Taliesan West and Casa Grande National Monument

We drove to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West for a tour after checking out of our motel in Phoenix. 

Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and school in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. Today it is the main campus of the School of Architecture at Taliesin and houses the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Ancient Petroglyphs found on the property and moved to this spot.  It is not illegal to move any petroglyphs.

There is lots of glass to let in the light.  A fireplace in the corner will give off the most heat.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s bedroom

The kiva was built underground to protect furnishing that would be destroyed by the extremely hot summer weather.  Also used as a classroom during the winter months..

Auditorium that holds 180 for shows and performances.

After our 1 1/2 hour tour we drove to Tucson where we are staying at the Doubletree at Williams.  Along the way we saw a sign for the Casa Grande National Monument so we stopped to take a tour and see a movie.

Casa Grande National Monument Prehistoric Ruins

The national monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall constructed by the ancient people of the Hohokam period, who farmed the Gila Valley in the early 13th century. "Archeologists have discovered evidence that the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built the Casa Grande also developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450."

"Casa Grande" is Spanish for "big house” which refer to the largest structure on the site, which is what remains of a four-story structure that may have been abandoned by 1450.

A Jesuit missionary and explorer Eusebio Franscisco Kino discovered and named the ruins in 1694. In the 1700s and 1800s on a very travelers came this way, but when the railroad was completed nearby, more and more people came back and started carving their name in the walls and taking pieces for souvenirs. In 1889 Congress voted to protect the ruins and shore up some of the walls. In 1891 Casa Grande became America’s first archeological perserve.