On the Wrong Path

Have you ever seen a prairie at dusk? The endless sky dyed by last light, the wind rattling the tall grasses, restless birds settling in—the prairie is a place of small magics. Despite his style taking its name after this ecosystem, Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings never seemed to capture such ephemeral qualities. His tomblike foyers lack the expansiveness of the prairie, more akin to suburban developments named after the flora they bulldozed. I’ve mostly gotten over it, but when the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly released new drawings of three never-realized gargantuan Wright towers, expertly rendered by architect David Romero, I felt my spirit leave my body.

The Illinois, a mile-plus-high skyscraper, was inspired by a tree’s structure but resembles a prop from Nickelodeon’s Legends of the Hidden Temple. Crystal City, a multifamily complex of twelve buildings for the DC suburb that are visually intriguing only from above, sit on five stories of parking; it’s like using a loaf of Wonder bread as a centerpiece. The National Life Insurance Building is the most compelling …