EDITED BY ANN CHRISTENSON
Born in Richland Center in 1867, architect Frank Lloyd Wright was a pioneer and a quirky fella. While presenting his design for Wauwatosa’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church to the congregation’s building committee in the 1950s, he placed a saucer upside-down on his coffee cup to illustrate what it would look like.
It’s an anecdote author (and frequent Milwaukee Magazine contributor) Kristine Hansen recounts in her new book, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wisconsin: How America’s Most Famous Architect Found Inspiration in His Home State.
While primarily a collection of vignettes about 38 Wright (or Wright-influenced) properties, images of the top-hat-and-cape-wearing man who made them emerge.
These excerpts highlight a few of the unique properties you can explore on a day trip or even for an overnight stay.
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1. First Unitarian Society Meeting House
SHOREWOOD HILLS | PUBLIC TOURS YEAR-ROUND
Despite being referred to around Madison as “Frank Lloyd Wrong” – he was known for not paying his bill at restaurants and walking out of a department store with a stack of dress shirts he hadn’t paid for – the architect’s own Unitarian congregation picked him to design their new church in 1946. Clerestory windows and long sight lines suggest Wright’s simplistic Usonian architecture. The dolomitic limestone exterior was sourced from a quarry in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.
2. Bernard and Fern Schwartz House (“Still Bend”)
TWO RIVERS | OPEN FOR OVERNIGHT STAYS, HOURLONG TOURS ON SELECT DATES
A rare Wright home in that it’s open for rentals, this Usonian house looks much as it did when it was built in 1940. A mezzanine overlooking the second floor makes the home feel entirely open. Within the clerestory windows are unique cutouts, and three of the baths even feature late-1930s fixtures installed when the home was built. At night, from the back of the house, it looks like a Chinese lantern due to the landscape lighting and Wright’s clean lines.
3. Wingspread
WIND POINT | FREE HOURLONG TOURS BY RESERVATION
This 36-acre compound north of Racine is an SC Johnson family home-cum-conference center. The 14,000-square-foot building has four wings, over 500 windows, a “disappearing” dining table and seven fireplaces. Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr.’s wife – film star Irene Purcell – was not a fan of Wright’s design. On an overnight visit, Wright reportedly woke at 5 a.m. to remove the furnishings and paintings of hers he abhorred, replacing them with the Japanese prints he’d previously gifted to her husband. Wright was never invited back.
4. Seth Peterson Cottage
LAKE DELTON | OPEN FOR OVERNIGHT STAYS, GUIDED TOURS SECOND SUNDAY EACH MONTH
Built in 1958 for Seth Peterson (who died before the project was complete), it’s among Wright’s smallest designs, at 880 square feet. Walls of windows connect with the outdoors. Anchoring the layout is a fireplace crafted with sandstone from a nearby quarry. A sloped roof allows sun to pour into the cottage while sheltering it from harsh rays. Wright’s final Wisconsin commission also has the perfect location: perched on a bluff facing Mirror Lake.
