World Heritage

In July 2011, US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his selection of the Price Tower as an official cultural site nominee to become a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

Joining Price Tower in a serial nomination of ten buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) are Fallingwater, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Marin County Civic Center, Taliesin, Taliesin West, the
Robie House, Unity Temple, the Jacobs I House, and Hollyhock House. The Wright nomination spans work
produced by the architect from 1905 through 1958, in seven states across the nation.
 
The successful nomination was developed and submitted by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the
international preservation organization whose mission is to facilitate the preservation and maintenance of the
remaining structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright through education, advocacy, preservation easements,
and technical services.
 
The World Heritage Site list currently includes 962 properties considered “treasures of the planet,” among
them the Sydney Opera House (Australia), the Great Wall (China), Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Chartres
Cathedral (France), the Bauhaus buildings (Germany), Vatican City (Holy See), and Taj Mahal (India). When
selected, the Frank Lloyd Wright properties will join the Grand Canyon, Monticello, the Statue of Liberty,
Independence Hall, Yosemite National Park, and sixteen other sites in the United States.
 
In order to be included on the US World Heritage Site list, each site must meet rigorous US and World Heritage
criteria, including National Historic Landmark status (achieved in 2007) and a systematic plan for the preservation, maintenance, governance, and perpetual protection of the historic qualities of the site.
 
Price Tower is on its way to meeting these requirements, and inscription onto the World Heritage Site list is
expected by 2015.