Frank Lloyd Wright in Tokyo
From Dreaming Spies:
The compound was built from an unlikely mix of yellowish brick and rugged lava-stone slabs of a peculiarly greenish tint, combining the roof-line of a Japanese farm house with a right-angle Illinois sensibility and the brutality of a Mayan temple. Over this uneasy mix lay a heavy dusting of Moorish detail, apparent as we drew near, circling an enormous sunken pond.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s hotel in Tokyo
Beginning in 1912, Frank Lloyd Wright was hired to build a new version of the hotel across the street from the Imperial Palace. Wright, a man of perpetually strong opinions (not the least concerning his own genius) and a rather vague idea of Japanese aesthetic.
However, one thing Wright knew was strength: the brand new hotel survived the massive 1923 quake and even provided an enormous pool full of water for firefighters (although he had a lesser grasp of the problems of liquefaction). Various foreign embassies set up there, and food was distributed to those rendered homeless by the fire. And seven months later, up past the reflecting pool, to the portico made of lava-stone and the windows designed in Illinois, drove two visitors from England…
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10 days until Dreaming Spies! Other posts about writing and researching the book can be seen here, or you can read a long excerpt here.
You can pre-order a signed copy from Poisoned Pen Books or Bookshop Santa Cruz, and unsigned or e-books from Indiebooks, Amazon/Kindle, or Barnes & Noble/Nook.
My upcoming events are here.
