in Oak Park, Illinois.
Early life John Lloyd Wright was born on December 12, 1892, while his father,
Frank Lloyd Wright, was practicing in
Chicago with
Adler & Sullivan. He was the second-oldest of the six children of Frank Lloyd and Catherine Wright. They lived in
Oak Park, Illinois, in what is now known as the
Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. John became estranged from his father in 1909, when Frank abandoned his family to be with
Mamah Borthwick Cheney. John was accepted to the
University of Wisconsin-Madison shortly after, but soon dropped out. He moved to
Portland, Oregon, to get away from his family. He traveled with his elder brother,
Lloyd Wright, to
San Diego,
California, where they worked with the
Olmsted Brothers as they prepared for the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition. He also sold posters designed by his brother and briefly worked a job pressing pants. Destitute and without direction, he decided to take up the profession of his father and become an architect.
Early architecture While walking in San Diego, he saw a sign calling for a draftsman for the Pacific Building Company. Wright was hired and drew architectural details for
bungalows. He soon realized that he had a talent for the profession and sought out a professional architectural firm. He found a position in the firm of
Harrison Albright, one of the preeminent architects in
Los Angeles. Originally acting as a clerk, Wright received his first design commission for a house in
Escondido in 1912. The design was heavily borrowed from his father's
Sherman M. Booth House in
Glencoe, Illinois. Pleased with the results, Albright gave Wright the opportunity to design the Workingman's Hotel, a three-story building. During the project, Wright worked closely with sculptor
Alfonso Iannelli, whom he would befriend. After the hotel was completed, Wright determined that he should receive formal architectural training. He intended to apprentice with
Vienna Secession architect
Otto Wagner in exchange for room and board in
Vienna,
Austria. Construction of the Imperial Hotel required beams to be designed in an interlocking method to make it safe for earthquakes, and John realized that this design could be adapted into a toy version. He used his own funds to bring the idea to market in 1918 as the Red Square Toy Company (so named after his father's famous symbol). Wright later sold the patent which became one of the most popular toys ever designed.
Long Beach and Del Mar In 1920, John and Jeanette divorced; Wright moved back to the Oak Park studio with his mother. He remarried in 1921 to Hazel Lundin, and they had a child,
Elizabeth, in 1922. John sought out his father's former employer,
Louis Sullivan, and had a series of conversations which inspired him to practice architecture again. Aside from houses, Wright was also commissioned to build the local elementary school and town hall. Because Long Beach was populated with wealthy vacationers, Wright was able to receive a steady stream of commissions during the
Great Depression. Wright received two
Works Progress Administration commissions during the depression, including the Arcade Cabins Hotel in
Indiana Dunes State Park. In 1939, a fire devastated Wright's house when his automobile caught fire in his garage. The fire destroyed most of his records and designs. Like his father, Wright fell in love with one of his clients, Frances Welsh, and left his family. ==References==