The Last Wright: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Park Inn Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Last Wright is an American documentary film
. It is the first project in any media focusing on the only surviving hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
. It was produced by Travelfilm Company and McMar,Ltd/28 and was produced and written by Garry McGee and Lucille Carra
and directed by Lucille Carra. Meticulously researched and filmed over a seven year period, the film is the only video record of the distressed condition of the hotel. The film explores the history of the Mason City Bank and Hotel Commission (1908) as well as the struggles of the rural city of Mason City, Iowa
to restore the Park Inn Hotel, which, along with the City National Bank, was a rare example of a Prairie style mixed-use structure by Wright.
Taking a highly contextual approach, the film deals in depth with the changing social, cultural and economic conditions in Mason City from 1908 to the present, which places the hotel's decline in historical context. The narrative occasionally travels away from the Mason City story and compares the degraded Park Inn Hotel to familiar Wright masterpieces, including the Guggenheim Museum, Oak Park Wright residences, The Walters Residence (Cedar Rock) in Quasqueton, Iowa. Comparisons are made to demolished Wright hotels and to the partially restored Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
, now moved to Meiji Mura Museum.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
. It is the first project in any media focusing on the only surviving hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
. It was produced by Travelfilm Company and McMar,Ltd/28 and was produced and written by Garry McGee and Lucille Carra
Lucille Carra
Lucille Carra is an American documentary film director, producer, and writer. She is of Italian American descent. All of her films have been seen on PBS and international television. Carra has a BFA in Film Production and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts,...
and directed by Lucille Carra. Meticulously researched and filmed over a seven year period, the film is the only video record of the distressed condition of the hotel. The film explores the history of the Mason City Bank and Hotel Commission (1908) as well as the struggles of the rural city of Mason City, Iowa
Mason City, Iowa
Mason City is the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 28,079 in the 2010 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro Gordo and Worth counties....
to restore the Park Inn Hotel, which, along with the City National Bank, was a rare example of a Prairie style mixed-use structure by Wright.
Taking a highly contextual approach, the film deals in depth with the changing social, cultural and economic conditions in Mason City from 1908 to the present, which places the hotel's decline in historical context. The narrative occasionally travels away from the Mason City story and compares the degraded Park Inn Hotel to familiar Wright masterpieces, including the Guggenheim Museum, Oak Park Wright residences, The Walters Residence (Cedar Rock) in Quasqueton, Iowa. Comparisons are made to demolished Wright hotels and to the partially restored Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Imperial Palace grounds, next to the previous location of the Palace moat...
, now moved to Meiji Mura Museum.
External links
- The Last Wright on International Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0958854/
- Architecture and the City Film Series, San Francisco http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1000339801