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World War II-dated TLS signed “F. LL. W.,” one page, 12 x 10, red 'Taliesen' box letterhead, October 2, 1941. Letter to A N. Adams, in full: “Darby is not entitled to any extra charge for designing. And the understanding I had with Wiltscheck when I approved the shop-drawings submitted to me in which solid-beams, increasing the tonnage considerably, were substituted for the open beams I had specified – was, that no extra charge – a matter of several thousand dollars – would be involved because they had them in stock and it would be difficult to get what I had specified. There are probably many other items. But a check-up of the poundage furnished as against the pounds in the building now would be the only way to tell. My engineers would have to have all the drawings to make this check-up. And I would pay them for the work.” Wright, who makes several handwritten corrections, adds the closing line in his own hand: “The drawings of steel authorized by you – have never been sent to me.” In fine condition, with light handling wear.
The project referred to in this letter is very likely the Wright-designed Community Christian Church of Kansas City. In April 1940, Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design the new church after a fire on Halloween night in 1939 destroyed the previous building. Wright made the designs and the church was built by Ben Wiltscheck, contractor for the Johnson Wax Complex. The famed architect incorporated a variety of his design aesthetics and modern materials, including prefabricated materials and concrete, working to blend modern elements into the area's natural landscape with building lines and other features that evolved from his ‘Usonian Model.’ Wright’s ‘church of the future’ opened its doors for the first worship service in the new sanctuary on January 6, 1942, and a vibrant, progressive congregation has called it home for more than 80 years.
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