Soap Opera Set Modeled On Wright
By Elaine Louie
New York Times
February 16, 1989
In 1923 Frank Lloyd Wright designed La Miniatura in Pasadena, Calif., for Mrs. George Madison Millard. It was one of his first houses made of precast textured concrete blocks. This month when viewers switch on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, the ABC soap opera, they will see the characters trapped in Eterna, an underground city modeled after La Miniatura.
According to the script, Eterna was erected in the 1950's by the United States Government and a consortium of rich businessmen. "The Government wanted to see how people survived underground for a long period of time, and also to use Eterna as a secret place to store gold reserves," said Barry Robison, art director of ONE LIFE TO LIVE.
To create the 12,000-square-foot set Mr. Robison chose La Miniatura because "it was American architecture." He borrowed Wright's use of slender, vertical windows and the appearance of his concrete blocks. But where La Miniatura is made of real concrete, Eterna is made of plywood, plastic and rubber.
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