THE LAST W R I G H T
AN A R C H I T E C T A HO T E L A C I T Y A C E N T U R Y
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For Sale
Press NPR article on the Park Inn Hotel
Credits The Last Wright IMDB page   
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The first project in any media about Frank Lloyd Wright's Park Inn Hotel Filmed on location in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Arizona, and Japan, where we visit Wrights's inspirations in Japanese art and architecture, as they directly relate to The Park Inn. Photographed on 16mm film and presented in HD Period music from original wax cylinder recordings - Iowa Motion Picture Association
A FILM BY LUCILLE CARRA AND GARRY McGEE "An emotionally powerful argument for sustainability - a manageable, respectful harmony with the world we've built and borrowed." "An informative and entertaining visual and audio blend of cinematography, rare archival footage and photographs...a fresh look at other stunning Wright masterpieces, as well." INTERNATIONAL SCREENINGS continue at: Environmental Film Festival, Washington, DC Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago The Louvre Museum, Paris Recontres Cinema et Architecture, Annecy Architecture in Film Week, tour of New Zealand Architecture in the City Week, San Francisco Julien Dubuque International Film Festival Iowa International Film Festival The Montreal Festival of Films on Art Phoenix Television Group, China
In 1908, when Frank Lloyd Wright was considered the most innovative architect in Chicago, he traveled to Mason City, Iowa, to design a unique, mixed-use city block - a bank and adjoining hotel facing a park. By 1914, scandal and tragedy would ruin Wright's career. By 1926, The Park Inn Hotel would begin a serious decline, but still standing, it remained one of his last Prairie style structures. Although little known, and vulnerable to the economic changes in Mason City, The Park Inn influenced the Bauhaus Movement and served as inspriation to one of Wright's most famous designs - The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Through rare archival footage, period music and a comparative look at famous Wright structures, The Last Wright offers a provocative, ironic tapestry of an American century, tracing the life, death and rebirth of a Midwest town through the prism of The Park Inn. During the 20th century, the forgotten Park Inn faced alterations and degradation while Mason City drew unwanted national attention with a Dillinger Bank robbery in the 1930s, an economic downturn in the 1960s and the label Porn City in the 1970s. In an effort to promote heritage tourism, the city struggled to fund renovations of The Park Inn in the 1990s while attempting an economic revival with a $20 million tribute to the musical comedy, The Music Man, based on Meredith Willson's boyhood in Mason City. Which vision of Mason City history has prevailed? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LAST WRIGHT offers images of The Park Inn and City National Bank before restoration in comparison to successful efforts to restore Wright structures; included are first looks at The Walter Residence, Stockman House (Iowa), as well asTaliesin (Wisconsin), Oak Park residences (Illinois), and newly filmed images of the Imperial Hotel (Meiji Mura), Imperial Hotel Bar (Tokyo), and Wright's hotel suite and garden at the Fujiya Hotel in Hakone, where evidence of Wright's inspiration is still seen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Directed by Lucille Carra |
