Issue 459  April 16th 2025

Peek Inside Three Wright Homes Up for Grabs in Michigan

In the mid-1940s, roughly a dozen Michigan scientists working for the pharmaceutical manufacturer Upjohn came together to commission architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a community for them. The group had pooled their resources to purchase around 70 acres (~28.3 hectares) in Galesburg, a city a little more than 15 miles from the company’s former corporate headquarters in Kalamazoo, and they were drawn to Wright’s “Usonian” homes: inexpensive, L-shaped, single-story dwellings with strong connections to nature. A few years later, some members of the group who decided Galesburg was too far of a trek also engaged with Wright to develop another community in Kalamazoo.

Now, three Usonian homes from these neighboring Michigan communities are on the market, offering prospective homebuyers an opportunity to own a piece of mid-century modern architectural history — for less than the cost of some Brooklyn brownstones.

In Galesburg, the Weisblat and Eppstein homes are currently listed at $1.95 and $2.1 million, respectively. They were both designed in 1948 and are situated on circular lots on the same drive, as part of a compound known today as The Acres that also includes two other Wright landmarks, the Pratt House and the Meyer House. The community was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

In nearby Kalamazoo, the Winn House is listed at $850,000. It was designed in 1950 as part of the cooperative community known as Parkwyn Village, which was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.

“The houses [in the Acres and Parkwyn Village] vary, but share elements of Wright’s Usonian concept,” Eric Rogers, a spokesperson for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, told Hyperallergic.

He referenced the homes’ open-floor layouts to encourage people to socialize in the main living areas; carports in lieu of garages; and affordable materials consisting of concrete slabbed floors, walls made of wood or brick, and flat roofs with large overhangs.

Many of the Wright-designed houses in the area have had extensive repairs in recent years. Realtor Fred Taber told Hyperallergic that the Eppstein House and the Pratt House underwent a combined $1 million in restoration, and the Winn similarly has about $800,000 worth of repairs.

“Their value was really stagnant for a very long time … many of [the homes] were in very bad condition and almost beyond repair,” Taber said. Their original tar and gravel roofing, which was prone to leaks, has since been replaced with waterproof rubber. The homes have had “no issues” since the update, Taber said.

Click for more details: hyperallergic.com  

It’s All Wright In Kankakee

Built in 1900, the B. Harley Bradley House is celebrating its 125th anniversary in the Illinois community of Kankakee this year with a variety of events, from concerts to special tours to tea parties.

If you haven’t taken advantage of a tour, this is the year to do so. At 6:30 p.m. Sunday is a Twilight Tour which features a two-hour evening tour of the house and a visit to the gift shop. On May 13 will be high tea and on June 21 will be a Dolly and Me tea party, where kids can bring their favorite dolls for a spot of tea.

On the subject of kids, the house features an Education Center Lab where young minds can experience art, science, technology and architecture by learning how these subjects apply practically to creating such a structure.

Whether you’ve visited or not, check out the website at wright1900.org and see what’s happening in the near future.

Click for more details: shawlocal.com  

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Surprising Superfan

In the 1980s, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan was not only riding the wave of his company’s explosive success—he was also indulging a deep, lifelong obsession with architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Inspired by Wright’s designs since age 12, Monaghan spent millions acquiring the largest private collection of Wright furniture, stained glass, and decorative objects, and even built Domino’s headquarters—Domino’s Farms—outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, to echo Wright’s Prairie style. At one point, his collection and architectural ambitions turned Wright’s legacy into an unexpected piece of the Domino’s brand identity.

Monaghan’s devotion bordered on the fanatical, influencing everything from calendars to architecture awards sponsored by the company. He envisioned a vast Wright-inspired complex with homes, a museum, and even a massive cantilevered tower. But his personal journey shifted in the early ’90s, when religious conviction led him to sell parts of the Wright collection and redirect his energy toward conservative causes. He eventually left Domino’s in 1998 to focus on Ave Maria, a Catholic university and planned Florida town designed with strict religious principles and some architectural nods to Wright.

Though Monaghan idolized Wright, their values were far from aligned. Wright was a complex figure with contradictory politics and a controversial personal life—qualities that clashed with Monaghan’s conservative worldview. Yet Monaghan’s legacy preserves a peculiar intersection of fast food, architecture, and ideology, with echoes of the ’80s still visible in his utopian religious town.

Click for more details: dwell.com  

Wright Warned Us

Frank Lloyd Wright may be best known for revolutionizing American architecture, but Arabella Lilleslatten penned an op-ed letter for the Rollins College student newspaper titled The Sandspur — arguing he also had striking political foresight.

Writing in the mid-20th century, Wright warned of a shift from democracy to what he called “mobocracy”—a fearful, uneducated public manipulated by politicians who use scare tactics to win power. He believed fear, not conflict, was democracy’s biggest threat and accused public officials of exploiting patriotism and the media to control the masses. His critique even drew FBI scrutiny during WWII, when he was suspected of encouraging draft resistance and harboring communist views.

Lilleslatten connects Wright’s political beliefs to his architectural philosophy: a commitment to individualism, nature, and the betterment of society through design. He saw architecture as a tool to nurture freedom—not control it—and viewed public buildings as potential expressions of democratic values. Today, the piece suggests, Wright’s warnings feel eerily relevant and his ideals worth revisiting in both political and architectural arenas.

Click for more details: thesandspur.org