Frank Lloyd Wright's Monona Terrace

The full, extraordinary story of the epic 60-year-long civic battle to build one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most significant designs is finally told in Frank Lloyd Wright's Monona Terrace: The Enduring Power of a Civic Vision by David V. Mollenhoff and Mary Jane Hamilton.

Monona Terrace was first conceived by Wright in 1958. He worked on this project on and off for a total of 21 years, redesigned it 8 times, and generated more drawings and correspondence for this vision than for any of his more than 700 building commissions. Before this monumental structure would arise on the shore of Lake Monona, there would be 13 designs, thousands of drawings, 5 local referenda, 10 lawsuits, and several acts of the state legislature.

Mollenhoff and Hamilton provide the definitive history of the building's design, the tempestuous relationship of Wright to his hometown of Madison, and the support for and opposition to the project. Drawing from the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, thousands of newspaper accounts, extensive government records, and dozens of interviews, the book also features more than 300 illustrations in color and black and white, including many published here for the first time.