On May 2, Frank Lloyd Wright’s S.C. Johnson Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin, will open to the public for the first time since it was completed in 1950. Visually striking but functionally flawed, the fifteen-story industrial tower was shuttered in 1982, but not before gaining National Register of Historic Places status in 1976.
Noted for its tree-like structure, the S.C. Johnson Research Tower is regarded as one of the country’s most important examples of cantilevered architecture. The Tower’s floors are supported by a central core, which houses a narrow stairway, small elevator, and utility lines. Glass tubes surround the tower, providing natural light, which proved overly efficient on hot days. Despite its imperfections, Johnson employees created some of the brands most ubiquitous products (Glade air freshener, Pledge furniture polish, and insecticides Off! and Raid) within the Tower's walls.
After researchers moved out of the Tower over thirty years ago, the building sat mostly empty until this year, when S.C. Johnson finished a five-year, $30 million renovation of the Research Tower and neighboring Administration Center, which was also designed by Wright and opened in 1939. The Administration Center relies on pillars for structural support, which allowed Wright to use glass tubing for exterior walls, much like he did for the Research Tower. Wright also designed the furnishings for the S.C. Johnson Research Tower and Administration Center.
Visitors to the S.C. Johnson complex can explore a new exhibit focused on Wright’s homes in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Scottsdale, Arizona. The show was organized in partnership with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and includes some of the architect’s own home movies. A second exhibition presents a mock research lab from the 1950s, complete with beakers, flasks, centrifuges, balances, test tubes, and graduated cylinders found in company storage rooms.
Wright, a Wisconsin native, designed commercial buildings, apartment towers, recreational complexes, museums, religious houses, residences, furniture, lighting features, textiles, and art glass. According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, “he redefined our concept of space, offering everyone the opportunity to live and grow in nourishing environments, connected physically and spiritually to the natural world.”
Free, two-hour tours of the Research Tower and Administration Center will be offered from 9AM to 2:30PM Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through September 27.
