The Start of Beauty Several business trips took John Anderson to Japan in the 1960s. However, a visit to the Portland Japanese Gardens in Oregon inspired him to develop his swampy backyard, along Spring Creek in Rockford, to give Illinois it's own piece of Japan. John employed the assistance of designer Hoichi Kurisu, a master craftsman, and in 1978 construction began on the Anderson Japanese Gardens. Every path, tree, and rock placed in the gardens were done so with exact … [Read more...]
Frank Lloyd Wright and His Little Gem
June 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
My Little Gem Frank Lloyd Wright signed the contract in July of 1949 to build his only structure designed for a person with a disability. Completed three years later, Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent moved into the single-story, Rockford home, decades before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was on the books. Kenneth, paralyzed from the waist down, and his wife Phyllis, reached out to Wright after his tour of duty in the U.S. Navy put him in a wheelchair for life. “To give you an idea … [Read more...]
