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Child of the Sun facts for kids

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For the Mayte Garcia album, see Child of the Sun (album).
This article is about Child of the Sun (disambiguation). For other uses, see Child of the Sun (disambiguation).
Florida Southern College
Architectural District
Lakeland FSC Pfeiffer Chapel01.jpg
Pfeiffer Chapel, 2009
Child of the Sun is located in Florida
Child of the Sun
Location in Florida
Child of the Sun is located in the United States
Child of the Sun
Location in the United States
Location Lakeland, Florida, United States
Area 100 acres (0.40 km2)
Built 1941–1958
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright
NRHP reference No. 75000568
Quick facts for kids
Significant dates
Added to NRHP 11 June 1975
Designated NHLD 2 March 2012

Child of the Sun, is a collective of buildings for the campus of the Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Also known as the Florida Southern College Architectural District, it was designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright from 1941 through 1958. On March 2, 2012 it was designated a National Historic Landmark. The buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and together form the largest collection of buildings by the architect Frank Loyd Wright.

Design

Frank Lloyd Wright was retained by Florida Southern President Ludd M. Spivey in 1938 to develop a master plan for the expansion and growth of the college's campus. Wright was given the opportunity to the plan the campus using ideas about organic integration with the environment that the architect had been developing for some years. As basic design blocks for the campus, Wright adopted a plan based on the idea of orange groves, which have evenly spaced trees forming a grid. For construction, Wright used of textile blocks, which he had developed formally a decade before in his "Textile Block" houses in California. The buildings on the Florida Southern campus could be made of concrete blocks of standard size, whose use simplified design and construction of the buildings. Some of these blocks were formed by the college's students using local materials. The basic plan for the campus was based on ideas Wright had conceived as part of his Broadacre City idea of urban planning.

Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center

Opened in 2013, the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center features a Wright-designed Usonian house and the GEICO Gift Shop. The center offers self-guided, docent-led, and group tours of this collection of the architect's work that Wright himself proclaimed to be among his best. It is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Buildings

The buildings within the District include:

  • Annie Pfeiffer Chapel – first completed Frank Lloyd Wright structure on the campus, dedicated 1941
  • Seminars (now the Financial Aid and Business Office) – completed 1941
  • Buckner Building (original Roux Library) – completed 1946
  • Watson/Fine Building (Administration Building) – completed 1949
  • Water Dome – partially completed 1949, completed and restored in 2007 to Wright's original plans
  • Danforth Chapel – completed 1955
  • Ordway Building (originally called the Industrial Arts Building) – completed 1952
  • Polk County Science Building (called Polk Science by faculty and students) – completed 1958
  • The Esplanades – various completion times, currently undergoing restoration

Gallery

  • Lakeland FSC Buckner Bldg pano01

    Buckner Building

  • Lakeland FSC Danforth Chapel pano01

    Danforth Chapel

  • COTSDanforthchapel1

    Danforth Chapel

  • COTSDanforthchapel2

    Danforth Chapel

  • COTSDanforthchapel3

    Danforth Chapel (original FLW designed pew)

  • Lakeland FSC esplanade01

    Esplanade (walkway)

  • FSC Esplanade HABS

    Esplanade (walkway)

  • COTSEsplanade

    Esplanade (walkway) night

  • COTSEsplanadepillar

    Esplanade (walkway) pillar

  • Lakeland FSC Ordway Bldg01

    Ordway Building

  • COTSOrdwaybuilding1

    Ordway Building

  • COTSOrdwaybuilding2

    Ordway Building (interior courtyard)

  • COTSOrdwaybuiding3

    Ordway Building

  • Pfeiffer Chapel HABS, FLA,53-LAKE,1A-14

    Pfeiffer Chapel, 1941

  • COTSPfeifferchapel1

    Pfeiffer Chapel

  • COTSPfeifferchapel2

    Pfeiffer Chapel

  • Polkbuilding3

    Polk Science Building (only FLW designed planetarium)

  • COTSPolkbuilding2

    Polk Science Building

  • Lakeland FSC Seminar Building pano01

    Seminar Building

  • Waterdome

    Water Dome (fountain on)

  • Lakeland FSC Water Dome pool pano01

    Water Dome pool

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