16/08/2024
Just outside of Madison, lies the sleepy village of Spring Green.
The driftless town is known mostly for its most famous former resident, Frank Lloyd Wright.
But, the Wisconsin born architect and his landmark home and studio, Taliesin, didn't always attract the positive attention they do today.
While designing a house for client, Edwin Cheney near Chicago, Wright became smitten with his wife Mamah Borthwick Cheney.
Wright and Borthwick began a tryst that would last for several years. Both separated from their spouses in 1909 in order to unite. Wright all but abandoned his wife and 6 children.
In 1911 Wright set out to build a “hideaway” for his mistress near Spring Green.
After hearing of the affair and Wright’s abandonment of his family, the press dubbed the property the “Love Cottage”.
Undeterred by the scandal, Wright built the first iteration of Taliesin on a nearby hillside.
On August 15, 1914, while Wright was working in Chicago, tragedy struck his humble hillside home.
A male servant, Julian Carlton, set fire to the living quarters and wielded a hatchet to the workers and residents
In the end, 7 were dead, including Wright’s beloved Mamah and her two children.
The deceased were transported to a neighboring cottage, Tan-y-Deri, owned by Wright's sister.
Carlton was apprehended after a failed su***de attempt (drinking muriatic acid) and died within weeks of starvation in jail. The perp never gave a motive his attack.
Although, the fire consumed much of the living quarters, Wright rebuilt Taliesin. But, in 1923 another fire would consume most of the cottage, this time due to faulty wiring.
Wright would build again. This time the third iteration of Taliesin.
Some say that Mamah never left Tan-y-Deri. In Linda Godfrey’s book Haunted Wisconsin she reports that a woman in a flowing white dress appears near dusk and visitors will sometime “catch a whiff of acrid smoke, a reminder of the unthinkable acts perpetrated” at Taliesin.
You can visit the hideaway in the hills by taking part it one of the many Taliesin tours. Taliesin Preservation Inc has restored the property to its formal glory and preserved it for posterity.
