Edgar Tafel

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Edgar Tafel photographed in front of the Johnson Wax Headquarters in Racine, WI which he helped build under his late mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Silver House, Racine, WI.

Detail photo of Brodie Fine Arts Building, showing the large studio windows that Tafel designed for the facility at, SUNY Geneseo.

Edgar Tafel (1912-) is an American architect and who began his career as an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin (studio). Today, Tafel is considered the "unofficial guardian of the Frank Lloyd Wright School.^[1]" This is despite the rift that developed between Tafel and his late mentor when Tafel left Taliesin to pursue his own work and family^[2] Tafel worked on several of Wright's most famous projects including Fallingwater, Wingspread, and the Johnson Wax Headquarters.

Tafel is also recognized for his own work including the First Presbyterian Church Addition on Fifth Avenue in New York City, the 1964 master plan for the campus of SUNY Geneseo and it's "design gem" Brodie Hall, and the 1947 Silver House in Racine, WI. He has also published books about Wright including Years with Frank Lloyd Wright (1985) and About Wright (1993), and produced a film The Frank Lloyd Wright Way, which won first prize at the 1995 Houston International Film Festival.

[edit] Honors

• Doctor of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa - SUNY Geneseo, 2001
• Edgar Tafel Distinguished Chair in the School of Architecture at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign^[3].

[edit] References

1. ^ Renowned architect Edgar Tafel receives honorary degree at Geneseo - Doctor of Fine Arts from State University of New York at Geneseo, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3601/is_40_47/ai_75481495
2. ^ Fallingwater Is Falling Apart. http://www.gadflyonline.com/02-18-02/comm-fallingwater.html
3. ^ Edgar Tafel Chair in American Architecture. www.arch.uiuc.edu/people/ faculty/bbognar/TafelChairFinal_2006.pdf