The compliment mitigated him. My appeasement worked. He took my logic lying down. I know in advance that these will not have any effect on you, but, having come to my own opinion as to your personality, I see no possibility of you wishing me to do any sculptural work on your Imperial Hotel, as by now you have taken a cognizance of my personality. I believe the proper way to enhance Frank Lloyd Wright s buildings is by superimposing on them, in a most judicious way, only very sparsely spaced, very thickly carved sculptures that would act as a surprise.
Surprise is an element of decoration.
When a cake is delicious, one might place a few surprising pieces of sugared fruit here and there. Though I have said that Wright s architecture is supreme today in the building Craft, it is afflicted with a malady of bad taste by the so-called decorations, where every manner of wallpaper, innocuous gingerbread ornamentation runs like a landscape, seen through an open window of an express train. You, sir, have been afflicted with bad taste of Arabesque flounces by your Master teacher and my dear friend, Mr. Sullivan. Thus the most original and best formed architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is beset by a smallpox of meaningless, irrelevant jujubees, dangles, laces, that totally misrepresent the fine majesty of your architectural intent. While I am being frank, may I mention an earlier work of yours, the Midway Gardens of Chicago.