“I meant to live if I could an unconventional life. I turned to this hill in the Valley as my grandfather before me had turned to America – as a hope and haven.”

– Frank Lloyd Wright on Taliesin

Taliesin is the home, studio, and 800-acre agricultural estate of Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright built Taliesin on his favorite boyhood hill, in the Wisconsin River valley homesteaded by his Welsh grandparents. He named it Taliesin in honor of the Welsh bard whose name means “Shining Brow,” reflecting his belief that the crown of the hill was reserved for nature, and that buildings should be constructed at the brow of the hill.

The Taliesin estate was his laboratory of organic architecture, with designs from nearly every decade of Wright’s life. The Taliesin residence, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the heart of these buildings that Wright designed and modified from 1897 to 1959, including the Romeo & Juliet Windmill, Hillside School, Tan-y-Deri, Midway Barn, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center. These are among the reasons Taliesin is often described as Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography in wood and stone.

Photo: © 2017, Andrew Pielage

Since 1990, Taliesin Preservation has served as steward of Taliesin in a collaborative agreement with its owner, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The dual mission of Taliesin Preservation is to preserve the cultural, built and natural environments that comprise the Taliesin property and to conduct public educational and cultural programming that provides a greater understanding of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and ideas.

All tours begin and end at the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center. Inside, visitors may browse the Taliesin gift shop and select grab-and-go menu items from the Riverview Terrace Cafe which features estate-grown produce and a variety of offerings for visitors. Overlooking the beautiful Wisconsin River, the Visitor Center is the only structure Frank Lloyd Wright built expressly for the food service industry; today, it is the gateway to the Taliesin Experience.