Birthday greetings to Frank Lloyd Wright, the famed American architect who was born 150 years ago. Wright isn’t around to receive our salute, but he left a lot of himself behind for all of us to enjoy. During a productive career, Frank Lloyd Wright designed 1,170 structures, 511 of which were realized. Seventy-eight have been demolished, while 73 are open to the public, according to Jeff Goodman of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

The two of us became interested in Wright during our years at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. At the time, one of us (David) was teaching economics and the other (Kay) had earlier been an undergraduate. Florida Southern lays claim to the world’s largest concentration of Wright-designed structures, including the exquisite Annie Pfeiffer Chapel.

After years of teaching and studying in Wright-designed buildings, we were excited to discover Wisconsin had recently established a trail dedicated to some of the architect’s most important work. Wright was born and educated in Wisconsin, and the state is home to more than 50 of his remaining buildings, so it’s appropriate the Badger State designated a 200-mile regional trail in his honor.

In late June we had an opportunity to follow Wisconsin’s Frank Lloyd Trail. Flying to Milwaukee, we based our tour in Racine and Madison. The nine sites included in the trail are easily reached from these two towns located in the southeastern portion of the state.

We began our tour in Racine, home to two of Wright’s most famous projects – the S.C. Johnson Administration Building (1939) and the S.C. Johnson Research Tower (1950). The administration building’s 25-foot high great workroom is surreal. The ceiling is supported with columns the shape of golf tees, while light filters into the room through 43 miles of Pyrex tubing circling the upper walls. As was his custom, Wright also designed the furniture.

The nearby 15-story cantilevered research tower is supported with a central core housing the staircase (very narrow), elevator (very small) and utilities. Alternating round and square floors were designed to facilitate employee communication between floors. As in the administration building, light enters via Pyrex tubes. The tower is now a museum.

Wingspread, a Wright-designed house in a Racine suburb, was the home of Herbert F. Johnson, Jr. who headed the company and selected the architect to design his firm’s administration building. At 14,000 square-feet, Wingspread is the largest of Wright’s Prairie School houses. The floorplan is a pinwheel design with a central living space highlighted by four fireplaces and a 30-foot brick chimney. The home is now operated by the Johnson Foundation as a conference center.

Following two nights in Racine, we drove to Madison for a visit to Monona Terrace, the impressive conference center. Wright initially proposed his “dream civic center” in 1939. However, due to political issues and the exorbitant cost, the building wasn’t constructed until 1997, long after Wright’s death. The exterior is similar to Wright’s final design.

Wright also designed Madison’s First Unitarian Society Meeting House. The church, of which Wright was a member, was completed in 1951. Here Wright utilized a triangular design he considered a representation of inspiration.

An hour west of Madison is the crown jewel of Wright’s Wisconsin work, Taliesin (Tally-ESS-in), his home and studio on an estate of the same name. It would be a disservice to discuss the complex in this limited space, and we plan to write a separate column on the estate where we spent most of a day.

Nearby Taliesin, Wright donated land and the design for the Wyoming Valley School in honor of his mother. The building, with two classrooms and a multipurpose room, served as a public school from 1957 to 1990. It is now utilized as a non-profit cultural arts center.

Twenty-five miles northwest of Taliesin in Richland Center, the town of Wright’s birth, the architect in 1921 designed a warehouse embellished with sculptural ornamentation for Albert Dell German, who used it to store flour, sugar, coffee and other goods for his business. Today it houses a small theater, an exhibit on Wright’s architecture and a gift shop.

We completed the tour with a stop at Milwaukee’s Burnham Street District during our return to the airport. Here we saw homes Wright designed in 1915 as affordable housing. Wright partnered with builder Arthur Richards, Jr. to provide precut lumber and prepackaged components they called American System-Built Homes. The project was terminated during World War I due to the shortage of materials. Six of the homes were built on the 2700 block of West Burnham Street, one of which is open for tours two Saturdays a month.

Getting There: The Frank Lloyd Wright Trail is in southeastern Wisconsin with the largest cities being Racine, Milwaukee and Madison. Racine is 25 miles south of Milwaukee and Madison is 80 miles west of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport is served by all major airlines. The Dane County Regional Airport in Madison is served by American, Delta, Frontier and United.

Lodging and Food: Major hotel chains are represented in all three cities. In Racine, we stayed at the DoubleTree Harbourwalk that is within walking distance of downtown and several restaurants, including the Reefpoint Brew House.

When visiting sites west of Milwaukee, we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Madison West/Middleton. Madison has numerous downtown restaurants. Two we enjoyed were The Old Fashioned, across from the Capitol, and Fresco, on the roof of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Middleton also has many restaurants including Vin Santo Cucina Italian and Capital Brewery Bier Garden.

Additional Information: Contact the Wisconsin Department of Tourism for additional information about Wisconsin and the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail. Phone (800) 432-8747, or visit www.travelwisconsin.com.

For information about Racine call (262) 884-6400 or visit www.realracine.com, Milwaukee call (800) 231-0903 or visit www.visitmilwaukee.org, and for Madison call (608) 255-2537 or visit www.visitmadison.com.