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World War II-dated TLS signed in pencil, one page, 8 x 10, red 'Taliesen' box letterhead letterhead, September 30, 1941. Lengthy letter to Mr. Adams, in full: “It seems that the blanket approval given by the Building Committee to Wiltscheck has resulted in an ambiguous position arising in the matter of extra charges on the building for the Community Church — ambiguous both for the Committee and Wiltscheck. Drawings for extra steel demanded by Lang should for your own protection have been submitted to me for approval. I would then be in a position to save the church some money. To do it now I shall have to ‘butt in’ so to speak where I am needed but not wanted.
The Lang attitude toward the whole affair is that of an ignoramus who, confronted by the unusual, calls in an expert naturally and by training prejudiced against it, for advice. Why he should choose an engineer with no license as against two engineers licensed by two states — one of whom had been employed in Russia by the government in the construction of the building of the Dneiperstroy [sic] power-station is past my comprehension. Perhaps there is something about Missouri that validates a Missouri engineer and invalidates all others. However that may be, it is not only my duty but a privilege to serve the church in this connection if I can. To that end I suggest that all the orders for extras and the drawings for same be now submitted to me so that I can give an intelligent opinion in the circumstances. I could furnish valid testimony in any unbiased court in the land that every pound of additional steel has not only been of no use to the building but an actual liability because of unnecessary weight added.
But that is water over the dam now. What I would like to do is to see how far the church is committed to Darby for extra money. I am aware of certain substitutions to which I agreed for which no extra compensation was to be asked as they had the ‘substitution’ on hand and what was specified was hard to get. There may be many other things like charges for design, etc, etc.
There seems to have been a perfect unanimity between Pful, the Missouri engineer and the Darby Steel — Wiltscheck seems to have been unable to resist. My purpose in writing to you is only to be of service to the church in what appears now to be real trouble.” Wright makes a few corrections to the text in his own hand. In fine, folded condition, with light fading, and staple and puncture holes to the upper border. Letters signed in full by Wright remain quite uncommon.
The church referenced in this letter is undoubtedly the Wright-designed Community Christian Church of Kansas City. In April 1940, Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design the new church after a fire on Halloween night in 1939 destroyed the previous building. Wright made the designs and the church was built by Ben Wiltscheck, contractor for the Johnson Wax Complex. The famed architect incorporated a variety of his design aesthetics and modern materials, including prefabricated materials and concrete, working to blend modern elements into the area's natural landscape with building lines and other features that evolved from his ‘Usonian Model.’ Wright’s ‘church of the future’ opened its doors for the first worship service in the new sanctuary on January 6, 1942, and a vibrant, progressive congregation has called it home for more than 80 years.
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