At the heart of Florida Southern College stands the structures of a master.
"No architect could make a small space feel larger than Frank Lloyd Wright,” said Brian Renz.
Wright, perhaps best known for designing the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, also designed a dozen buildings on the campus of Florida Southern College. The structures make up the largest collection of Wright architecture on a single site in the United States.
Also on campus is The Esplanade covered walkway. Renz said there is more than a mile of the art deco-like overhang, which Wright envisioned as a tribute to the orange grove that used to grow here.
Across campus, animals come to shape.
"This one is said to be a butterfly,” Renz said of the soffit on an administration office.
The retired physician now leads daily tours of Wright’s designs in Polk County.
"A lot of knowledgeable tourists who come to visit from all over the world,” he believes.
Several tours of varying lengths and costs allow visitors to see firsthand the collection of campus buildings known as the "Child of the Sun."
"The most famous and central building on the campus," Renz shared as he entered the chapel under construction.
The Pfeiffer Chapel sports Mayan revival architecture on the inside, while look close on the outside and see similarities between the chapel and another Wright icon: the Falling Waters house south of Pittsburgh.
The Water Dome fountain on campus is another Wright design. The giant circle features jets that spray several times each afternoon at different intervals. Once a year, Renz said Florida Southern seniors are allowed to enter the shallow water as graduation approaches.
While some architectural aficionados will say Frank Lloyd Wright was a genius, there are other enthusiasts that will say, "take a look at all of those flat rooftops." Many believe there isn't a building that Wright didn't design that doesn't leak.
"His roofs were usually flat, horizontal and low,” Renz explained.
More than 50 years following Wright's death, a new home was built on campus using plans from the 1940s employs Wright's use of light, rectangles, non-traditional corners and his favorite color, Cherokee red.
"Even his personal cars were painted Cherokee red,” Renz shared.
All of Wright's floors on campus are bare cement, painted the dark red color. Chair cushions, counter tops, shelving and the fireplace hearth in the home are all Cherokee red.
"The workmanship and the work that went into it are very impressive,” Brian believes.
Yet, one thing was missing from Frank Lloyd Wright’s plans: air conditioning.
It’s a legacy in design, preserved in the heart of Central Florida.
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