To help explain his reputation, he was extraordinarily influential and prolific (400+ completed buildings). His first 20 yrs of work was published as the Wasmuth Portfolio in Europe in 1910; basically all the great European architects who started Modernism had a copy, and even more studied under him at Taliesin. His space planning was revolutionary in the West, his Usonian homes were technologically and sociologically innovative, his many writings are often incisive. To the mentions of his buildings deteriorating; they were unusual, made of new materials, and many residential (no budget for upkeep). He should be regarded as an architect, not an engineer; these fields are almost entirely separate now. And he had great engineering successes, his Imperial Hotel in Japan famously survived a major earthquake.
In my opinion he's underrated (even being the most famous American architect) probably because he was so stylistic (a virtuoso) and he was a half generation older than the more significant wave of Modernists. Go to the Guggenheim, the Marin Civic Center, Oak Park Illinois, Hollyhock, Taliesin East and West, his buildings really hum.
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