We've put together a primer on some of the most notable Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes so that you can appreciate the beauty of his work.
If you’re an architecture fan like me, and an avid watcher of The Bear, then you were no doubt wildly excited to see one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses featured in episode five of season three. But if you’ve never heard of this incredibly talented architect before, or know his name but aren’t too familiar with his work, fear not. We’ve put together a starter list of some of his most famous houses for you.
Who Is Frank Lloyd Wright?
Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most famous American architects of all time. He designed both residential homes and public buildings, like the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He lived and designed during the turn of the 20th century and is credited with establishing multiple new styles of home and leaving an unmistakable mark on American architecture.
Why Is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architecture So Impactful?
I fell in love with Wright’s work as a teenager. Even though I didn’t grow up near any of his buildings, I was very familiar with the works of similar architects and through them, learned about him. I was a docent at the Gamble House, the estate designed by Wright’s contemporaries, the Greene brothers. The brothers shared Wright’s ideas about the ways that architecture should fit with nature. In fact, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, “his approach to creating an architecture that appeared naturally linked to its surroundings, both in form and material, presaged many of today’s sustainability concerns.” The foundation also explains that he was “determined to create an indigenous American architecture…he set the standards for what became known as the Prairie Style. ” He also set a standard for affordable housing during the Great Depression. The houses he designed, called Usonians “were a simplified approach to residential construction that reflected both economic realities and changing social trends.”
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Fallingwater
Perhaps the most well-know of all the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes is Fallingwater in Pennsylvania. This breathtaking house is now a museum and, per the Fallingwater website, “is one of his most widely acclaimed works and best exemplifies his philosophy of organic architecture: the harmonious union of art and nature.”
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The James A. Charnley House
This is another Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home that is now a museum. The James A. Charnley house sits in Chicago and, according to the museum’s website, is notable because it “brings together the work of two of Chicago’s most progressive architects, Frank Lloyd Wright and his mentor, Louis Sullivan.”
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The J.J. Walser Jr. House
The Walser House in Chicago is “among the best of Wright’s early experiments with designs for inexpensive residences, which he went on to modify for several subsequent houses,” according to the Save Wright website. This home is currently on the Landmarks Illinois Most Endangered List due to a foreclosure suit. But the community is rallying to try to save the home.
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The Warren McArthur House
The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust website describes the Warren McArthur house as “a ‘bootleg’ project for Wright’s friend, Warren McArthur, and his family.” The architect was close to the McArthur family, and his son Albert McArthur apprenticed under Wright.
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The Emil Bach House
This home is notable for a couple of reasons. First, according to the FFrank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s website, it’s an early example of Wright’s Prairie style. Second it’s the only one of Wright’s Chicago “series of geometric, cubic homes with overhanging, flat roofs” left standing.
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The Frederick C. Robie House
The Frederick C. Robie house is yet another ones of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes that is now a museum. It’s a notable example of his Prairie style. In fact, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, this home is “unrelentingly horizontal in its elevation and a dynamic configuration of sliding planes in its plan,” which makes it “the most innovative and forward thinking of all Wright’s Prairie houses.”
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The Gregor S. and Elizabeth B. Affleck House
While some of the other Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes on this list are examples of his Prairie style, the Affleck house is a shining example of another style he pioneered: Usonian style. This style was, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, “the architect’s answer to low-cost housing for the average American.”
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The Goetsch-Winckler House
This Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995. The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust describes this home as “one of the most elegant examples of Wright’s Usonian ideal.”
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The Dorothy H. Turkel House
This home is notable because it is the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in the city of Detroit. It’s a private residence, not a museum, and the current owners have been working on renovations since 2007 according to their website.
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The David M. Amberg House
This home in Grand Rapids, MI, is “considered a landmark of Prairie School architecture and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” according to the home’s website. It’s located just a few blocks away from the Meyer May house, the next house on our list of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes.
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The Meyer S. May House
This Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Prairie style home in Grand Rapids, MI is lauded as “one of Wright’s most elegant Prairie residences,” according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. It “was purchased by Steelcase in 1985 and has since been masterfully restored. It is now open to the public.”
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Taliesin West
This Frank Lloyd Wright home is both “a World Heritage site and National Historic Landmark” and was the architect’s residence when he lived in Arizona, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It was built and maintained “almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices, making it among the most personal of the architect’s creations.”
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The Ennis House
No list of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes would be complete without a California addition. The Ennis House has been featured in at least 80 different movies and television shows and is “the last and largest of Wright’s four Los Angeles-area “textile block” houses,” according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
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