Sorry – no photos!

S.348 – Aaron Green & Frank Lloyd Wright West Coast Field Office

Original location: 319 Grant Avenue, second floor, San Francisco, California

Moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Current location: storage in Buffalo, New York

I am including an article about this project so others do not make the mistake I made: driving to Pittsburgh to see it, only to find it is not displayed and has apparently been sold and moved elsewhere. This story is pieced from several sources.

Wright was busy with several projects in the San Francisco area, so when architect Aaron Green mentioned he was moving to the Bay area Wright suggested they jointly operate an office. The office was built in 1951, but was not assigned a Taliesin project number. It was used by Wright until his death, and then continued to be used by Green.

According to Prof. Storrer, the office was dismantled in 1988 and “stored in Ann Arbor,” which of course means it was acquired as part of Tom Monaghan’s collection and stored at Domino’s Farms. It was transferred to the Heinz Architectural Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh in 1992 or 1993, and was displayed in the museum. Older guide books generally indicate the presence of the office in the museum.

In fact, in 2004 the museum sold the office, and it has reportedly been in storage in Buffalo ever since. Considering the renewed interest for Wright in Buffalo, there is hope this setup may be publicly displayed some day.

The history is discussed in an article from Aaron G. Green Associates, Inc, which continues to practice in San Francisco.

As an aside, the Edgar J. Kaufmann office (S.233) reportedly displayed at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England, is not regularly displayed. It was not available on my last visit to England in 2007/2008. The V&A has a page about the office which shows when it is in storage or in a gallery.

New 07/01/2018