D U R I N G H I S F I R S T fifteen years of independent practice, from i 893 to 1908, Frank Lloyd Wright wrote just three articles: Art and Craft of the Machine (i90 ),1 New Larkin Administration Building (i9o6),2 and In the Cause of Architecture (I9o8).3 The latter, published in the Architectural Record, was Wright's first attempt to set forth his principles of organic architecture. While he obviously recognized the importance of such a general statement, he did not, as a rule, see fit to defend or explain individual buildings in print. A single exception to this condition occurred when Wright completed the administration building for the Larkin soap and mail order company in 1906. He then wrote an article for The Larkin Idea, a company-sponsored customer magazine, describing the essential features and innovations in the building. His introductory sentence-The architect has been asked to tell the 'Larkin Family' why the big pile of bricks across the street from the Larkin factories is an economical head-piece to house the intellectuals of a great industry4-suggests that Wright's clients were uneasy