Architect John Randal McDonald, referred to sometimes as the “poor man's Frank Lloyd Wright,” was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1922. McDonald, who spent his childhood in the Milwaukee area, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Science degree in art and a minor in music harmony before serving as an officer for the United States Navy in World War II. When he completed his tour of duty in the late 1940s McDonald returned to school, to study architecture at Yale under numerous important figures in modern architecture including Charles Eames, Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Richard Neutra, and Louis Kahn.
In 1945 McDonald married Josephine Elholm, of Racine, Wisconsin. They had five children: Karen, Jan, Lin, Jon, and Mark. McDonald established an architectural practice in Racine, Wisconsin designing a number of modest projects for clients who appreciated Frank Lloyd Wright's style but could not afford Wright's prices. McDonald, whose client base expanded throughout the Midwest, concentrated mainly on residential architecture but designed some public and religious buildings as well. In 1963 McDonald moved his business to Florida where, in addition to his residential work, he designed hotels, banks, office buildings, churches, and marinas throughout the world. At the pinnacle of his career he had offices in Boca Raton, Florida and Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.
McDonald's residential designs accomplished what Wright said he was doing – designing residences for the middle class. The vast majority of Wright's Prairie Style residences were far too expensive for clients other than the wealthy. Although he never studied with Wright, McDonald's designs use the same architectural grammar as Wright – jutting, severe rooflines, repeating rectangle patterns, ribbon windows, and horizontal lines. McDonald's homes had similar spatial arrangements, but without the costly decorative masonry, art glass, or woodwork as Wright's designs, bridging the theories of Wright and the minimalist works of modern architects such as Mies van der Rohe. McDonald prided himself on designing Wright-like houses without Wright-like prices. McDonald's creative use of ordinary materials and his conservative use of masonry and woodwork made Prairie-style designs more accessible to middle-class clients. He integrated his love of nature and the outdoors with his knowledge of music theory into many of his designs. His designs broke tradition with the typical post World War II ranch house of asymmetrical one-story shapes dominated by low-pitched roofs, rambling facades, and lacking in decoration. McDonald himself said his designs were one part sky, one part land, and one part water.
McDonald, who continued practicing architecture until his death in December 2003, was often quoted as saying, “my favorite words – mark this down – my favorite words in this world are, ‘Would you be our architect?’”
