Devastated by the tragedy, Wright promised to rebuild Taliesin in the spirit of Mamah, but did not return for nearly a decade after completing the renovation. Wright was away in Chicago completing the Midway Gardens. One of the estate’s workers was able to save Wright’s studio by alerting neighbors and dousing the fire with a hose. Unfortunately, this came to a gruesome end in August 1914, when Julian Carlton, a 31-year-old man from Barbados who came to work for them as a chef and servant, lit the residential area of Taliesin on fire and then murdered Borthwick, her two children, and four others with an axe and lit some of the bodies on fire. After moving in during the winter of 1911, the couple and Cheney’s children, John and Martha, enjoyed a life filled intellectual hobbies such as Japanese art, and translating Swedish literature. Taliesin, located on a 600-acre plot of land in Spring Green, Wis., became a safe haven for Wright and Martha “Mamah” Borthwick Cheney when headlines surfaced about their affair.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |