Okemos' four Frank Lloyd Wright homes on tour to mark architect's 150th birthday

Lansing State Journal

OKEMOS — For the first time ever, the four Okemos homes designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright will be on a home tour all at one time.

Wright was one of America's most unique and influential architects and was considered by many to be the greatest American architect of all time.

The Erling-Brauner House was built in 1949 on a cul-de-sac in natural surroundings with woods as a backdrop. The house is distinctive in the use of concrete blocks with small glass panes inserted to allow light into the hallway behind and to add decoration.

The four homes, built between 1940 and 1948, will be on a self-directed tour where the inside of the homes may be viewed. It is sponsored by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing.

The tour, held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8, and a lecture, are part of a statewide and national recognition on the occasion of what would have been Wright’s 150th birthday.

"What makes these houses special is they are all four very close to each other," said Bill Castanier, president of the Historical Society of Greater Lansing. "At the time they were built, Okemos was a very, very rural area.

"Also, they were sort of a diversion from some of the more glorious and complicated homes that Frank Lloyd Wright built. They were all single story dwellings, and they were to be built at a fixed price that was inexpensive."

The Schaberg home was finished in 1958. The original house has three bedrooms, a small kitchen and an open-gabled living room ceiling. A 1,200 square-foot addition designed by Taliesin Associates was added in 1966 complementing Wright’s design.

Some 33 Wright houses were built in Michigan between 1894 and 1959, including the four in Okemos. The houses are in the “Usonian” style, without a garage (they have carports) or much storage. They are often L-shaped and are incorporated into the natural surroundings.

"They were designed in an era where people didn’t have much, they didn’t have big screen TVs, etc., Castanier said. "They were designed to be livable, in a simple manner. They are interesting and they’re small. Most of them however, have been added onto, because it would be almost impossible to live in them today."

The houses on the tour are the Erling-Brauner House (2527 Arrowhead Road), the Edward-Martin House (2504 Arrowhead Road), the Goetsch-Winckler House (2410 Hulett Road) and the Don Schaberg House (2504 Arrowhead Road).

The Goetsch-Winckler House was the first built in Michigan, in 1940, and Castanier says it is approximately 1,350 square feet with two bedrooms. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Goetsch-Winkler house is a fine example of Wright’s Usonian principles of modest cost, use of prefabricated materials, gravity heating, flat roof and carport. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Prior to the tour, Susan Bandes, author, art history professor and director of the Museum Studies Program at Michigan State University will give a free lecture on the houses Wright designed in Okemos, including several that were not built.

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The lecture will begin at noon Sunday in Room 118, Psychology Building, 316 Physics Road, MSU campus. Parking is available behind the building in Lot 9.

"I think people are going to see simple homes that are elegantly designed," Castanier said. "You can tell they’re not just thrown together. Somebody had a vision in mind of how these homes would look.

"Even though they used prefabricated materials like plywood, and concrete blocks, they still have an elegant design to them."

The Edwards house, a seven-room L-shaped house, was completed in 1951. It appears to rise up from the sloping terrain as seen from the road. The house includes a spacious sunken living room, triangular in shape, and a 16 by 42 foot bedroom wing addition designed by Tailiesin Associates in 1968.

The tour is a driving tour and the houses are all within a mile or two of one another. There is no specific order of which house to tour first.

Tickets for the home tour are $20 each. They are available prior to the lecture and at the Goetsch-Winckler home at 2410 Hulett Road in Okemos, beginning at 11:45 a.m. the day of the event.

Tickets are also available online at http://www.lansinghistory.org.

Contact Vickki Dozier at (517) 267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickkiD.