiful house
in Wisconsin had been burned down imagine getting that news that your home which you
built and you designed is Up in Flames he was devastated of course but the thing was
he had not received the most important news by that time that his home wasn't just burnt
that seven people including the love of his life were murdered in that very house
this is the story about love and betrayal
a story about architecture and a story of Scandal
this is the story of the massacre at the taliesen
okay so in this there are a lot of key players we need to understand each of them to make sense
of what really happened at the Taliesin that day Mom you know if you're not a little nicer
to your help you might find yourself in a Frank Lloyd Wright situation Frank Lloyd
Wright one of the central characters here is of course the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright is known around the world as America's most famous architect and one of the
most influential designers of the 20th century that went along until we had a ready for your
new floor plan and it's been referred to as the open plan one of his Fame projects the
Falling Waters was one of the first projects we ever studied in architecture school and
it is the design admired by millions of people around the world Architects and non-architects
alike the American Institute of Architects voted it the most significant building in
the last 125 years but this building came much later in his life our story takes place days
when Frank was championing another style of architecture called the prairie style
so the year is 1889. Frank is an up-and-coming architect he's building a name for himself two
years ago he had met a young beautiful girl called Catherine at a costume party at the
south side of Chicago both of them were fairly young at the time Frank was just 19 and Kitty
as he called her was 16. this is the 19th century you guys the age rules are just different anyway
they fell in love and two years later in 1889 they got married in Chicago okay so
now we'll pull a bit of a house of the dragon and time Jump 10 years into the future to 1899.
the marriage is going well but now a lot of kitties time just goes to her children
because if any of you have been around a child you know raising and caring for even one is a
task imagine five while this seemingly picture perfect family was in Chicago that same year
the second character from the story found her husband she is in many ways the most
crucial part of this story and her name is Mary Bouton Borthwick better known as Mamah
so my mom was a librarian in Port Huron in Michigan a few years ago she too had met a
young gentleman an electrical engineer by the name of Edward Cheney and in 1899 they both got married
okay so we have these two happy marriages and you already know something is coming
up that will change the lives of these two forever and that something was a social club
Mamah and kitty were part of the same social club and that is where these two women met during this
time Edwin Mamah's husband was looking for an architect to design his house so Kitty suggested
why not get it built by Frank so in 1901 Frank started working on this commission okay now to
understand what happened ahead I need to give you a crash course in architecture now when you're an
architect building a house for somebody you need to take a few things into consideration
the first is the site this means where your house is located what is nearby the Topography of the
site are there any trees present all of that stuff the second is the climate you need to understand
Sun patterns wind patterns if it rains a lot or snows and design accordingly the third and the
most important consideration is understanding the client a house represents the personality of the
client and it needs to revolve around their life the spaces inside will reflect the people that
stay in them now the first two considerations you can get from books and external study but for the
third one you need to understand the client you need to get to know them and Frank did just that
a little too well Frank and Mamah got acquainted while he was designing the house Mamah was quite
different from Kitty she was an early feminist and right viewed her as his intellectual equal
now remember Kitty and Frank's relationship by this time was a bit different from the
early years because Kitty was always busy with her children who were now six in number so a
relationship started to develop between Frank and Mamah and it wasn't like it was a secret Chicago
at the time was no less than Bridgerton one couple seen somewhere walking down the park and
the News used to spread like wildfire but Mamah and Frank started enjoying each other's company
more and more they were still with their spouses though Mamah even had two children with Edwin
she was madly in love with friend in the year 1909 these two made the decision that
will change their lives forever they fled and went on a trip to Europe leaving their spouses
back home they spent the whole year together a year of love and romance in 1910 Frank returned
to the US Mamah had to stay another year so she could easily take a divorce from Edwin there was
some law of Abandonment we would not get into the details but anyway when Frank came back no
one would give him worker commissions everyone knew about him and Mamah and considered what
he did deeply immoral so Frank knew he could not just resettle in Chicago so he started
building a new home in rural Wisconsin on his family estate this new home that he was
building for Mamah would be one of the finest examples of a prairie style house he called it
taliesin he poured his heart and soul into the designs he built it for Mamah it was a
his greatest accomplishment one that just in a few years time would be burnt to the ground
now understanding this house is one of the most important parts of this story so let me give
you a quick overview it was a typical prairie style house with horizontal lines the house had
three big sections a long section on the East which held the residential wind a long section
on the west which held the architectural wind and the section connecting these two
this was the office way it was a beautiful house even the name Frank gave it tally yes
and it actually means a shining brow in Welsh although the locals had another name for it they
called it the love Castle or the love bungalow everyone in that town knew that Frank and Mamah
were not married to each other and yet lived together and they really hated them for it as
I said before this was a different time with different rules so Mamah returned from Europe
in 1911 and she was granted a divorce from Edwin and that very month she moved in with
Frank into this house okay now we have all our puzzles in place let's finally put together the
final piece the one that will destroy all the others and that man is Julian Carlton
now once you build a house you need to have a staff that will take care of it two important
staff members of the tally SN were Julian and his wife Gertude Carlton Gertude was the cook
and Julian who was 30 years old at the time did a variety of jobs around the house from General
handyman to Butler now Julian was both intelligent and educated however there were reports that a
lot of people in the house disliked him as we know the house was not only a residential area
but also Frank's office as well Julian got into frequent arguments with all the tenants of the
house over time Carlton grew increasingly paranoid he stayed up late at night with a butcher knife
looking out the window this behavior of his was noticed by both Frank and Mamah 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 at the house now August the 15th 1914 Frank Lloyd Wright was off to Chicago working
on his project it was a usual day at taliesin Mamah was at the house with both her children
who had come to visit her that day in the house there were a total of 10 people there was of
course Mamah and her two children there was the foreman Thomas brunker The Gardener David
lindblom the carpenter William Weston and his son Ernest Weston and two draftsman herb Fritz
and Emil brodelle Julian had been agitated in the days leading to this one he started sleeping
with a hatchet next to his bed on the evening of 15th August people were getting ready for dinner
everyone else sat down at the dinner table Mamah and her children were sitting out in
the porch Julian served them dinner and then asked Mr Weston for some gas it wasn't an out
of the ordinary request as gas was frequently used to clean carpets if only he had said no
it's finally time to discuss the incident Julian poured the gasoline on the rugs and the exterior
of the house he locked the people who were eating dinner inside and set fire to the house he quickly
then ran to the other side with an ax and with one full swing he hit Mamah right in the head
she died instantly he swung his ax again and hit the little boy in the head as Mamah's
daughter was the only one who even got a chance to get off her chair she ran ran
as fast as she could Julian pinned her down in the courtyard and with another Blow To The Head
he killed off his daughter as well by this time the people in the dining room knew the
only way they can survive this is by breaking the windows and jumping out Mr Fritz was the
first to jump out and ride as he did Julian was waiting outside he hacked him with his
ax Mr William Weston followed the same thing happened with Mr Lindblom Mr brodell and then
Ernest Weston Julian was ready for all of them he had killed every last person in the house and
he watched as the whole house went a place and then he executed the last part of his plan he
quickly went and hid in the furnace of the house which was in the basement and it was completely
fireproof now even though Julian thought he had killed everyone in that house he had it William
Weston who had had two blows to his head got up again he was alive and then he found Herbert Fritz
together they both ran as fast as they could they ran to the nearest Farmhouse and phoned for help
Western even ran back to the house to try and stop it from burning
and also the fire brigade will arrived soon but the efforts were full-time in
less than three hours Taliesin the dream of Frank Lloyd wright burnt to the ground
in this whole Saga there is one question that kept me up one question that I just couldn't
understand why did Julian do all this the truth is nobody knows a few hours after the incident
Julian was found hiding in the furnace he had tried to kill himself by drinking hydrochloric
acid when found he was almost lynched on the spot however the local sheriff got him to safety he
was presented before a court where he pleaded not guilty but before he could even reach the
trial he died of starvation because he had burned the insights with the acid so no one knows why he
did it a possible explanation was given by his wife who said that the news of being kicked off
from his job had turned him frantic some even say that the primary target was actually Emil
brodell who had called carton a black son of a [ __ ] just a few days prior to the incident
but nobody knows for sure till date Franklin Wright was in Chicago when he got the news and
he hurried back with him was Edwin Cheney Edwin took the remains of his kids while
Frank collected the remains of Mamah he paid for everyone's funeral who died in that house
he was devastated shortly after he published a statement he promised to rebuild taliesin
in her memory and he did though that taliasin also burned down in a fire this time it was an
accident but the man never gave up he built the same house a third time and that alias in today
still stands inviting visitors from all around the world what happened that day was tragic but
why it happened no one knows it's a mystery to this day one that will probably never be solved
it is one of the most tragic yet defining chapters of the life of Frank Lloyd Wright
foreign
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then bye bye by the way before going let me know in the comments below what are your theories as
to why did Julian do all of this do you have something going in your mind let's discuss