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Pedro E. Guerrero and Taliesin
Taliesin West Construction
See also: Taliesin West • Taliesin [Wisconsin]
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The Taliesin Fellowship apprentices provided most all the work for constructing Taliesin West. Though Guerrero labeled “Taliesin West 1940” on the verso, others in the collection were handwritten “1947” on the back. This has led historians to attribute all the Arizona construction photos in the exhibition to have been taken in 1947. This photograph shows the jutting roof beam to the left with a pronounced weathering to its end unlike the new redwood segments being affixed to an central opening making this procedure clearly a remodeling to an existing section [perhaps the dining room]. This proof print was in the personal collection of Guerrero. Pedro E. Guerrero |
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William Wesley Peters was the first Fellowship apprentice in 1932. If Guerrero’s dating on the back of similar construction photographs of “1947” is correct, Peters would have been 35 here. What is most important, though, is that all the apprentices worked construction equally. Here, Peters filled a wheelbarrow with concrete. Another construction photo in Guerrero’s personal collection showing “Wes” in the same overalls is captioned, “Construction of Balcony Along Theater 1947” [although the FLW Foundation dates the cabaret theater to have been built in 1949]. The same photograph on the guerrerophoto.com website is flopped. This proof print was in the personal collection of Guerrero. Pedro E. Guerrero |
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In this photograph dated 1947 by Guerrero, Wes Peters empties a wheelbarrow full of concrete into formwork. Assisted by Lee Kawahara on the right and an unidentified apprentice on the left. This may be for the ceiling/roof of the Cabaret since another construction proof captions the project as the theater. But the cabaret ceiling showed signs of cracking shortly after it was poured and Wright added “Desert Masonry” beams to its exterior. Apparently, it worked. This proof print was in the personal collection of Guerrero. Pedro E. Guerrero |
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This photograph shows William Wesley Peters pushing a concrete filled wheelbarrow past two unidentified apprentices. His son, Brandoch [and Wright’s grandson] was playing on the ground below. His wife, Svetlana, [Wright’s stepdaughter] and their other son, Daniel, were killed in a car accident shortly before. This print was in the personal collection of Guerrero and used for his lectures. Pedro E. Guerrero |
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