Photography

The Road to Taliesin West

The Road to Taliesin West

I had the privilege recently to join a group of exceptionally talented photographers and photograph Taliesin West, a UNESCO World Heritage site, a few weeks ago. This is the view from my car’s dash cam that takes you on the road through the pristine Sonoran Desert up to the entrance to Taliesin West.

Taliesin West, which is located on more than 500 acres of pristine Sonoran Desert in Scottsdale, Arizona was the winter home and studio of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and is undoubtedly a sacred space in too many ways to describe, especially if you’ve never visited before.

Architecture, Arizona, Art, © 2000 - 2019 Daniel R. Stiel. All Rights Reserved., Landscapes, Photography

Camelback Mountain from Taliesin West

 

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The view of Camelback Mountain from Taliesin West. Scottsdale, Arizona

In the 1940s, when Frank Lloyd Wright learned that power lines were going to be built on the edge of Taliesin West, interrupting the view across the valley towards Camelback Mountain, he started a fight to stop the construction, demanding they be buried underground. When his protests, including letters to President Harry S. Truman, failed to produce the results Wright wanted, he threatened to relocate to Tucson.

Of course, he never did make the move, but he relocated the entrance of Taliesin West towards the rear of the main building.