H-Bomb: A Frank Lloyd Wright Typographic Mystery
a day ago
- #Typography
- #Frank Lloyd Wright
- #Architecture
- Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple features an upside-down 'H' in its bronze lettering, sparking a typographic mystery.
- The lettering has undergone multiple changes due to restoration, vandalism, and reinstallation, affecting the orientation of letters over time.
- Historical photos reveal that the 'H' was correctly oriented in the 1930s-40s but appeared upside-down in a 1956 photo.
- The 2010 theft of letters led to new lettering in 2012, which was correctly installed, but the 2014-17 restoration reintroduced the upside-down 'H'.
- Research suggests Frank Lloyd Wright's original drawings intended the 'H' to align with the 'E', but it's unclear if he ever installed an upside-down 'H'.