365 Days of Art: April 10 – Frank Lloyd Wright Secretly Purchases Property Under His Mother’s Name

Side by side black and white photos of Frank Lloyd Wright and his mother.

April 10, 1911

Frank Lloyd Wright’s mother Anne signs a deed for property in Wisconsin, on behalf of her son, which was purchased with money he borrowed from a friend. By using his mother’s name, Wright was able to secure the 31.5-acre property without attracting any additional attention to the affair he was having with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, a former neighbor to his family, and the wife of one of his clients. The affair had already caused substantial scandal in their hometown of Oak Park, IL.