Last time we were in the Spring Green area, for a spring break trip back in 2018, we missed the opening of the Taliesin season by one day. So when we were looking at camping in a nearby town, I was super excited to finally get a chance to visit. Being from Illinois, where Wright spent a big chunk of his career, we were pretty familiar with Wright and his work. We personally love the prairie style of architecture, especially how it was designed to fit into and reflect the natural landscape.
A Brief History of Taliesin
I’m going to keep this part of the post short since I have a lot from the actual tour to share. And I’m going to assume if you’re reading this then you at least know who Frank Lloyd Wright was and why he’s famous. But I will share a quick run down on the history of the Taliesin property.
Taliesin was Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal home, studio, and architectural school. He began building it in 1911 on land owned by his maternal family, intending it to be a reflection of his connection to the landscape. The property has had an eventful history, including a tragic fire in 1914 caused by an arsonist that killed seven people, including Wright’s partner Mamah. Wright rebuilt it, but Taliesin burned down again in 1925 due to an electrical fire, and a third fire in 1952 damaged parts of the building. Despite these setbacks, Wright continually rebuilt and modified Taliesin, integrating the building into the natural surroundings and using it as a testing ground for his architectural ideas until his death in 1959. Today it’s mostly run as a museum and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
How to Tour Taliesin
5607 County Rd C, Spring Green, WI 53588
https://www.taliesinpreservation.org/
Taliesin offers a few different tour options. You can only visit through a tour or program/event. Tours are offered seasonally- mostly in May-October. All tours start at the Visitor Center and then you take a shuttle to the estate.
Estate Tour
- 4 hours
- Daily May-October
- Includes Hillside, Tan-y-Deri, Taliesin
- $98 adults; $93 students/seniors/teachers/military
The estate tour is the most comprehensive of the tours and involved walking 1.5 miles of the estate.
Highlights Tour
- 2 hours 15 minutes
- Daily May-October
- Includes Hillside & Taliesin
- $70 adults; $65 students/seniors/teachers/military
The highlights tour is similar to the estate tour but without the walking. It’s one of the most popular tours.
In-Depth House Tour
- 2 hours
- Daily May-October; Weekends April & November
- Includes house only
- Adults $62; students/seniors/teachers/military $57
The in-depth house tour is the other most popular tour.
Introductory House Tour
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Daily May-October
- Includes parts of studio, house, and courtyard
- Adults $42; students/seniors/teachers/military $37
Accessible & Private Tours
Many of the Taliesin tours are not accessible for those with mobility issues, but with advanced notice you can schedule an accessible version of the Introductory House or Highlights tours. These will have the same cost, but will use different routes to avoid stairs and narrow passageways. Accessible tours are only offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
You can also schedule a private tour at Taliesin with at least 3 weeks notice. Private tours are $200/person/hour with a 1 hour minimum. You can choose to see any combination of the buildings and sights offered in the regular tours.
Taliesin Visitor Center
May 1- October 31: 9am-5pm Mon-Thurs; 9am-5:30pm Fri-Sun
April & November: 10am-4pm Fri-Sun
The Visitor Center is where you’ll check in for your tour and get on the shuttle bus. There’s also a gift shop and the Riverview Terrace Cafe. The Cafe offers counter services daily May 1 – August 31 and limited hours in September-November. The Cafe sources a lot of its ingredients locally and is very reasonably priced for the quality there.
The best thing we ate there was the cheeseburger made from locally farmed beef. It also had bacon-onion jam and Gouda on a brioche bun. It was amazing and tasted way more gourmet than the $15 price.
The Visitor Center also has a pretty extensive gift shop of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired products. We put together a list of our Taliesin reading recs (and a few other fun things) on our Bookshop. As Bookshop.org affiliates, we earn a small commission from purchases.
Taliesin Tour
We chose to take the Highlights Tour so that we could get an overview of the entire estate, but without the walking of the Estate Tour.
Hillside School
After hopping on the shuttle from the visitor center, our first stop on our tour was the Hillside School. Originally Wright built Hillside for his aunts to run as a school in 1902. Eventually, he repurposed it into his own school of sorts and used it as a workspace and living quarters for the architects he trained as part of the Taliesin Fellowship.
Taliesin still uses Hillside for workshops and other events, and participants even still stay in the dorms- which I think is so cool! We love seeing historic buildings still used for their original purpose. While we were on our tour there was a group using the main workroom for a photography workshop.
Some of the more recent work at Hillside was in the theatre, so that it can be used for performances again. I am absolutely obsessed with this curtain. It’s a remake, but the original was made by Wright’s students as a gift to him. The design represents the Taliesin estate and landscape. I’m a big textile arts fan and this curtain is absolutely amazing, I wanted to take 1,000 more pictures of it.
Romeo and Juliet Windmill
After exploring inside Hillside, we went into the backyard to look at the Romeo and Juliet windmill. The windmill was built when his aunts ran a school here and was functional. As the name suggests, it’s meant to represent the entwined lovers.
Midway Barn
Next, we did a slow drive by Midway Barn. Wright designed the barn, like many of his buildings, to blend into the landscape. It’s made with locally sourced limestone and wood and was used to grow and raise food for the Fellowship. Parts of the barn were later converted to apartments.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Studio
Our next stop was Wright’s personal studio and office. We went into a front kind-of living room, his office, and a dining area.
Taliesin House
It’s time for the main attraction- Wright’s house! The first Taliesin was built in 1911, then rebuilt after a fire in 1914, and again after another fire in 1925. Each time Wright made changes, since he was continually experimenting and growing as an architect. Wright lived off and on at Taliesin from 1911-1959, but had other homes as well.
We started in the living room and had a very exciting moment here- we were all asked to take a seat while our guide gave more history of the house. As in, we were asked to sit on Frank Lloyd Wright’s actual personal furniture!!! One of my pieces was the quartet music stand designed by Wright, but completely useless to actual musicians.
Then we moved on to one of the bedrooms and then the loggia. We went into a sitting room used by Wright, and even got to see some of his personal shell collection.
We went into 2 more bedrooms. First, the bedroom of Olgivanna, Wright’s last wife. Wright built Taliesin originally for his affair partner at the time Mamah, and later moved in his second (legal) wife Olgivanna.
After Olgivanna’s bedroom, we finished with Wright’s bedroom. It barely feels like a bedroom, since there’s just a tiny bed tucked in a corner and mostly the room is a large table for working and reading.
Tips for Visiting Taliesin
- Book your tickets early- popular tours and dates sell out
- Arrive early to your tour- make sure you have time to check-in, use the restroom, and check out the Visitor Center before meeting with your guide
- Dress comfortably- all tours have a good amount of walking
- Be prepared for the weather- depending on your tour, you’ll either be walking outside or at least on and off a shuttle, so dress appropriately
- Photos and Videos- on our tour we were allowed to take photos, but no videos
Bonus Visit: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Chapel & Grave
6596 County Hwy TZ, Spring Green, WI 53588
If you’re visiting Taliesin, it’s definitely worth taking a drive down the road to Unity Chapel. Wright designed this chapel when we has 19-years-old (maybe as an assistant to his uncle). There are elements of his not-yet-developed prairie style in the chapel. It was mainly used by his maternal family and was a Unitarian chapel. It’s occasionally open to the public to go inside, but we thought it was still worth visiting just to see outside.
Many of Wright’s relatives are buried here, and Wright originally was too. In 1985, though, he was exhumed and moved to Taliesin West in Arizona to be next to Olgivanna. This was pretty controversial, but Wright does still have a cenotaph here too.
