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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