round masterpiece for sale

Before the spiraling Guggenheim Museum in NYC, there was this spiraling house in Phoenix –

Iconic American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house in 1952 for his son David, who lived in the house with his wife Gladys until their deaths (at ages 102 and 104, respectively). After it was sold out of the family in 2009, it faced possible demolition at the hands of a rapacious developer, but was saved by lawyer/builder Zach Rawling.

Advised by Wright historians and preservation architects, as well as by his architecture-loving mother, Rawling spent several years restoring the house and grounds. He tried to turn the house into a museum, but neighbors opposed the plan, fearing that the residential area would be harmed by excessive traffic.

Rawling explained the house’s greatness –

“Great buildings impact every sense and create an emotional reaction,” said Rawling. “Wright’s original plans for the David Wright House are labeled ‘How to Live in the Southwest.’ After two years of being on the property, I appreciate living in the desert more than I ever have growing up. The care with which he sited the house to relate to the surrounding environment is incredible. Wright was a genius at thinking spatially. There is a continuous dance of light and shadows on the house. It’s a natural extension of the environment.”

Besides its architectural cachet, the house features hand-cut Philippines mahogany, custom-designed furnishings, one of Wright’s signature “March Balloons” carpets, a shaded central courtyard, and a 360-square-foot guest house.

For somewhere south of $13 million, it could be yours.

366 square feet in 360 degrees

Christoph Kaiser and Shauna Thibault live in a refurbished grain silo: 366 square feet of circularity.

An architect, Kaiser designed and built the interior himself, and nearly everything — from the doors to the kitchen cabinets — is curved.

The space is small and open, and the couple thinks its intimacy has helped bring them closer together.

 

 

happy birthday frank lloyd wright & bruce goff!

Two of the most creative architects ever to embrace the round form, Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff, were both born on June 8—Wright in 1867, and Goff in 1904.

For Wright, the circular form symbolized freedom, an escape from the traditional residential box. As he explained in 1952, “a box is a containment. I tried to abolish the box.” Wright designed at least 14 round and semi-circular houses, as well as, most famously, the spiraling Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Not all of his round house designs were built; sadly, some of his most beautiful and innovative efforts never made it beyond the planning stage.

Wright’s 1938 project for Ralph Jester, meant for a suburban housing community in Palos Verdes, California, was his first attempt at a circular residence –

Another unbuilt round house was the Ludd M. Spivey house, which Wright designed during the same period.

sold!

A round house in Phoenix, Arizona, built by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, sold for $2.38 million in late December 2012, saving it from demolition.  One of the architect’s later works, the historic 1952 structure prefigures the circular design of the Guggenheim Museum.

The house was almost lost. A development company, 8081 Meridien, bought the property for $1.8 million in June 2012, planning to subdivide the land, demolish the house, and replace it with two luxury homes. Interviewed by the New York Times a few months later, one of the firm’s two principals admitted that he had no idea of the structure’s significance, or even of the difference “between Frank Lloyd Wright and the Wright brothers.”

reprieve for frank lloyd wright round house

A deal was signed last week by the developer who owns the 1952 Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in Phoenix, and the city of Phoenix, which delays the demolition of the house for at least a month.

The developer, 8081 Meridian, contends that the city issued a valid demolition permit that would allow the house to be torn down.  Having bought the house in June 2012 for $1.8 million, he has reportedly turned down a cash offer of more than $2 million from a prospective buyer looking to save the historic structure.

“It is probably the most important residential design of the last decade of his career,” said Janet Halstead, the  executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. “Many architecture experts consider it among the 20 most important Frank Lloyd Wright designs ever built.”

The search for a buyer who can satisfy the developer’s financial demands continues.

circular frank lloyd wright house in peril

Developers are threatening a historic round house in Arcadia, Arizona, designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  Built for Wright’s son David in 1950-1952, the house is made of curved concrete blocks, and is accessed via a spiral ramp reminiscent of NYC’s Guggenheim Museum –

8081 Meridian, a development company that builds “Highly Livable Luxury Homes,” bought the property in early 2012 for $1.8 million. The company has filed plans with the city to divide the 2-acre property, a possible first step toward demolition.  In an interview with the Arizona Republic, managing partner John Hoffman reportedly said that “it’s not a given that the house can be preserved.”

After negotiations with the city and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Hoffman said in mid-July that his company has put its plans on hold for 60 days while seeking a compromise solution to save the house. The waiting period ends on August 21.

imaginative silo reuse

A house in Gilbert, Arizona, made of three grain silos –

Don explained that the couple just are not the “mainstream, cookie-cutter house people.”

“It’s just not us,” he said.

no building codes

A simple explanation for this one: “I moved to rural, southeastern Arizona because the high desert climate agreed with me and there were no building codes here …”

round house rentals

Curious about what it’s like to live in a round house?  Try one out — there are circular homes available as vacation rentals in Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, and New York, as well as in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Honduras, the Bahamas, the Gambia, the Virgin Islands, Baja California, Mexico, and Jalisco, Mexico.