Taliesin: Witness to Arizona growth, history

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - One Valley woman has seen Arizona grow from a unique vantage point.

At the height of the Great Depression, Cornelia Brierly was already ahead of her time, a woman in a man’s world. 

She was attending Carnegie Tech, later known as Carnegie Mellon University, and she was bored. 

She felt the instruction merely copied old styles of architecture, and she yearned for a more creative method.

That’s when she picked up a copy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography, and her life changed.

“I was astonished that a man could have such creative ideas, not just for buildings, but for people,” Brierly said.  “So, when I heard he was having a group, I was determined to be a part of it.”

Brierly had heard Wright was beginning a fellowship at Taliesin, his home and soon-to-be school in Spring Green, WI. She wrote a letter to him, and to his surprise, he responded. “Come when the spirit moves you,” the letter said, signed Frank Lloyd Wright.

Brierly would later move to Arizona, where she would attend school and learn and help build the complex which stands today in north Scottsdale. She lived on the property in a tent for four years, but her learning experience was invaluable.

“As people began to build together and to work together, the idea was to develop all the facets of their being,” she said. “He was always way beyond what was happening at the moment. That's why it was so exciting to live with him.”

Brierly is now 98, but still reflects on her years at Taliesin with stunning clarity, chronicled in her book, “Tales of Taliesin.”

In fact, she still lives there, in a small, but efficient apartment which has been her home for 56 years. 

She has seen much of Arizona’s growth and centennial history firsthand. She remains inspired by Wright’s vision and his work, much of it never taking shape in brick and mortar.

Wright was so full of new ideas, so driven to create a uniquely American art form through a marriage of beauty, form and function, Brierly believes he would still be ahead of his time if he were alive today.

“He would like to think people were striving for beauty in their lives, because he believed that was the highest form of morality. But as you look around you, do you see people living that way?”