How a Superior librarian hired and fired Frank Lloyd Wright
An article published this week in the online magazine Slate explores the letters exchanged circa 1940 between a Superior librarian, Edith Carlson, and the staff of Frank Lloyd Wright. She wanted the famed architect to design her modest home. It got as far as preliminary sketches and building instructions.
What happened to those rejected plans for Carlson’s house? The Ann Arbor Observer reported in 2018 that the design was revived in the late 1970s when a University of Michigan professor, Frederick Haddock, purchased it from Wright’s widow for use in building his home near Ann Arbor.
So, yes, the frugal Superior librarian’s unrealized plan for a home is now apparently on the market in Michigan for $975,000, though it is a mere 1,300 square feet.
A new story in the Superior Telegram delves into how Philippa Lewis, author of the new book Stories from Architecture: Behind the Lines at Drawing Matter, worked with Teddie Meronek, a history librarian at the Superior Public Library, to uncover details about the life of Edith Carlson.
The Superior Telegram’s podcast, Archive Dive, now has an episode about Edith Carlson. Host Maria Lockwood interviews Teddie Moronek on the process of researching Carlson’s life.