How often are houses designed by Frank Llyod Wright for sale?

[Random Variable]

I thought that most of them have been designated as national landmarks. But in the newspaper today I saw that there is a Frank Llyod Wright-designed Prairie-style house for sale in Oak Park, IL, for a cool $5 million.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

More than 400 building still stand, so they would be rare, but you would not have any problem getting one if you had the moola.

 

[Eli]

Why are they special?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Eli
Why are they special?

Because Frank Lloyd Wright designed them? They're pretty unique.

 

[mugs]

Wikipedia says Wright lived in Oak Park, IL. If it's the house he lived in, that might be why it's $5 million.

Wright built 362 houses. About 300 survive as of 2005. Three have been lost to forces of nature: the waterfront house for W. L. Fuller in Pass Christian, MS, which was destroyed by Hurricane Camille in August 1969, the Louis Sullivan Bungalow of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the James Charnley Bungalow of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which was also gutted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Ennis House in California has also been damaged by earthquake and rain-induced ground movement. While a number of the houses are preserved as museum pieces and millions of dollars are spent on their upkeep, other houses have trouble selling on the open market due to their unique designs, generally small size and outdated features.

I've only seen one in person, just north of Marion, IN. It was pretty ugly, actually.

 

[imported_bum]

There are plenty of houses in Oak Park worth 5 million, but who knows. My dad has mentioned stuff about FLW when driving through Oak Park though...

 

[BeauJangles]

A few years ago I got in a car accident with my mom and two dogs in upstate NH. We hydroplaned off the road and were nearly killed, but walked away without a scratch. The volunteer firefighter who showed up realized we didn't have anywhere to go because the hotels wouldn't take two dogs, so he offered to have us to come to his house until my dad showed up. Turns out he lived in one of the last Frank Wright houses ever built. It was pretty awesome.

 

[Bootprint]

FLW houses on the market

 

[kogase]

Becawz they ah works of aht, dahling.

 

[ndruw]

yeah, his works are soe of the coolest I've seen (I'm on a local swim team, love water, and thought the house he designed with the glass floor and the stream running under the floor was the coolest thing I've ever seen)

 

[dartworth]

Falling Water was very interesting to visit...

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: bum
There are plenty of houses in Oak Park worth 5 million, but who knows.

No there aren't, the only houses worth that much are Frank Loyd Wright. I grew up in Oak Park and my parents still own a house there.

 

[chuckywang]

Pic?

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: chuckywang
Pic?

It's this one:

pic 1
pic 2

There are more pics at the website linked by Bootprint.

 

[JDrake]

Originally posted by: dartworth
Falling Water was very interesting to visit...

that's probably the most recognizable

 

[Rastus]

His early stuff is pretty good, but after he made a name for himself, he started designing monstrosities.

With the weird angles, furniture had to be specially built for each house, and it cannot be rearranged.

With his cantilever designs, there is too much stress on the structure, so those buildings will not age well and cost a fortune to maintain.

I suspect that his good designs will survive for a long time, and his experiments will go the way of the dodo.

 

[newmachineoverlord]

Originally posted by: bum
There are plenty of houses in Oak Park worth 5 million, but who knows. My dad has mentioned stuff about FLW when driving through Oak Park though...

You must be thinking of River Forest. Housing in Oak Park is generally around half a million per home, up from less than half that ten years ago. Empty lots are about 300k+ now (ie a lot with a house purchased for the purpose of knocking down what's there and putting up a bigger house. There are no actual empty lots.)

Hey Dunbar, what year did you graduate from OPRF? I'm from 1998. Do they still censor the word "condom" from the school newspaper? Are the two lunchrooms still segregated by class to discourage friendships between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen (they started that in '96)? Is graduation attire still specified by gender, or has it switched back to cap and gown?

 

[dandruff]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Eli
Why are they special?

Because Frank Lloyd Wright designed them? They're pretty unique.

huh? he was the martha stewart of his time ... product of an insulated american pop culture ... no better than britney spears and not very influential in shaping the world architecture ... definitely not a Rossi or Le Corbusier ...

 

[Evadman]

almost every house in Oak Park is > 1 million.

 

[Steve]

I lived in Oak Park for seven years, and moved out a month ago. We bought our house for $189k and sold it for $369k. It's not a FLW home, of course. But they sure are nice to look at while driving through Oak Park. The homes in River Forest are nothing to sneeze at either.

EDIT: And no, not almost every house in Oak Park is > $1m. That's just plain ridiculous.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: sm8000
I lived in Oak Park for seven years, and moved out a month ago. We bought our house for $189k and sold it for $369k. It's not a FLW home, of course. But they sure are nice to look at while driving through Oak Park. The homes in River Forest are nothing to sneeze at either.

EDIT: And no, not almost every house in Oak Park is > $1m. That's just plain ridiculous.

I was overgeneralizing. There are a ton of homes there that are insanely expensive. Hows that?

 

[Steve]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if less than 50% are over half a million.

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: dandruff

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Eli
Why are they special?

Because Frank Lloyd Wright designed them? They're pretty unique.

huh? he was the martha stewart of his time ... product of an insulated american pop culture ... no better than britney spears and not very influential in shaping the world architecture ... definitely not a Rossi or Le Corbusier ...

You could have just said that you don't like his designs rather than making a comparison that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. :disgust:

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: Evadman
almost every house in Oak Park is > 1 million.

The only Chicago suburb that I can think in which you probably can't find a home for under a million dollars would be Kenilworth.

 

[LordMorpheus]

Is it possible to build a house that is a replica of a Frank Lloyd Wright design?