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Taliesin West
Visitor Information - Taliesin West

By Betsy Malloy, About.com Guide

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Hours: Open daily from 8:30am to 5:30pm. Visit website below for more information about holidays.
Reservations: Not needed
Cost: Visit the website for price
Location: Directions below
How Long: Depends on the tour
Best Time to Visit: Any time

About Taliesin West

In late 1937, architect Frank Lloyd Wright purchased land in northeast Scottsdale, Arizona, for a winter "camp." He named it Taliesin (tally-essen) West, Taliesin meaning "shining brow" in Welsh, echoing the name of his Wisconsin studio situated on the "brow" of a hill.

By many measures, Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest architect of the twentieth century, and Taliesin West stands among his greatest achievements, designated one of the best buildings in the world by Architectural Record magazine in 1991, and as one of Wright's greatest achievements by the American Institute of Architects.

Taliesin West Tours

Tours vary by season. Noteworthy seasonal tours include:

"Night Lights on the Desert" offered once or twice a week, February through October. An in-depth tour that shows off Taliesin West at twilight.
Apprentice shelter tours, given December through April and desert walks November through April.
Summer Architecture Discovery Tours are oriented toward families with school-age children.

Tips for Taliesin West

Get there at least 15 minutes before your tour. Not only do you need to have a few minutes to pay for it, but you'll also likely want to browse in the gift shop.
Before you go, look into a membership in the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Members get discounts on the tours and a subscription to the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly magazine. Family memberships are an especially good deal and may cost less than the tour price for a family of four with older children.

Taliesin West Background

Taliesin West was literally created from the desert where it stands. Wright and his apprentices gathered rocks from the area and cemented them together with sand from the desert washes. Wright described his design: "I was struck by the beauty of the desert, by the dry, clear sun-drenched air, by the stark geometry of the mountains… And out of that experience, a revelation is what I guess you might call it, came the design for these buildings."

Until he died in 1959, Wright and his students made annual pilgrimages to Taliesin West. Today, Taliesin West is run by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and it is the home of Taliesin Architects, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives.