One ‘Game of Thrones’ Set Was Designed with Frank Lloyd Wright in Mind

It’s been over a week since “Game of Thrones‘” series finale, and if you’re still reading think pieces, we don’t blame you. But allow us to revisit some earlier seasons for a moment, because our favorite Usonian starchitect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was the inspiration for a “GoT” set. Yes, Wright’s impact reaches to Westeros and beyond. 

The HBO show’s production designer Deborah Riley recently talked with “Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly” magazine, where she unveiled the inspiration she’s long found in FLW’s work, particularly the Ennis and Hollyhock houses.

Rewind to season 4, before Daenerys crossed the Narrow Sea and was instead freeing the cities of Slaver’s Bay in Essos. We can definitely see the connection between FLW’s work and Meereen Palace; the Ennis House in particular has a long-ago feel to it with columns and textile-block designs constructed with pre-cast concrete blocks, which were influenced by Mayan temples and often referenced in regard to Mayan Revival architecture.

When tasked with making a pyramid into a home, Riley was relieved that FLW “had already solved the problem of how to make the monolithic structures also feel domestic.” And his work stands the test of time: “[H]is work, to me, does not speak of a particular period, and it was possible for us to translate the spaces so that they felt simultaneously medieval and modern.”

Get more behind-the-scenes details from Riley’s interview with Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly.