11 compelling Frank Lloyd Wright properties close to Cleveland (photos)

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11 Frank Lloyd Wright properties close to Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Frank Lloyd Wright famously referred to himself as the greatest architect in the world. But you don’t have to take his word for it. Tour his buildings and make up your own mind.

This month, Wright fans across the globe are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the architect's birth with special tours and events planned at many Wright sites.

Sure, you could go to New York City and take in the new “Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive” exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Or fly to Phoenix and tour Taliesin West, Wright’s extraordinary winter home and school.

Better still: Explore Wright’s properties in and around Ohio. Ohio is home to three Wright buildings that are open to the public. Western Pennsylvania and western New York offer at least eight more – including some of Wright’s best-known creations.

Here then, our own celebratory tour of Frank Lloyd Wright – close to Cleveland.

By Susan Glaser, The Plain Dealer

Coming Sunday: Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th birthday offers a reason to appreciate the work, if perhaps not the man

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Westcott House, Springfield, Ohio

Among Wright’s early works is the Westcott House, designed for Burton and Orpha Westcott, he the treasurer of the American Seeding Machine Co. Their house, built in 1908, is an example of Wright’s early Prairie style, distinguished by its low-pitched roof, open floor plan, strong horizontal lines and integration into the landscape. At the time (and still today), the house stands in sharp contrast to the neighborhood’s Victorian-era mansions, part of Springfield’s millionaires row.

(Photo by Rod Hatfield, courtesy the Westcott House)

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Westcott House

After the deaths of both Westcotts, the house changed hands numerous times, was converted to apartments and was in a state of severe disrepair when the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy bought it in 2000. Today, it is owned by the Westcott House Foundation, which orchestrated a major renovation a decade ago.

The house is open for tours Tuesday through Sunday; admission is $15; reservations are recommended.

(Photo by Brad Feinknopf, courtesy the Westcott House)

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Weltzheimer/Johnson House, Oberlin, Ohio

Owned by Oberlin College, the Weltzheimer/Johnson House is an example of Wright’s later design style, dubbed Usonian (an alternative to American, as in U.S.-onian). These houses were more modest, designed for post-World War II, middle-class America, but with telltale Wright features, including flat roofs, cantilevered overhangs and natural light. One striking feature here: hundreds of stained croquet balls that form the roof’s dentil ornamentation.

(Photo courtesy Dirk Bakker)

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Weltzheimer/Johnson House

The house was designed in 1947 and completed in 1949 for Charles and Margaret Weltzheimer. The family lived in the house until 1963; the next two owners made drastic changes to the property. In 1968, it was purchased by Oberlin art history professor Ellen H. Johnson, who spent the next 25 years restoring the place.

In 1992, upon Johnson’s death, the house was transferred to Oberlin College. It’s open to the public on the first Sunday of every month, April through November. Admission is $5.

(Photo courtesy Dirk Bakker)

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Louis Penfield House, Willoughby Hills

The Penfield House, another example of Wright’s Usonian style, isn’t open for tours. But it is one of the rare Wright designs where you can spend the night.

The house was built in 1955 for Louis Penfield, an artist and art teacher and an acquaintance of Wright’s. Penfield was 6-feet-8 inches tall, so this Wright home is noted for its 12-foot ceilings and tall, slender doorways.

(Photo by Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer)

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Louis Penfield House

Current owner is Paul Penfield, the son of Louis Penfield, who has rented out the home to architecture fans since 2003. Cost to stay the night is $275-$300, with a two-night minimum.

Or, if you’d like to own your own Wright property: The house – along with 30 acres, two other buildings and plans for a second home that Wright designed for Louis Penfield – is currently on the market; asking price is $1.7 million.

(Photo by Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer)

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Duncan House, Acme, Pennsylvania

Another overnight Wright option is about three hours southeast of Cleveland in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands region. Heather and Tom Papinchak bought the Duncan House, originally constructed in 1957 in suburban Chicago, and rebuilt it here, opening it to overnight guests in 2007.

(Photo by Steven Brunot, Special to The Plain Dealer)

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Duncan House

This, too, is one of Wright’s Usonian houses, with three bedrooms on a single floor. Signature Wright touches include horizontal wood battens, both on interior and exterior walls, which give the house a strong linear feel; banks of windows, skylights and the use of natural building materials.

Also on the property here: two houses, the Balter House and Blum House, designed by Wright apprentices. All three are available for tours and overnight stays. Tours are $24; overnight rates start at $299.

(Photo by Steven Brunot, Special to The Plain Dealer)

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Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania

Fallingwater, of course, is Wright’s residential masterpiece, set atop a waterfall in the woods about 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It was designed in 1935 as a summer home for Liliane and Edgar Kaufmann, owners of the Kaufmann’s department store.

(Photo by Amy Sancetta)

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Fallingwater

Among the building’s notable features: its complete integration with the surrounding property. The house features three cantilevered levels of living space, almost half of which is outside; in the living room, a boulder was famously left in place, the house built around it. (Also notable: the building’s leaks and other structural problems.)

(Photo by Keith Srakocic)

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Fallingwater

In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., donated the property to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which opened it to the public in 1964. Nearly all of the furniture is original.

In 1991, the American Institute of Architects named the house the “best all-time work of American architecture.”

If you’ve never seen this house – and you’re at all interested in design – don’t miss it. Guided tours are offered daily except Wednesdays. Admission starts at $30; advanced reservations are highly recommended.

(Photo courtesy Fallingwater)

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Kentuck Knob, Chalk Hill, Pa.

Kentuck Knob, four miles from Fallingwater, was built in 1956 for I.N and Bernardine Hagan, who were friends of the Kaufmanns and frequent visitors to Fallingwater. They asked Wright to design a deluxe Usonian house for them, on a hilltop overlooking the Youghiogheny River valley.

(Photo by Keith Srakocic)

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Kentuck Knob

Instead of placing the home atop Kentuck Knob, Wright recessed it within the hill. It is known for its hexagonal kitchen and skylights, copper roof and magnificent views.

In 1986, Lord Peter Palumbo of London bought the property to use as a vacation home. Since 1996, the house has been open for tours. Admission is $25.

(Photo by Keith Srakocic)

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Darwin Martin House, Buffalo, New York

Buffalo offers its own mini-Wright tour, with five of the architect’s designs open to the public. Most impressive is the Darwin Martin House complex, built between 1903 and 1905.

The house was commissioned by Darwin Martin, an executive with the Larkin Soap Co. His brother, William E. Martin, had hired Wright a year earlier to design a house in Oak Park, Illinois. Wright also designed the Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo in the early 20th century, which, unfortunately, was torn down in 1950.

(Photo by Steve Stephens, Columbus Dispatch)

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Darwin Martin House

The Martin complex, considered one of Wright’s most important projects from the Prairie School era, includes a collection of buildings: the house itself, with three levels and nearly 15,000 square feet; a long pergola connecting with a conservatory; a carriage house; and a smaller residence, built for Martin’s sister and her husband.

(Photo courtesy Biff Henrich)

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Darwin Martin House

Among the don’t-miss features: 394 art glass windows, featuring 15 distinct patterns – so-called light screens to connect interior and exterior spaces (Wright didn’t believe in curtains).

The complex recently completed a years-long, multi-year $50 million restoration project to return the property to its 1907 condition. Tours are offered daily except Tuesdays. Admission is $19.

(A cast of Winged Victory in the conservatory at the Darwin Martin House; photo by Biff Henrich)

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Graycliff Estate, Derby, N.Y.

Wright designed a second home for Darwin and Isabelle Martin, this one a summer vacation home, 20 miles south of Buffalo, on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie.

The 8.5-acre property includes the main Isabelle R. Martin House, plus the Foster House, originally designed as a garage and eventually converted to a summer residence for the Martins’ daughter and her family.

 (Photo by Clifford Whitman, Graycliff Estate)

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Graycliff Estate

Among the main house’s features: cantilevered balconies and glass walls – all designed to bring the gorgeous scenery inside.

The property was purchased from the Martin family in 1951 by the by the Piarists, a Roman Catholic teaching order, which used it as a school and retirement home. In 1997, the property was purchased by the nonprofit Graycliff Conservancy. It is in the midst of a long-term restoration. Tours are offered daily; admission is $18.

(Photo courtesy Patrick Mahoney, Graycliff)

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Blue Sky Mausoleum, Buffalo

Blue Sky Mausoleum, designed for Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery, was the last of four Wright projects commissioned by Darwin Martin, intended to be the final resting place for his family. However, not long after the mausoleum’s plans were completed, Martin lost his fortune and the project was shelved.

It was resurrected in the 1990s by the late Fred Whaley, Jr., then president of Forest Lawn. Anthony Puttnam, who apprenticed under Wright, was hired as the principal architect on the project. It was completed in 2004.

The design consists of a flight of gently rising steps that provide 24 burial crypts, with a white granite monolith at the top. It's one of three designs for cemetery structures that Wright is known to have created. For tour information: blueskymausoleum.com.

(Photo courtesy Forest Lawn Cemetery)

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Rowing Boathouse, Buffalo

Another recent Wright creation in Buffalo: the Fontana Boathouse, built in 2007 using 1905 Wright plans for a boathouse at the University of Wisconsin that was never built. The first floor is used as a working boathouse, while the second floor features a clubroom, locker rooms and east- and west-facing balconies.

The boathouse is located just south of the Peace Bridge on the Black Rock Canal and Niagara River. For tour information: explorebuffalo.org.

(Photo courtesy Ed Healy)

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Filling Station, Buffalo

In 1927, Wright was commissioned to design a gas station for downtown Buffalo, which was never built.

Nearly nine decades later, in 2014, the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum debuted a recreation of the two-story, 1,600-square-foot filling station. It’s built to Wright’s specifications – including a second-story observation room with a fireplace, restrooms, a copper roof and authentic Tydol Oil signs. Admission to the museum is $10.

(Photo courtesy Jim Bush)

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More Wright

Read more about Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy from Plain Dealer architecture critic Steven Litt: Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th birthday offers reason to appreciate the work, if perhaps not the man

For a complete list of Wright buildings that are open to the public – including dozens of sites in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin: flwright.org/researchexplore/publicwrightsites

(Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York City; photo by Kathy Willens)

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