Conrow Role, 1970s

This collection concentrates on particular interests of Conrow during the 1960s and 1970s and is arranged in three series.

Series 1, Adobe, comprised of nine folders, deals with the use of various forms of earthen bricks in Southwestern building construction.

Series 2, Shiprock Ruins (Pauson House), includes five folders and addresses the effort to save the remains of the first house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona. This dwelling, completed in 1940, stood on a hill on 32nd Street in Phoenix. The wooden sections of the house burned in 1942, leaving the stone portions, known as Shiprock, standing. In the late 1970s, the city of Phoenix wished to demolish the ruins to make way for an extension northward of 32nd Street and ran into opposition from persons who wished to preserve the remains of the Wright structure for its historical value. Conrow played an active role in this effort, which failed to halt the demolition in 1980. A small section of the chimney and wall are preserved and marked with a plaque in the entrance to Biltmore Alta Vista Estates.

Series 3, Miscellany, comprises two folders, one of them oversize. Folder 1 contains a 32-page Frank Lloyd Wright bibliography covering 1900-1955, compiled by Bernard Karpel, librarian of the New York Museum of Modern Art. This same folder includes correspondence and a research analysis by a student of Wright's Falling Water house located in Pennsylvania. Folder 2 in the Miscellany series contains miscellaneous items such as plans, drawings and specifications for St. James Episcopal Mission in Taos, New Mexico as well as Frank Lloyd Wright related printed matter. Two artifacts pertaining to Frank Lloyd Wright are stored in Box 3.