Remembering “Edgar T”
“Hello, Debra, this is Edgar T. calling,” a jovial voice would chirp from my answering machine on Saturday mornings. Whether I picked up or not, he would continue: “The other Edgar was E.J., you know—Edgar Kaufmann.”
Edgar Tafel, who recently died at the age of 98, was the last surviving member of Frank Lloyd Wright’s original Fellowship. To me, and many others, he was history incarnate—propelling the past forward, granting us a tantalizing glimpse into the machinations of “the world’s greatest architect” (as Wright once termed himself) at a zenith of his career. Edgar was the man who carried “Mr. Wright’s” drawings in to the Johnson Wax Building presentation. He sharpened Wright’s pencils as he rushed to create the Fallingwater drawings before E.J., en route to Taliesin from just 140 miles away, showed up in the drafting room. Subsequently, Edgar would be involved with the construction of both of these iconic buildings as well as Wingspread (Wind Point, Wisconsin), the sprawling home of Johnson Wax president, Herbert F. Johnson. Edgar was mythical. And I was his friend.
Image: Edgar Tafel with his 1995 Wright Spirit Award, a bell designed by Paolo Soleri (also a Taliesin Fellow), at the entry of his weekend home in Springs (East Hampton), New York, August 1998. Edgar also had a winter home in Venice, Florida.
I met the “man with a mind of his own”—as Wright described him, according to Edgar—at a Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy event at the Lovness Residence (Stillwater, Minnesota) in the mid-1990s. A newly-minted member of the group’s board of directors, I was wide-eyed about mingling with original Wright clients, scholars, former apprentices, and homeowners, not to mention meeting one of the Wright community’s demigods. I first spied Edgar holding court in a cozy corner of the living room. Tall, lean, and nearly as nattily dressed as his mentor, he was clearly in his element, his sizeable ego swelling as the gathering around him grew. A new Conservancy friend introduced us, and I worked hard to rein in a plethora of pent-up questions that had mushroomed from my readings about him. I think we were both pleased to learn that we were fellow New Yorkers and could continue our conversation on home turf.
Several weeks later, a friend of mine from the Guggenheim Museum staff joined us for lunch at MoMA. Edgar brought us autographed copies of his book, Apprentice to Genius: Years with Frank Lloyd Wright, and regaled us with colorful details from its pages. My friend was amused by the story of how he connected Wright with an affordable “concrete man” for the Guggenheim project. In 2009, when the museum held a 50th anniversary gala, nothing warmed my heart more than seeing a smiling Edgar across the rotunda.
One spring evening some years ago, I was invited to a cocktail party at Edgar’s townhouse at 14 East 11th Street. He designed its stunning interiors, once featured in House Beautiful, he said. After pointing out a treasured Japanese print given to him by Wright, he spirited me away for a tour. His downstairs archive was the highlight. There, he pulled out sample after sample of drawings, documents, and photographs from his Wright years, largely unseen by the everyday visitor—especially not with Edgar as a personal guide!
Edgar and the author with “Thataway,” a sculpture designed by the architect, at his weekend home in Springs (East Hampton), New York, August 1998.
In 2003, I wrote to Edgar to let him know I was working on a book about Wright’s mid-century years as a New Yorker, a time when the architect lived at the Plaza Hotel. He called me several days later: “I received your letter and was up all night thinking about the possibilities.” Edgar was continually enthused about all-things-Wright—especially if he had figured in a particular story or could have a hand in creating a new one.
While conducting research for my 2007 graduate thesis on the reconstruction of Wright buildings, I unexpectedly discovered that Edgar had played a role in all three of my case studies. In 1966, he executed renovation work on SUNY-Buffalo’s Darwin Martin House to convert it to a residence for the university’s president. (The entire estate has since been restored.) Around the same time, Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel was marked for demolition. He petitioned the AIA and other American foundations to save and reconstruct its key public rooms for posterity. Unsuccessful, he visited the hotel as it was being pulled down, obtaining samples of every structural element for SUNY-Buffalo’s architecture department. In the early ’70s, he saved the living room of the Frances W. Little House II—a Wayzata, Minnesota, prairie gem also on the brink of demise—by entreating the Metropolitan Museum of Art to house it in its expanding American Wing. As the saying goes, perhaps there really are no coincidences.
Wright’s de facto missionary, Edgar lived even longer than his architectural mentor. From the moment we met, I sensed multiple forces operating within him—a deep admiration for Wright, a thinly veiled desire to have been Wright, and a devotion to his own work, which flowed forth following his departure from the Fellowship. For me, these swirling facets were an integral part of Edgar’s complex and undeniable charisma.
Each time I attend an event in the AIANY’s Edgar Tafel Hall, I will think of his satisfaction at having his name mounted on the wall, high above the heads of all those who gather there. In that room of perpetual discourse, there is no doubt that he will remain ever-present.
I will always treasure the gift of having known “Edgar T.”
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Edgar will be missed…thanks for this lovely tribute to him.
Comment by Donna B. — February 10, 2011, @ 5:24 pm
Debra, thank you for the touching tribute. There will be a remembrance for Edgar in his namesake “Tafel Hall” at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place) on Thursday, February 17, at 4pm. RSVP here:
http://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=calendar&evtid=2760
Comment by Center for Architecture — February 11, 2011, @ 9:40 am
Debra, this was a lovely, edifying, and very well-written tribute to a fascinating man.
Comment by Kim O'Connell — February 11, 2011, @ 1:07 pm
Thanks for the wonderful remembrances of a lovely man who was always full of wonderful stories and a marvelous joie de vivre.
Comment by Paul R. — February 11, 2011, @ 6:25 pm
Thank you for this tribute to Edgar. I had the privilege of meeting him about 10 years ago, and photographing him here in Racine and at his home in Manhattan. He also graciously wrote a foreword for my first book.
Comment by Mark Hertzberg — February 11, 2011, @ 6:46 pm
Debra, it was a treat reading your post about Edgar Tafel. Thank you!
Comment by Martie Lieberman — February 12, 2011, @ 5:12 pm
Debra-Thank you so much for this article and insight. It is still fascinating to learn more about Edgar, and his life out of the public eye. I did not have a chance to meet Edgar in life, but with each of the articles, stories, and memories shared with me I feel I know him better. I own one of Edgar’s several houses in Racine, Wisconsin (mine commissioned by one of the founders of Hamilton-Beach appliances - Louis H. Hamilton). I am in the process of a preservation project on the house, so if you have a contact for someone handling his archives please let me know. I am still hunting for the original interior plans!
Comment by Joshua Drew — February 13, 2011, @ 9:16 am
Debra: Kudos for your kind words about a fine gentleman. I was fortunate to have been at Taliesin gatherings with him to hear him expound on several subjects, with humor as well as insight. He always had a crowd about him when the stories started to roll. I’m certain all who knew him will miss him dearly. + [ Noting the comment by Joshua Drew, it would please me to know more about Edgar’s Racine houses. FOR CONTACT: I was a FLLW apprentice. Earl Nisbet. http://www.earlnisbet.com. EMAIL: flw-apprentice@sbcglobal.net. Thank you Joshua. ]
Comment by Earl Nisbet — February 13, 2011, @ 7:59 pm
Debra,
A lovely tribute to Edgar. I do hope you can come to the Remembrance for him on Thursday, Feb. 17 at CFA.
Please let Joshua Drew know that I am handling his archive and will look for anything on the Hamilton House. The archive is a mess and I am not optimistic, but who knows.
RS
Comment by Robert Silman — February 13, 2011, @ 10:05 pm
Beautiful tribute. Thank you for sharing your personal memories of interactions with E.T. As an architect of late-middle-age, I appreciate the significance of the passing these key figures.
Comment by Belmont Freeman — February 20, 2011, @ 9:06 pm
In July of 1986, two years out of school, out of a job and nearly out of money, I scraped up my last remaining dollars, what few dress clothes I owned, a portfolio of student drawings and flew from Denver, CO to Newark, NJ. Even though I didn’t know a soul in New York City I figured there always had to be some work in a town that size. Fortunately an Ohio hometown friend was then living and working as a social worker in Newark and offered me a crash-pad for a week while I commuted each day into Manhattan to search for a job.
For five hot and sweaty days I schlepped by train and bus from Newark’s Penn Station to Madison Square Garden then by foot to various offices to drop off resumes and try to get interviews. Someone advised me to go to the State Employment Office in Midtown near the NY Public Library and speak with a woman named Ruth whose job it was to help architects find employment. Ruth turned out to be a very kind person who patiently reviewed my resume and portfolio and helped me arrange a few interviews. One of those interviews was with Edgar Tafel.
I met Edgar in his office, which was in the basement of his Greenwich Village brownstone. Edgar had one employee, a middle-aged draftsman (who told me he was originally from Cleveland). The basement was dimly lit and musty. The walls were covered with very fine drawings in the Wrightian tradition as well as black-and-white photos of projects – some by Wright but most by Tafel himself. There were also Taliesen era artifacts such as column capitols and stained glass details. Tafel and I chatted for some time before he asked to see my portfolio. Postmodernism was the rage at that time and my drawings were inspired by classical design. Tafel took one look at my work and gasped, “My God! Another façadeist!” Finally, after a long lecture about organic design, he asked me how much I expected to be paid. I had no clue what to expect, what I might be worth or even what was necessary to survive in The City. But I boldly and firmly informed him that I expected enough pay to afford an efficiency apartment within walking distance of the office. At my announcement, the draftsman from Cleveland replied, without ever lifting his head from his drafting board, “You will be paid enough to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.”
Following my interview, and a few memorable adventures as a young, naïve bumpkin in the Big City, I returned to Denver to decide my future. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from Edgar who barked, “Where the hell are you? I want you to come to work.” I politely declined his offer and eventually ended up in Boston. From what I witnessed and what I have subsequently read I realize that Edgar Tafel was a very talented architect and a true original. That interview was one of the most enjoyable memories of my career.
LT
Comment by LT Thorn — February 23, 2011, @ 11:23 am
Thank you so much for the many kind comments regarding my blog about Edgar. They mean so much to me. Please note that Robert Silman is the contact for any queries regarding Edgar’s archives. Long may he be remembered.
Comment by Debra Pickrel — February 24, 2011, @ 5:50 pm
Debra,
A fine tribute to ‘The Man’. As I noted in Prairie Mod, I just missed personally meeting him by this ~ much! after his warm response to my correspondence and his invitation to visit him at his office. Wouldn’t it be great if someone produced a book of some kind about his work. Unfortunately I believe the Taliesin Fellows magazine is no longer published.
Thanks for this.
Comment by John A. Hewlett — March 22, 2011, @ 3:50 pm
It was great seeing the article about Edgar Tafel. Thank you. I have the good fortune to be living in a home design by him, in 1946. He was in Racine, Wisconsin workingin on the Johnson Adm building at the time. How many homes did he design and has anyone put together a book on his work? Would love to hear from others. Kay g.
Comment by Kay Gregor — October 24, 2012, @ 12:21 am