V. C. Morris Gift Shop facts for kids

Morris Gift Shop interior

The V. C. Morris Gift Shop is a special building located at 140 Maiden Lane in downtown San Francisco, California. It was designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948. This store was like a test project for Wright. He used its unique circular ramp design as an idea for the much larger Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

All the built-in furniture inside the shop is made from beautiful black walnut wood. This furniture is original to the building's design. It was created by Manuel Sandoval, who learned and worked with Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Shop Today

Over the years, different businesses have used the V. C. Morris Gift Shop building. A gallery called Xanadu Gallery once spent a lot of money to make the building look just as Frank Lloyd Wright wanted. They worked with an architect named Aaron Green. He had helped Wright on other projects, like the Marin Civic Center. Green made sure to keep all the original details of the building.

In 2015, the building was sold to a high-end fashion store. For a short time in 2016, a company called goop MRKT used the building. This was a "pop-up" shop, meaning it was only open for a few weeks. They worked with a designer to bring back original details of the space.

In August 2017, an Italian men's fashion store called ISAIA Napoli moved into the building.

The V. C. Morris Gift Shop is considered a very important building. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects listed it as one of the 150 favorite buildings in America. It is one of seventeen buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that the AIA wants to keep as examples of his amazing work in American architecture.

Images for kids

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  The outside of the V.C. Morris Store.

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  The circular ramp inside the shop.

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  Another view of the building.

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  The V.C. Morris Store from the street.

• Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-226-77621-2 (S.310)

See also

In Spanish: Tienda de regalos V. C. Morris para niños