Loving Frank

Translator Mamah Bouton Borthwick writes in August 1914 that it wasn’t her idea to build a new house when she and Edwin “Ed” Cheney came back from their honeymoon in 1899. At the time, they were living with her father, but he passed away, as did her sister Jessica. She, Ed, and her other sister, Lizzie, adopted Jessica’s daughter, also named Jessica. The first years of Mamah and Ed’s marriage were difficult, but Ed was “kind and rarely complained” (3). He liked order and soon began advocating for a new home. He took Mamah to his friend’s house, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. While nervous at first, once inside, Mamah saw “[i]t was all open space, with one room flowing into the next […] It felt sacred inside, like a woodland chapel” (4).

Upon meeting, Ed and Mamah were quickly charmed by Frank. Mamah was surprised that a female architect, Marion Mahony, worked for Frank. When she and Ed received a draft of what their new home could look like, Mamah began working with Frank and the gardener. She remembers her and Ed’s wedding night, when Ed said, “Take my love for granted, […] and I shall do the same for you” (7).