Child of the Sun

Lore & Background

Frank Lloyd Wright was retained by Florida Southern President Ludd M. Spivey in 1938 to develop a master plan for the campus. Wright used ideas about organic integration with the environment and adopted a plan based on the idea of orange groves. He used textile blocks for construction, some formed by students using local materials. The basic plan was based on Wright's Broadacre City idea of urban planning.

In Their Own Story

The neon lights of Minneapolis flickered against the rain-slicked pavement as the bassline kicked in, vibrating through the floorboards of the small club. A hush fell over the crowd, not out of silence, but anticipation. As the chorus swelled, a young woman near the front closed her eyes, feeling the rhythm unlock something tight within her chest. For three minutes and thirty seconds, the darkness outside didn't matter; everyone in that room was bathed in an invisible, golden warmth, dancing as if they were indeed children of the sun.

Reader's Guide

The Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center, opened in 2013, features a Wright-designed Usonian house and the GEICO Gift Shop. It offers self-guided, docent-led, and group tours. It is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Buildings include Annie Pfeiffer Chapel (dedicated 1941), Seminars (completed 1941), Buckner Building (completed 1946), Watson/Fine Building (completed 1949), Water Dome (partially completed 1949, completed and restored in 2007), Danforth Chapel (completed 1955), Ordway Building (completed 1952), Polk County Science Building (completed 1958), and The Esplanades (various completion times, currently undergoing restoration).

Did You Know?

• The twelve original buildings were constructed between 1941 and 1958.
• On March 2, 2012, the collection was designated a National Historic Landmark.
• The buildings form the largest collection of buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright.
• A Usonian house originally intended for faculty housing was completed in 2013 and is now part of the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center.