Iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Scottsdale, Arizona, home has reopened just one week after a freak accident left a visiting dignitary dead.
Rogério Renato Mateucci — a top official at Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná in Brazil — was visiting the renowned Taliesin West home on Friday, October 16, for a walking tour, when he a piece of the roof was blown off by heavy winds. Mateucci was struck in the head and killed instantly, according to NBC News.
Reopening After Tragedy
Taliesin West was built in 1937 and served as Wright’s winter home and desert laboratory. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, the property draws up to 100,000 visitors a year, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation reports.
“The Foundation mourns the loss of Rogério Renato Mateucci, who tragically died on October 16 in an accident at Taliesin West,” Joseph Specter, President and CEO, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation shared in a statement via Instagram. “Taliesin West has been closed to the public to allow the Foundation to conduct a thorough safety inspection of the site, including its roofing and structures, and to cooperate fully with local authorities, who have determined the incident was weather-related. Weather Station technology has been added to enhance our existing safety procedures at the site, to assess temperature, wind speed, air pressure, and rain. This will offer the Foundation localized safety data to further inform the daily practice of opening our site to the public.”
The statement continued, “With these actions and safety assurances in place, we feel confident that Taliesin West is safe for visitors and we will reopen the site to the public on Saturday, October 24 at 10:00 a.m. We continue to hold Mr. Mateucci and his loved ones in our hearts and continue to offer our deepest condolences.”
Remembering Rogério Renato Mateucci
Brother Rogério Renato Mateucci, a rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, was a friend of Kent State University.
“Many in the Kent State family will remember him from May 2025, when he served as the keynote speaker at one of the university’s spring commencement ceremonies,” the university shared following Mateucci’s death. “Drawing on a story he encountered at the New England Holocaust Memorial, he told graduates about two friends in a concentration camp, Gerda Weissmann Klein and Ilse, and how Ilse found a single raspberry, wrapped it in a leaf and risked everything to give it to her friend.”
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Iconic AZ Home Reopens 1 Week After Fatal Accident