A Wisconsin Mayan Frieze

Yesterday while driving home from Madison, Wisconsin, I finally elected to stop by 300 Church Street, Richland Center. Why? To visit Frank Lloyd Wright's 1915 warehouse design for the building known as the A.D. German Warehouse, of course!

From what can be gathered online, Wright, a Richland Center native (or a native "Sconnie," as we prefer to be called), designed the concrete Mayan temple for a local grocery distributor, Albert Dell German. Wright appears to have been somewhat of a deadbeat at the time; he was living in nearby Spring Green and designed the building for German in exchange for the forgiveness of bad debt. Wright owed German some amount of unpaid bills, and German forgave the debt in exchange for the building's design and estimated price tag of $30,000 USD.

As fate would have it, poor German not only lost collection of Wright's personal tab, but also the building. The building quickly escalated in cost past the original $30,000 USD , scaled up to $120,000 USD, and German was forced to abandon the project and eventually lose it through bankruptcy hearings.

The building may have suited its original purpose as serving as a cold food storage warehouse, but over time became obsolete as a warehouse. Wright was no doubt a genius, but building electrical efficiency was not his forte. I had been told years ago that, due to the windows and design of the building, the energy costs to keep the building moderately warm during Wisconsin winters was not practical. Today, from I could see yesterday afternoon, the building sits idle with little apparently activity inside.

The building is a fantastic structure to visit, for fans and non-fans of Wright alike. Sadly, I only had with me my Motorola Droid phone and its built in camera, and the esoteric impression it leaves on an observer wasn't captured as well as I had hoped. The warehouse is still in relatively good shape, although some signs of concrete degradation were noticed on the building's front facade.

I've always been curious in the allure of Frank Lloyd Wright. Having shared the same birth state with him, I have always wanted to seek out his work when possible. Wisconsin carries a few of his creations, and I hope to visit and share them with people on line. Thanks for reading, and let me know if you too have visited the building.