Visitor Killed by Wind-Blown Debris at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West
A visitor was killed at Taliesin West, the desert home and studio of architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale, Arizona, after a piece of acrylic was blown loose from the property. The death happened on October 16, and the site has now closed to the public with no date set for reopening.
Scottsdale Police Department identified the man as Rogério Renato Mateucci, a Brazilian national and rector, or head, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná in Brazil. He had travelled to the United States for an event at Arizona State University in Tempe. He was on a walking tour of Taliesin West when a roof piece struck him, according to ARTnews.
The National Weather Service recorded east winds of 22 miles per hour, with gusts up to 32 miles per hour, in the Scottsdale area that day. Authorities are treating the death as a weather-related accident. The investigation is still continuing.
The incident has raised questions about the building's upkeep. A former Taliesin West employee told the local broadcaster AZ Family, speaking on condition of anonymity, that they saw two other objects break loose from the roof. The same person said a similar panel came off during a monsoon storm over the summer. The former employee also said money "isn't being funneled into the proper channels to ensure that the building is safe."
Those claims have not been independently confirmed, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which runs the site, has not responded to them. The foundation's website now carries a notice that "Taliesin West is currently closed to the public."
The property has had maintenance questions before. In 2018, local paper AZ Central reported that Taliesin West was set to use a $176,106 grant for upgrades, and that its electrical panels dated from the 1950s and were old and unreliable.
For visitors, the closure means the walking tours that bring people through Wright's low, stone-and-canvas buildings are on hold. For the foundation, it means a site that must now be checked, and reopened only when officials are satisfied it is safe. For Mateucci's family and colleagues in Brazil, it is a death far from home.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has not announced when Taliesin West will reopen.
