Why Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House is one of Alabama's finest gems

The Rosenbaum Home in Florence, complete in 1940, is the only Frank Lloyd Wright structure ever built in Alabama. (Courtesy of Rosenbaum House Museum)

If it wasn't for the sign in front of the Rosenbaum House, you probably wouldn't notice it.

The only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed dwelling in Alabama wasn't exactly built for curb appeal. If you're happening to be walking or driving down the gorgeous Riverview Drive in Florence, your eyes probably aren't going to float to the brown brick home.

But regardless of whether it catches your eye, about 7,500 people visited the home last year -- and the numbers keep growing and growing. And the people come from all over: Japan. Australia. New Zealand. The list goes on.

Why do people from all over come to Northwest Alabama just to see one home? Well, it's because it's an architectural marvel, that's all.

Falling in love

The Rosenbaums weren't your typical Southern couple.

Stanley Rosenbaum attended Harvard College and, after graduating, traveled to New York City in 1938. He was interested in literature and wanted to teach, and he was networking with the city's literary crowd when he met and fell in love with the beautiful Mildred Bookholtz, who was a model and textile artist.

They dated long-distance for a bit, then Stanley popped the question. The couple got married later that year and she moved down to Florence, where Stanley grew up. His parents, who owned motion picture theaters, offered the newlyweds $7,500 and a lot across the street from them to build them their first home together.

But they still couldn't find anything they liked -- until they talked to their New York City friend, Aaron Green, who suggested they contact Frank Lloyd Wright to build a home. (Aaron later became an apprentice for Wright.) Aaron explained that Wright had begun designing some inexpensive, single-family "starter homes" for families, and the couple was intrigued.

That's when the Rosenbaum House was born.

A look at some of the furniture in the Rosenbaum House. (Courtesy photo)

Natural light and functionality

Jeff Ford knows his stuff.

The Rosenbaum House tour guide and Florence native has shown the home to countless people over the years, but that doesn't damper his enthusiasm. When he gives me a tour on a rainy, bleak Tuesday morning, we huddle in the carport (a concept that Wright designed) in the front yard, where he tells me the facts of the home -- it displays Wright's "Usonian" period and is made of cypress wood, glass and brick -- about the first unique aspect of the house: From the front yard, we're actually looking at the back of the home.

When we enter the home at the back/front door, at first it's a little underwhelming -- you have to turn to your right and walk through a tight hallway. But when we walk through the hallway, we get to the main room, which is just a marvel of natural light. Half of the walls are filled with floor-to-ceiling windows, and it's just a sight. Even on a rainy, dark day, you can't help but gravitate toward the windows.

Here's a look at that main room:

When the house was built, the Rosenbaums had a view of the river. (Courtesy photo)

But it's not just the natural light that's a star in the room. There's a piano topped with family photos (Mildred loved music and the arts) and 48 feet of bookcases to hold all of Stanley's books.

And there's the furniture. Oh, you can't forget the furniture.

Wright picked all the furniture, including the colors and fabrics, and many of the original pieces are still in there, restored. Wright strongly encouraged his clients not to change the furniture after they moved in. (Jeff says that Mildred would joke, "I'll change the furniture when Wright dies.")

Besides the main room, there's also a study for Stanley (Jeff jokes that it's "the original man cave,"), a tiny, tiny kitchen (think: small New York apartment kitchen for a recent college graduate) and three bedrooms with ample storage (and a shoe rack for Mildred).

And natural light is still a theme. Each major room in the home -- the bedrooms, the study -- have ceiling-to-floor windows that open so you can walk outside.

A look outside Florence's Rosenbaum House. (Courtesy)

Building on

In 1946, Stanley and Mildred realized the 1,540 square feet wasn't enough for them and their four children, so they asked Wright and his associates to design an addition, and he obliged.

Mildred got another kitchen -- this time, it was much bigger -- and the boys got a dormitory with bunk beds and more storage space. The family also got a guest room, another carport and a Japanese nature garden outside.

The children grew up in the house, and Mildred and Stanley became integral members of the community. Stanley fulfilled his dream of teaching when he earned a job as an upper-level English professor at the University of North Alabama, where he taught until 1979. (According to Jeff, he was "a very demanding instructor.") He passed away in 1983.

And Mildred was a social butterfly. "If there wasn't a club, she started it," Jeff says. She donated a lot of time and money to several causes throughout the community, and Mildred and Stanley were supporters of the Civil Rights Movement, and helped the area desegregate with fewer problems than many other Alabama towns.

Mildred lived in the home until 1999, when she moved to a nursing home. She died in 2006, but not before reaching an agreement with the city of Florence that they could buy the home if they turned it into a museum.

Since the city restored the home, visitors have been flocking in from all over the world to see the only Wright home in the Southeast viewable to the public. Just a month ago, Jeff said, he got some memorable visitors for a tour.

"This couple came in from Japan," he said. "They flew in to Nashville and then drove down here.

"They took a 12-16 hour flight just to see this home."

The Rosenbaum House is located at 601 Riverview Drive, Florence. Call 256-718-5050 for tour information. Find the website here.

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