Frank Lloyd Wright’s San Francisco Field Office Reassembled in Erie
The Hagen History Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, has opened the Frank Lloyd Wright Field Office Museum, centered on Wright’s former San Francisco field office at 319 Grant Avenue. Used by Wright and his associate Aaron Green from 1951 until Wright’s death in 1959, the office served as a Bay Area base for Northern California projects leading up to the Marin County Civic Center. After 1959, Green continued to work there and use the space as the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's headquarters until the office was disassembled in 1988 and sold to a collector.
The office was on display for years at the Heinz Architectural Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, where visitors viewed it behind glass. Benefactor Thomas B. Hagen later purchased the office from Jim Sandoro, owner of the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum, and brought it to Erie, where it now becomes another publicly accessible Wright site.
In Erie, the field office is installed as part of a 2,700‑square‑foot “museum within a museum” that combines the reassembled workspace with artifacts, including personal letters, memorabilia, audio, and video of Wright describing his ideas. Unlike the Heinz installation, visitors can walk into the office and its adjoining drafting room, experiencing the compressed, carefully detailed space much as Wright and Green did. The installation highlights familiar elements of Wright’s organic architecture: redwood plywood construction, geometries based on 120‑degree angles, partial-height walls, and vertical louvers with translucent glass that modulate light and privacy.
The entrance features a red ceramic tile that recalls Wright’s red square signature and the tiles produced in the 1950s by ceramic artist Jean Haber, at Green’s request, for buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum and Bay Area projects, including the V.C. Morris Gift Shop and Marin County Civic Center. A Japanese screen that wraps a corner, cantilevered components, and everyday objects—a bowl, pitcher, and business card from the period—underscore both Wright’s interest in Japanese art and the office’s character as a working studio. If you are in the Erie, Pennsylvania area, the installation offers a rare opportunity to step into the spatial and material world of Wright and Green’s San Francisco practice.
How to Visit:
Location: Hagen History Center, Erie campus, 356 West 6th Street, Erie, PA 16507.
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10 am–5 pm; Sunday 12 pm–5 pm; closed Mondays (Erie campus).
Before visiting, confirm current hours and exhibit details on the Hagen History Center website or by calling (814) 454‑1813.