Falling Water
Built from 1936-1939 for Edgar Kaufman Sr. in Southwest PA. In 1963 the house was entrusted to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. It is one of the only houses that with the setting, furniture and artwork all there. (Yes, FLW designed furniture for his houses too).
info: http://www.fallingwater.org/
Kentuck Knob
Kentuck Knob is close to Fallingwater. It was designed for the Hagan family who loved Fallingwater. FLW was 86 when he was solicited for this house, so it is one of the last houses he designed. The house was completed in 1956. It was open to the public in 1999.
info: http://www.kentuckknob.com/
Graycliff
The Martin family had this house built between 1926-1931. It went up for sale in 1997, but local residents wanted to preserve this home instead of demolishing it.
info: http://graycliffestate.org/
Frank Lloyd Wright house
After looking at houses FLW designed, it was interesting to see the home where he lived for
info: http://oprf.com/flw/
Other Chicago houses
Since FLW lived in Oak Park in Chicago, it is no coincidence that over 25 homes were designed by FLW between 1889 - 1913. Walking the streets in Oak Park you can easily spot the Prairie style architecture - interior light, low spaces, earth hugging buildings. While I've been to Chicago numerous times, I haven only walked the streets and looked at the houses from the sidewalk; I haven't made it out there yet for the annual house tours (many of the houses are still privately owned, but they open their doors once a year). One day.
Usonia
Usonia is a private community located in Pleasantville NY. The American Institue of Architects hosted an annual tour that I finally signed up for. I have quite a bit of pictures, however they are for "personal use only" and can not be published under any circumstances. And since I want to remain somewhat law-abiding, I will not post MY pictures.
Roland, who has lived in Usonia just a few years after it's inception in 1945 provided our small group of 17 with some great first hand knowledge of the area, the houses and the community. Originally this 100 acre area was set to have 55 houses; and the houses were on circular plots. However, only 47 houses were built; 3 of those houses were designed by Wright (including Roland's house) and the others were overseen by Wright.
The road going through the area was small, windy and tight. The community was designed as a co-operative and was originally marketed as reasonably priced houses; however as with anything...the costs were more than originally thought. Usonia is short for FLW's United States Of North America (with an i in there) and evolved from the prairie style by taking it one step further- single story home on concrete slab with radiant heating and still no basement, attic or garage (unless you begged him like Roland did for a basement).
The tour in October was a perfect time to enjoy the autumn while walking to the different houses - it made me appreciate FLW's architecture even more because you can really see how the landscape influenced the houses.
Here are some great links to articles on Usonia
Popular Mechanics July 1951 Pages: 72-77, 226, and 228
NY Times: Green before it had a name
Roland Reisley wrote a book about Usonia
What is a Usonian?
Other People's Pictures of Usonia:
David Cobb Craig (source for the following)
Don't think you've heard of FLW still? Maybe you heard about this small little museum in NYC: The Guggenheim Museum.
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| Source - Oh crap, I already closed the window. Anyway, this is NOT my picture |
Other:
Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy
List of FLW homes on Wikipedia
While it is a novel, I really enjoyed Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It was a great historical fiction book about Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the lady that stole FLW from his first wife.
I am in love with Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture. There's a house in a neighborhood by me that mimicks his design and it's by far one of my favorites. His style and the craftsman style are by far my favorite styles for homes.
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