Our Films
The Frank Lloyd Wright designed Pappas House, located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, is now open for tours. Masks are required and social distancing will be observed. To arrange a tour, please call 817-917-1733.
Rescheduled Pre-Restoration Cocktail Party Reception at the Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Pappas House – Sunday June 7th. Two groups, 2:00pm and 6:30pm. (UPDATED: the 2:00 event is SOLD OUT. Tickets for 6:30 are still available.)
POSTPONED: Sunday, April 19th – A Screening of “Masterpieces” the Most Extraordinary Buildings Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright – a documentary film by Michael Miner.
Lee Auditorium at Missouri History Museum
Forest Park 5700 Lindell Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri.
Doors open at 1:30pm. Film and program begins at 2:00pm
Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students. Tickets must be purchased online as they will not be sold at the door. Make sure to get your tickets early as we are anticipating a sellout!
OUR FILMS
Masterpieces –
The Most Extraordinary Buildings Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
“Masterpieces” is a magnificent journey to 8 of Frank Lloyd Wright’s finest buildings, including such famed structures as Fallingwater and the Johnson Wax Administration building, plus the lesser known gems Cedar Rock, Stanley Rosenbaum house, and the rarely seen Auldbrass Plantation.
Romanza –
The Structures of California Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
Wright designed more than 80 projects for California, and saw more than 25 built. The buildings were both grand and modest, public and private, and came from each major era of Wright’s 7-decade-long career. “Romanza”, the third Frank Lloyd Wright documentary from Writer/Producer/Director Michael Miner, is the story of that relationship.
A Child of the Sun –
The West Campus of Florida Southern College
A Child of the Sun is the story of Florida Southern College, whose west campus contains the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture anywhere in the world.
Originally planned as an “Academic Village” of more than 20 structures, only half the project was completed, remaining today as Wright’s “Unfinished Symphony.”
Sacred Spaces –
The Houses of Worship Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright has long been regarded as America’s greatest architect. Famous for such works as the Guggenheim Museum and Fallingwater, Wright designed over 1,000 buildings during his 70-year career. Sacred Spaces examines his brilliant, but less well-known, houses of worship.
Our Pappas House Reception received coverage by Town & Style St. Louis
Interview With Michael Miner on The Art and Jennifer Show
Take a listen to Michael Miner on The Art and Jennifer show on KTRS – the Talk of Saint Lewis.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT PAPPAS HOUSE IN ST. LOUIS SOLD TO FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT REVIVAL INITIATIVE FOUNDER AND CEO MICHAEL MINER
In association with his non-profit corporation, The Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative, Michael Miner has bought the Wright designed Usonian Automatic Pappas house in Town and Country, Missouri. House will be fully restored and protected. Plans are for multi-use center.
Media Contact
Michael Miner, CEO
Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative
Phone: 817-917-1733
Email: flwchildofthesun@att.net
St. Louis, MO. (February 25, 2020) Statement issued by Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative CEO Michael Miner:
“Today I am announcing that I have bought the wonderful Usonian Automatic Pappas House in Town and Country, MO. from the Pappas family (daughters Cynthia and Charisse Pappas, and Candace Pappas Simmons).
The long-term plan we have for the home is for it to become an overnight rental facility, event rental venue, corporate retreat, education center (covering K-6, middle, high school, and university students), and house museum, available for regular low-cost public tours. We plan to keep it a very busy place, with access for everyone.
Of course, the first order of business is restoration. Beginning in the Spring, phase one of the operation will commence, “stabilizing” the infrastructure of the house so it is functional and habitable. This will include adding a new septic system, roof replacement, and the replacement of the textile blocks immediately supporting the roof. Ongoing restoration of the more cosmetic elements of the home will take place over the subsequent months, concurrent with the other activities taking place at the house. There will be a strict preservation easement put into place.
Having bought the Pappas house, we are in the process of actively seeking to acquire a second Frank Lloyd Wright home. The idea will be to use one home as a for profit model, and the other as a non-profit. In each case, we want to demonstrate to others that buying a Frank Lloyd Wright building and restoring it to its original condition is not only a benefit to the community in which it located, and is the right thing to do, but is also a wise financial investment. Making restored Wright homes available for overnight rentals is really a win/win/win scenario. The home is saved and a preservation easement is put in place, the owners have an incentive to restore the home and have an income generating property, and fans of Frank Lloyd Wright can have the experience of staying overnight in the house.
While I have mixed feelings about all Wright homes becoming house museums or overnight facilities, we are at present still losing Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, and if our model becomes the only way to prevent these buildings from being “Whitefished” or “Ruised” (yes, Ruised) and to protect them forever, then this is what must be done.
I would also like to ask people not to confuse my organization with any others. The FLWRI is in NO WAY affiliated with either the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, or the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy. Further, we do not accept government funding, local, state, or federal, of any kind.
And although this will sound like hyperbole, I am completely serious when I tell you that what we will be doing with this home is the first small step of a much larger plan to help save our country from its current financial mess. Really. More on that later, but for now, you may all rest assured that the Pappas house is in safe hands”.
About Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative
The Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative, a nonprofit organization, aims to promote the legacy of the celebrated architect by rebuilding certain structures that, for various reasons, have been demolished. Michael Miner, a documentary filmmaker specializing in films on Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, is the founder and CEO of the organization. For more information, visit FLWRevivalInitiative.org.
The Mystery of the Whitefish Billboard
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative
Michael Miner
772-600-7747
flwchildofthesun@att.net
flwrevivalinitiative.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE MYSTERY OF THE WHITEFISH BILLBOARD SOLVED
Palm City, FL. (April 29, 2019) – On Jan. 6th, 2018, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Lockridge medical clinic in Whitefish, Montana, was demolished by developer Mick Ruis to make way for a block of three story, multi-use buildings. Soon after, a billboard appeared in Whitefish, calling the demolition a national tragedy, and asking for a boycott of the development on that site, as well as any other projects owned or proposed by Ruis. The billboard was signed “The Frank Lloyd Wright Coalition.” Architectural Digest wrote a story about the billboard, announcing that they could not find any organization named the Frank Lloyd Wright Coalition, but that they would keep digging, and keep the public informed. Well, I can now tell you, I am the author of that billboard, paid for it to be displayed, and am a member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Coalition.
The idea for the Coalition came about during a conversation I had with the late Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, who was the longtime head of the Frank Lloyd Wright archive while it was still housed in Scottsdale, and who was probably the greatest living scholar on Mr. Wright and his work. Bruce and I were on friendly terms, and often talked over a cigarette outside the archive offices in Scottsdale, while I was there doing research for one of my films. We talked about a number of topics, including Bruce’s experiences with, and actions taken by, the then contemporary management of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. They would make for very interesting reading, but those are stories for another day.
It was probably during my last visit to the archive, just after his 3 volume set of the complete works of Mr. Wright’s architecture had been released, that one of us (I can’t remember which) made an offhand comment “Wouldn’t it be great if all the various Frank Lloyd Wright organizations could come together as a single entity?” Added strength with unity was the underlying idea. There was no further discussion, just that off the cuff remark. I always remembered it.
Sadly, Bruce passed away only a few days before the clinic was demolished, so afterwards, I called a number of Wright building owners on whom I was on good terms, scholars whom I had met over the years, many of whom were interviewed in my films, personal friends associated with architecture, and historians and preservationists, to loosely form what we came to call the Frank Lloyd Wright Coalition. It was then that I had the billboard put up, calling for the economic boycott of the developer. We have remained anonymous so that we wouldn’t give Ruis multiple targets to go after in case he decided to retaliate.
Well, Ruis needn’t have worried, because the bad news is, Whitefish doesn’t care. Neither does Montana care. I’m not sure even America cares. The loss of the building certainly did not set off the explosive reaction I thought it would, either locally or nationally. When I later traveled to Whitefish to make a publicized presentation to the Town Planning board about their responsibility in allowing the clinic to be lost, and of supporting the boycott for which we called, exactly 3 Frank Lloyd Wright fans and preservation minded people showed up. Ruis has found the perfect place to do business.
By calling for a boycott of Ruis and his properties, I have been criticized by some in the preservation community for my contentious style. I know that it is traditionally a very polite and genteel community, consisting of soirees serving champagne cocktails and hot hors d’oeuvres, and an outspoken maverick does not fit in with the tone of this milieu. Well folks, you can sit there until you’re blue in the face and tell me differently, but unless a developer like Ruis somehow pays an economic price for his misdeeds, you will continue to lose historically significant buildings indefinitely, because when you combine a philistine developer with a lax government and an indifferent community, which does not value its history, nor realize the opportunities offered by saving worthwhile buildings, losing those buildings becomes inevitable.
And as was done on the billboard, I now make another respectful request. That we introduce 2 new adjectives into conversation, hoping they come into popular usage and work their way into the lexicon of the English language. “Whitefish”, meaning “to lose an important or historic structure through the indifference of its local community”, as in “The Lockridge medical clinic was Whitefished in early 2018, and “Ruis (pronounced roo-eez), to demolish an historic structure without regard to its importance entirely in the name of personal profit, as in “Evil and greedy developers are constantly looking for properties to Ruis”. I just noticed, “Ruis” is only one letter away from “ruin”, isn’t it?
While I would like to honor Bruce’s memory by effecting the Coalitions original intent by bringing the Frank Lloyd Wright organizations together, recent events have made me conclude that it would not be a good idea to do so at present. Perhaps the better course of action is to expand our efforts beyond the boundaries of simply protecting Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, and embrace the activities of the entire architectural preservation community. So, at least for now, our organization will simply have to serve as the equivalent of an online petition, signed by whomever supports our mission by adding their names to the site’s home page, which is at flwcoalition.org.
And to clarify, I want to make it absolutely clear that neither of my non-profits, the Coalition and the Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative, are in any way connected to either the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, or the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy, and I have no statement to make about either of those organizations at this time. Maybe soon, but not now.
One change I’ve made, as a direct result of the Lockridge loss, is widening the mandate of the Revival Initiative to include assisting Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in need, both in restoration and in acquisition, putting endangered buildings under the protection of non-profit organizations, which will make sure they do not suffer the same disastrous fate as the clinic.
Here is an update of projects in which we are currently involved.
1) As for our inaugural project, the Banff National Park Pavilion, we are just in the process of submitting the summary report of the terms of reference to the town of Banff, a process which has been enormously arduous, time consuming, and expensive. After receiving and reviewing this report, a vote will be taken by the council for final approval of the project.
2) I have contacted the owners of the Oboler complex, the series of buildings lost to the 2018 Malibu fires, as well as Eric Lloyd Wright, and spoke to them extensively. I originally pledged 25,000.00 to the rebuilding effort, and have recently increased that pledge to 45,000.00, which is all the money my wife and I currently have on hand. This is my personal money, not that of the Initiative.
3) The Spring house in Tallahassee is in need of being acquired by a private Foundation which has been set up for just such a purpose. I will secure a bank loan, using my own home as collateral, and from those funds commit 200,000.00 towards the acquisition of the home, provided the balance can be raised by the foundation (aka the Spring house institute). There are a couple of conditions for this transaction, which will be listed on our website flwrevivalinitiative.org. Using 200,000.00 from our general fund would take money intended for the Banff Pavilion project, for which most of the money was raised.
4) In much the same situation, the Pappas house in St. Louis has just begun raising money to buy the house from the current owners, and also bring it into protected hands. We have committed 25,000.00 as a kick off to their fundraising, and will be staging a cooperative fundraising event later this year.
5) I am also helping 2 private Frank Lloyd Wright private homes by staging collaborative fundraising events at each of their properties, and helping to negotiate lower costs for repair and restoration work, from the many service and material providers I have come to know over the years. In addition, we will also be staging numerous other fundraising events at Wright properties all across the country in the coming year. I’m at a point where I’m fed up with inaction and am going to move ahead full throttle to get this work done.
The initial list of our fundraising tour can also be found on our website flwrevivalinitiative.org. You can give your support by attending one of these events, or by a personal donation.
Michael Miner is a documentary filmmaker specializing in films on Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, and the founder and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative, a 501(3)C non-profit corporation.
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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT REVIVAL INITIATIVE EXPANDS MISSION; COMMITS 245,000.00 TO ADDITIONAL WRIGHT PROJECTS
The Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative has announced that its organization will expand efforts beyond those of its original mission, and offer assistance to various Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings in need.
Originally conceived as an entity dedicated only to reconstructing demolished Frank Lloyd Wright buildings on their original sites, the Initiative has recently become involved in projects outside of that mandate. “We realize that there is an enormous void in the protection, maintenance, and restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, and the promotion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy” says FLWRI CEO Michael MIner, “and that these objectives are not being currently met with existing efforts. Having said that, I would like to point that the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust in Chicago, which maintains stewardship of the FLW Home and Studio, Robie house, and Unity Temple, seems to be doing an exemplary job.”
In addition to assisting in some relatively minor projects, which include helping a Wright homeowner in negotiating a lower cost for roof repair, Miner speaks of larger efforts, “We have already become spokesmen for the owners of the Malibu Oboler complex, lost to the Woolsey fire last year, and taken the lead in having the site declared historic by the State of California, thus saving the surviving stone masonry from demolition. Now the owners can begin the application process for rebuilding. I’ve also made a personal donation of 45,000.00 as a start up fund for this rebuilding effort. Additionally, I have committed to obtaining a bank loan, using my own home as collateral, and will offer 200,000.00 as a matching donation for the acquisition of the Spring house in Tallahassee to bring it under the control of a protective organization. It’s being done this way because we don’t want to access our general fund, where most donations were intended for the rebuilding of the Banff Pavilion. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I will reimburse myself through salary from the Initiative to eventually get my house out of hock, if donations specified for that purpose are received. If they don’t come through, I’ll take the financial hit.”
“I know these seem like extreme steps, but I’m getting impatient with the lackluster efforts of those who have been expected to protect these buildings, help with their restoration, and educate the public as to Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius. Up to now my films have been providing the advocacy, now we’re taking concrete steps to make a difference.”
The Revival Initiative’s inaugural project, the rebuilding of the Banff National Park Pavilion in Alberta, Canada, remains its primary focus. “The final portions of the terms of reference required by the Town of Banff are being completed at this time, and will be submitted soon. Following approval, the construction on the building will hopefully begin in the Spring of 2020, delayed one year from our initial estimate.”
Miner reminds that outside help is still needed. “We are a 501(c)3 non-profit, and still welcome individual donations.” When asked why he is doing this, he replies “The only answer I can give is, because it needs doing, and it’s currently not being done.”