Tag Archives: Usonian

Frank Lloyd Wright Homes Were Designed For Michigan Pharma Scientists

In the late 1940s, the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company was the largest employer in Kalamazoo, Michigan with a company emphasis on family and quality of life. It was a national leader in providing benefits to its employees including group life insurance and shorter work weeks. Also in the 1940s, Frank Lloyd Wright was the most famous architect in the world and was devoting much of his time to his Usonian homes for the middle class. About 60 of the Usonian homes were built between 1936 and his death in 1959.

Frank Lloyd Wright Scientist Home Exterior

In 1949, a group of twelve scientists from Upjohn sought out Wright to design a community of homes. With simplicity, form and function in mind, Wright’s Usonian designs met their criteria. They wanted houses that they could build themselves or with limited help and chose a 70-acre parcel of open and wooded land with a three-acre pond in Galesburg, Michigan. They originally named it Galesburg County Homes Acres but later shortened it to The Acres.  Each scientist wrote a letter to Wright requesting his help to design the project. The Acres plat outline consisted of 22 homes on one acre each with 50 acres left natural for the enjoyment of the residents.

The Acres’ homes were Wright’s first foray into organic ranch-style architecture. They were affordable but tailor-made to the individual client’s needs – practical, functional and blended in with their surroundings. They were organic in that they appeared to come “out of the ground and into the light” as Wright was fond of saying. Access to nature, both physically from every room in the house and visually from inside the home interiors, played a major role in defining Usonian style. Homes were built with natural materials, walls of glass for winter passive solar collection, radiant-heated floors, flat roof lines with overhangs, carports and built-in furniture.

Frank Lloyd Wright Scientist Home Interior 3

Although the project had many supporters at Upjohn, it was a bit of a drive from Kalamazoo before Interstate 94 was built and perhaps too unusual for midwestern tastes. Only four Wright homes were ever built at The Acres.

Frank Lloyd Wright Scientist Home Interior 2Samuel Eppstein was a research scientist and Dorothy a researcher at the Upjohn labs. They had only been married six months when they commissioned their new home and construction was completed in 1953. The 2,250-square-foot Usonian includes three bedrooms, two baths, two fireplaces, and a general purpose room used as an additional living room. Though the kitchen has been rebuilt by a local craftsman in the Wright style, the home has all of Wright’s built-ins including two tables that were reconstructed to exact specifications. Ten-foot walls of glass are positioned to capture idyllic views of valley and meadows. There is also a swimming pool that was added in later years.

Rare opportunity to own a Wright Usonian in a 70-acre, fully Wright-designed community kept completely intact since its inception. Asking $455,000 usd, it is the lowest priced Wright home currently on the market. The listing agent is Fred Taber of Jaqua Realtors in Kalamazoo, Michigan. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.

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Click me! Music for Scientists and their friends!
Click me! Music for Scientists and their friends!

Selling An American Comedy Icon’s UFO House

It took awhile, but eventually, Bob Hope’s UFO house sold for $13 million USD, after first being listed in early 2013 with a price tag of $50 million USD.  Having gone through a couple of price cuts over the years, the most recent cut lowered the ask to $25 million USD.  But with no comparable homes available, how does one actually price a concrete space ship?  Seems that when $25 million was thrown at the wall, $13 million stuck.

 bob hope ufo house banner2

The Palm Springs spaceship/volcano house, designed for Bob and Dolores Hope by John Lautner in 1973, needed a buyer with deep pockets who would appreciate its futuristic leanings, had appreciation for architects who think outside the box and are young at heart enough to enjoy a bit of whimsy.  The buyer, California billionaire Ron Burkle, co-founder and managing partner of a private equity and venture capital firm, is well known in the Los Angeles area for his connections with the Clintons.  Sporting as interesting a persona as the house, Burkle is a prominent Democratic activist and fundraiser.  

 bob hope ufo house interior2

At 23,000 square feet under the dramatic high undulating roof, the unique house has open spaces in the walls and ceiling which allow daylight or stars to shine through casting shapely shadows into the interior. These curved openings also allow for stunning views across the landscape and mountains while appearing to be nestled comfortably into its well-designed desert landscaping and outdoor living areas. The house also has a spa with greenhouse wall, 6 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, indoor and outdoor pools, a pond, putting greens and a tennis court.


Burkle collects other historic architecture and purchased the Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House in 2011 and also owns Greenacres that was originally built for silent comedy film actor Harold Lloyd.  Patrick Jordan and Stewart Smith of Bennion and Deville Homes were the listing agents and Ron de Salvo of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage represented Mr. Burkle.  Even at the greatly reduced closing price of $13 million, the sale has set a record for the highest sale price in Palm Springs beating Lautner’s Elrod House that sold for $7.7 million two months earlier. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.

Iconic Architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Last Home Now For Sale

Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 1,000 structures (532 were completed) in his 70-years-plus career – mostly homes but also hotels, schools, churches, the Johnson Wax Headquarters and the Guggenheim Museum. This iconic American architect’s  final design was the Norman Lykes House in Phoenix in the same year of his death in 1959. It is now for sale priced at USD$3.6 million and profiled at toptenrealestatedeals.com.

The Guggenheim cameo in Men In Black (1min 25secs)

Wright had been working with his apprentice, John Rattenbury, on the Lykes House sketches and had already chosen the building site for the home when he died. Having come full circle from his start in Prairie style, to textile block, to organic and, towards the end, the functional Usonian for the masses, his last designs showed a new interest in  circles and curves as he created buildings in the round such as the Guggenheim and the house he built for his son, the David and Gladys Wright home also in Phoenix.

Curvilinear Design FLW Final Home With a site on top of Palm Canyon with views of the valley, Wright began the Lykes design by replicating the curves of the mountainsides, making the home an integral part of its environment and providing big views for its owners and visitors.  Though Wright passed away before finishing the working plans, the Lykes hired his apprentice, Rattenbury, to complete the plans according to the details set forth by Wright.  The couple loved the completed plans, though it was another seven years before they started construction.  When they did, Rattenbury oversaw the build and the home was completed in 1967.  In addition to the structure itself, Wright also designed the furniture and built-ins for the home.

In 1994, new owners wanted some updating, so they called back Rattenbury to do the redesign by expanding the master bedroom, converting a workshop into a media room and combining two other bedrooms into a guest room – all without disrupting the overall design.  Rather futuristic for its time, the circular and curvilinear design has become a timeless piece of architecture that continues to be copied by today’s designers and builders.

Interior FLW Final HomeNow for sale and registered with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the 2,849-square-foot home on one acre of desert plateau has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, the signature large living room fireplace intended to bring families and friends together, a lower-level media room, two home offices with built-ins of desk, cabinet storage and walls of shelving, a distinctive curved kitchen with Wright-designed island and unique under-cabinet windows and timeless stainless-steel counters, contemporary tiled large baths, and a privacy walled crescent pool patio viewed from inside through glass walls.  There is also a separate large office in the round with all built-in furnishings encircled by half-moon windows.  Views of valley and mountains can be seen from almost every room.  

Exterior FLW Final HomeClassic last Wright design before his death, contemporary for today including lots of storage space with furniture and built-ins designed by the famous architect, the Lykes House is now for sale and priced at USD$3.6 million. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.

Supplemental- Architecture nerds will love this videogame inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright