Frank Lloyd The Wright Stuff

Seeing the Lincoln Continental from the perspective of America’s most celebrated architect.

- Eric Weiner

Sitting alongside the leaf-strewn footsteps of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Palmer House, the 1940 Lincoln Continental soaks in this moment of belonging. More than 75 years have rolled past since Wright proclaimed Edsel Ford’s pet project “the most beautiful car ever designed.” Yet, in the shadow of one of Wright’s homes, the car still pulls his world-famous ideals of style and form clearly into the present.

A 2017 Lincoln Continental, parked next to one of the architect’s trademark carports, looks somewhat uncomfortable in this otherwise harmonious continuum. Where the 1940 Continental is brassy and exuberant, today’s David Woodhouse-designed car is subtle and reserved. Gone is the split-wing grille Lincoln tried to resurrect on more recent sedans, replaced by a squared-off, Bentley-like nose. The ruby-red sedan’s short overhangs and otherwise orderly appearance stand in stark contrast against the original Continental’s sweeping, confident lines. Palmer House’s sprawling geometric layout, boldly integrated into the knoll-dotted landscape of suburban Ann Arbor, Michigan, certainly seems a more fitting home for the old car than the new.