Queer
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1315 Church St, Evanston, IL 60201
Taliesin, 5481 County Rd C, Spring Green, WI 53588
Unity Chapel Cemetery
Wyoming, Iowa County, Wisconsin, USA
John "Jack" Henry Howe (May 17, 1913 – September 21, 1997) was an American
architect who started as an apprentice in 1932 under American architect Frank
Lloyd Wright in Wright's Taliesin Fellowship. He was Wright's head draftsman
from the late 1930s until Wright's death in 1959, left the Taliesin Fellowship
in 1964, and, beginning in 1967, opened an architectural practice in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Howe was born in Evanston, Illinois, on May 17, 1913, to Clarence and Edith Howe. In 1932 he graduated from Evanston High School. He lived and worked at Taliesin in Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Arizona from 1932 to 1964. He was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's first apprentices in the Taliesin Fellowship, beginning the year it opened, 1932. He became the chief draftsman in 1937 during construction of Fallingwater[1] by Frank Lloyd Wright. Howe was a conscientious objector during World War II and was placed in a Civilian Public Service (CPS) camp in Sandstone, Minnesota from 1943 to 1946 after which he returned to Taliesin.
The balance at Taliesin was upset when Jack Howe, Wright’s chief draftsman, became aggressive in pursuing newer apprentices and began causing rumors. Howe had also attracted Philip Johnson’s eye during visits. In 1949, while the Fellowship was at winter quarters at Taliesin West in Arizona, the apprentices were called to a meeting that became known as “the trial.” Wright, who sought to end the rumors, reportedly said, “We should not be recognized as this kind of place.” Despite some calls for Howe’s expulsion, he was retained but made to apologize individually to members of the Fellowship. After Howe told some Fellowship members that he was bisexual, later efforts were made to find him a wife.
In 1947, he met Lu Sparks, and they married in 1951. Howe remained in the Taliesin Fellowship after Wright's death in 1959, and worked in Wright's successor firm, Taliesin Associated Architects, until 1964. After that, Howe went to California to work with former Wright apprentice Aaron Green (who was also Wright's representative in California) until 1967. In 1967, Howe moved to Minnesota with his wife, Lu Sparks Howe, and opened an architecture office in Minneapolis. He retired in 1992 and moved to Novato, California, with his wife. He died in Novato September 21, 1997.[2]
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