In 1985, Domino’s Pizza was on the rise. Founded two decades earlier by Thomas Monaghan, the pizza chain had become one of the country’s fastest-growing restaurant franchises. At this point, the first phase of Monaghan’s ambitious vision for the company’s headquarters was complete. But this wasn’t just any corporate building—it was a sprawling office park set on rolling farmland outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, that also served as a tribute to Monaghan’s lifelong idol: Frank Lloyd Wright.
Monaghan’s fascination with the iconic 20th-century architect was intense—perhaps unexpectedly so, especially considering his position in the business world. Although Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts are far from rare, with collectors still paying millions for his homes and organizations dedicated to preserving his legacy, Monaghan’s obsession stood out.
His admiration began at the age of 12, when he first discovered Wright’s work in a Michigan library. Later, during his service in the Marine Corps in Tokyo, Monaghan found himself awestruck by Wright’s Imperial Hotel. By the 1980s and early 1990s, as Domino’s reached its peak, Monaghan’s admiration for Wright expanded into an extraordinary collecting spree. He acquired Wright’s furniture, stained glass, and decorative objects at an unprecedented rate, and his purchasing power had a direct effect on the rising prices of these items. According to a 1988 New York Times report, Monaghan was a significant factor in the skyrocketing cost of Wright’s works, which led to criticism from preservationists. These critics argued that wealthy collectors were eroding the artistic value of Wright’s architecture by buying up integral details from homes, leaving them less authentic.
The total amount spent on his collection is not readily available, but it is known that by 1988, Monaghan had already spent over $14 million on Wright-related objects. His collection was the largest of its kind, comprising an array of furniture, stained glass, and decorative pieces. This was in addition to his earlier purchases, such as the $330,000 he spent on Wright’s 1941 Carlton D. Wall House (also known as Snowflake), and a 1953 Usonian house that had been dismantled and stored for decades. And, of course, there was the $120 million office park he constructed just outside Ann Arbor.
Dubbed Domino’s Farms, the new headquarters was a striking half-mile-long structure spanning over 400,000 square feet. Monaghan hired architect Gunnar Birkerts—an alum of Eero Saarinen’s firm—to design the building with a nod to Wright’s Prairie style. “Tom is addicted to Frank Lloyd Wright without any reservation,” Birkerts remarked in a 1985 New York Times interview. While the exterior of the office building bears obvious influences of Wright’s style—featuring flat planes and red brick—the interior is a postmodern pastiche. However, the chairman’s suite does contain elements more closely aligned with Wright’s vision, such as a brick hearth and wood-paneled walls.
During the construction of Domino’s Farms, Monaghan was unapologetic in his admiration for Wright, describing him as a genius on par with Michelangelo. “I’ve been evangelizing Frank Lloyd Wright all my life,” Monaghan told the New York Times at the time. “I’ve never met anyone yet who hasn’t been impressed.” Monaghan felt it was essential to elevate Wright’s legacy, ensuring that the architect’s work would not be forgotten. His enthusiasm for Wright’s brilliance was not just a personal passion; it became, in a peculiar way, an extension of the Domino’s Pizza brand.
For roughly a decade, Frank Lloyd Wright’s influence was intertwined with the corporate identity of Domino’s. The company even marketed calendars featuring “Selections from the Domino’s Center for Architecture and Design.” Monaghan’s high-profile auction acquisitions frequently made headlines, and Domino’s sponsored an award recognizing the “World’s Top 30 Architects.” In 1989, design historian David A. Banks published Frank Lloyd Wright: Preserving an Architectural Heritage, Decorative Designs From the Domino’s Pizza Collection, further cementing the connection between the architect and the pizza empire.
Monaghan’s passion for Wright was so consuming that it became a defining characteristic of his personal and professional life—an obsession that seemed as much a part of his legacy as the pizza empire he built.
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