Wichita State to host open house at Corbin Education Center to honor Frank Lloyd Wright

On Friday, take a moment to honor “the greatest American architect of all time.”

Happy 145th birthday, Frank Lloyd Wright.

In honor of the day, Wichita State University is hosting an open house of the Corbin Education Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Alan Aagaard, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, will give tours.

Why Corbin? It is one of only two buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Kansas.

Corbin Hall, located just off 21st Street on WSU’s campus, is considered one of Wright’s most daring designs during his last years. He died in 1959, shortly before Corbin Hall was finished. Nevertheless, the building contains many of Wright’s principles in design – the massive low entry emphasizing the soaring interior courtyard, and the 90-degree hallway turns that keep the building unfolding like a Rubik’s cube.

The other Wright-designed building in Kansas also is in Wichita – the Allen-Lambe house at Second and Roosevelt. In 1915, Henry J. Allen, publisher of The Wichita Beacon and later governor of Kansas, and his wife, Elsie, commissioned Wright to design their house, which is best known for being one of Wright’s favorite prairie-style houses.

There are no special activities scheduled Friday at the Allen-Lambe House, said Howard Ellington, executive director of the Allen-Lambe Foundation, which now owns the house.

More than a half-century after his death, why is Wright still popular? His architecture still holds true, Ellington said.

“His emphasis was on personal environment,” Ellington said of Wright, who earned the greatest-architect honor from the American Institute of Architects in 1991.

“Wright emphasized living in harmony with nature. All the green things we talk about today, he was doing back in 1918.

“His work is timeless.”

This story was originally published June 6, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Wichita State to host open house at Corbin Education Center to honor Frank Lloyd Wright."