Frank Lloyd Wright & Catherine Tobin

What Happened

Frank Lloyd Wright married Catherine 'Kitty' Tobin in 1889, and together they had six children while Wright established himself as America's most innovative architect from their Oak Park, Illinois home. The marriage appeared stable until 1903, when Wright began designing a house for neighbor Edwin Cheney and fell in love with Cheney's wife, Mamah Borthwick, an educated feminist whom Wright considered his intellectual equal.

In 1909, Wright and Mamah Borthwick scandalously abandoned their respective families and fled to Europe together, living openly in Italy. The yellow press of the era sensationalized the affair relentlessly. Edwin Cheney granted Mamah a divorce, but Catherine Tobin refused to divorce Wright, publicly calling Mamah a 'vampire seductress.' Under early twentieth-century law, Catherine's refusal effectively trapped Wright in the marriage.

Tragedy struck in 1914 when a deranged servant named Julian Carlton set fire to Wright's Taliesin estate in Wisconsin and murdered seven people with an axe, including Mamah Borthwick and her two children. The massacre devastated Wright but did not change Catherine's position on the divorce. It took thirteen years from Wright's abandonment before Catherine finally granted the divorce in 1922.

Wright married sculptor Miriam Noel later in 1923, but that marriage was also disastrous, ending in divorce in 1927 amid allegations of mental instability and erratic behavior. He later married Olgivanna Lazovich in 1928, remaining with her until his death in 1959. The thirteen-year wait for Catherine's consent illustrated the enormous power one spouse could wield over the other in an era before no-fault divorce.

Legal Breakdown: When one spouse refuses to grant a divorce and the legal limitations of an earlier era

What This Means for Your Divorce