Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ocatilla Camp
Yahoooo, the latest member of my #500fllwproject…Meet #109, the original site of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ocatilla Camp, 1928.
🔺
Dr. Alexander John Chandler, and Frank Lloyd Wright met in 1928 while Wright was in Phoenix consulting on the construction of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. Chandler wanted a grand hotel on land he owned in present day Ahwatukee, Arizona.
After exploring the desert location, Wright accepted the commission to plan a large hotel called the “San Marcos in the Desert.” He set up camp with his team and family at the site the following winter, calling the camp Ocatilla, an intentional misspelling of the ocotillo plant which grew in abundance on the site. Wright designed the camp himself in a day, and within days the small buildings, modeled on tenthouses, were built and the work of designing the hotel began.
🔺
The resort design was about ready to go into construction, but due to the 1929 stock market crash the project was halted. The abandoned Ocatilla Camp eventually disappeared as materials were taken for other uses.
🔺
This is all that’s left of the site (nothing really) but from this aerial image you can still see faint outlines of Wright’s geometric camp designs.
