Wright Did Not Much Care for Children
Even though Wright’s financial pressures grew, he and Catherine (“Kitty”) had six children. In 1895 he built a large, vaulted play space in his home and studio where Kitty held kindergarten courses and gave the kids Froebel blocks to play with. But this may have served a dual purpose; to keep Wright’s children away from him. He was famously discontent with traditional domestic life and fatherhood. Wright wrote that he “hated the sound of the word ‘papa'” in Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography (1932). Even so, the children recall their early years fondly, full of music, crafts, books, and play. But later, his son John would comment that one hobby played a role in the collapse of this family, Wright’s love of cars.