Frank Lloyd Wright’s Long-Lost Banff Pavilion to be Rebuilt

A Frank Lloyd Wright –designed park pavilion built in the early 1900s but since demolished, has a fighting chance at new life. The Prairie-style picnic shelter at Banff National Park in Alberta, was one of only two works by the modern master in Canada—the other being a private residence on Sapper Island in Ontario. The rustic pavilion had a short-lived existence, due to repeated flooding of the riverside grounds in the years following its 1914 completion. It was demolished in 1939. Earlier this year, the Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative petitioned the Banff Town Council for permission to rebuild the structure in the park, and recently the council accepted the proposal, though some conditions, including its funding, must be met. The rebuild is estimated to cost $2 million, which is being raised through a combination of small donations and sponsorships from construction material suppliers.

The land where the pavilion originally stood was later used for tennis courts and a skateboard park, but, serendipitously, plans to repurpose the area were already on the table when the group’s petition came through. American filmmaker Michael Miner is leading fund-raising efforts, having set up a nonprofit corporation and several websites, including the donation avenue —where Wright fans can become part of history in the (re)making.

Miner's proposal is supported by Eric Lloyd Wright, grandson of the famed American architect. Eric studied at the Taliesin West school under his grandfather, and has helped to restore some of his other structures. If all goes according to plan with the Banff Pavilion, the group has plans to restore other Wright projects, like the 1963 Pilgrim Congregational Church in Redding, California.