The Hagen History Center has acquired the business and personal offices of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and they've built an exhibit around it in the museum's brand new exhibit building.

Frank Lloyd Wright's actual San Francisco office is now inside Erie's Hagen History Center.

In the exhibit, visitors are transported into his time, organic architecture and vision, right down to the illuminated view out the windows.

"This office was his for his California work," said executive director George Deutsch. "This is where he created, where he thought. And that's really an interesting opportunity for us to interpret."

Bringing Wright's office to Erie - items once displayed at the Heinz Architectural Center in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art - has been a multiyear dream for Deutsch and Wright aficionado Tom Hagen.

"He and I took a trip up to Buffalo to see this office in crates," said Deutsch. "The man who had purchased it from Carnegie Mellon had it stored and we started dreaming about what we could do at that point." 

The outer exhibit featuring Wright's famous designs - from a Buffalo gas station to the legendary Fallingwater and even Erie homes influenced by his prairie style - sets visitors up to step into his office, from the reception area and the drafting tables with the actual office blueprints, to Wright's private office space and desk.

In addition to the permanent exhibit, there will be some visiting Frank Lloyd Wright artifacts including a 17-foot model of The Butterfly Bridge he hoped to build over San Francisco Bay. 

"It's a concrete bridge with a park in the middle," said Deutsch. "It soars 200 feet above the water. Unfortunately, the people in power in San Francisco never decided to fund it" 

A Crosley car, one of Wright's obsessions, is already featured at the Hagen History Center. Another artifact on the way will be Wright's 1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet automobile. 

While this is just one of 11 new museum exhibits, the Hagen History Center believes it will draw a national Frank Lloyd Wright following.

"We expect that we're going to have a lot of outside visitors, besides people from Erie who can be educated and fascinated by Frank Lloyd Wright," said Deutsch.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has more than a quarter million people on its mailing list, so officials from Erie's Hagen History Center sees huge potential for visitors to visit Wright attractions from Pittsburgh to Buffalo, to stop here as well.

The exhibit will open to the public July 17.