Real Value of Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright Houses
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Frank Lloyd Wright is one of America's (and the world's) most celebrated 20th-century architects. His designs include iconic national landmarks like the Guggenheim Museum. But many of the more than 1,000 buildings he designed were homes. Some for the rich and wealthy, others for the average American family.
Wright's work proved to be so transformative and groundbreaking that a cluster of his work has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other structures are part of the National Registry of Historic Places.
Culturally, his worth is priceless. But let's look at five iconic Frank Lloyd Wright houses to see how much each is worth.
5. Jacobs House
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Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Worth: $486,300 (according to Zillow's estimate)
Year: 1937
Size: 1,500 square feet
Tours available: No
The Genius of This Frank Lloyd Wright House
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Frank Lloyd Wright had a vision for American architecture and urban design that he called Usonian. This vision included beautiful and cozy homes that were affordable for middle-class households. And it all started with a bet.
Herbert Jacobs, a journalist and professor, famously challenged Wright to create a good home for only $5,000 (around $95,000 today). Never one to back out of a challenge, the architect delivered the beautiful Jacobs house, which in turn catapulted his Usonian movement.
In harmony with Wright's idea that architecture should complement nature, the house features wood, clay bricks, stone and large windows that allow natural light into the home. Though the house isn't for sale, it is valued at $486,300, which is within reach of many (though not all) middle-class families. This proves that Wright was right and that we're needlessly living in soulless cookie-cutter houses.
4. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
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Located: Oak Park, Illinois
Worth: Unknown
Year: 1889
Size: 17,424 square feet
Tours available: Daily
The Genius of This Frank Lloyd Wright House
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Not only was this the first house that Frank Lloyd Wright owned, but the first one that he designed himself.
Though it is not as magnificent or groundbreaking as some of his other work, the household is evidence of the architect's experiments with new design concepts. The kitchen, for instance, has an open plan that was practically unheard of in the 1880s.
He resided here until 1910, making several changes and adding an adjacent studio to the property. While people mostly drool over his magnificent Taliesin residence in Wisconsin, and Taliesin West in Arizona, it's cool to see where the magic began. The value of the house is unknown, given that it's a museum now rather than a house. Given its importance, however, we imagine it would go for millions if it were ever to go in the market.
When visiting Oak Park, you'll get to walk around and see numerous other Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the area.
3. David and Gladys Wright House
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Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Worth: $7.5 million
Year: 1950
Size: 2,500 square feet
Tours available: No
The Genius of This Frank Lloyd Wright House
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This unique spiral house features a rare Wright design. The architect built it for his son and daughter-in-law, complete with an isolated guest house and views of a mountain. As it was a gift, it was done with the utmost care and attention to detail, even for a Wright design.
Straight lines are hard to find in this structure, with a circular living room that draws you in to share the space communally. A curved ramp takes you from the first to the second floor, proving that stairs could be a thing of the past if we so wished them to be.
The Wrights lived in this house until they passed in the late 2000s. A clearly heartless developer (OK, is there such a thing as a developer with a heart?) bought it in 2012 and planned to demolish this jewel of American architecture.
Thankfully, good defeated evil and the house is intact. It sold for $7.5 million in 2020. The new owner reportedly has a sense of common decency and plans to restore and maintain this piece of history.
2. Robie House
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Location: Chicago, Illinois
Worth: Unknown
Year: 1909
Size: 13,070 square feet
Tours available: Thursday to Monday
The Genius of This Frank Lloyd Wright House
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Wright helped popularize Prairie-style houses in the mid-20th century. And no house epitomizes the movement as much as the Robie house.
One of Wright's masterpieces, this livable work of art features a freestanding fireplace, an open plan that filled the interior with natural light and sharp geometric lines meant to mimic the vast openness and simplicity of the prairie.
It also replaced one exterior wall with glass doors that lead straight to the patio. Though the idea is common today, it was absolutely revolutionary at the time.
Because people have no respect for history or aesthetic beauty, the house was almost torn down a couple of times. But Wright himself intervened to save it — the only time he ever did this with one of his works. This speaks to the importance and uniqueness of the house, which can easily be visited while on a trip to Chicago.
The exact value of the house is unknown, but Lego sets based on the famous house go for around $680, and a replica of it sold for $1.5 million in 2016.
1. Fallingwater
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Location: Mill Run, Pennsylvania
Worth: $10 million
Year: 1939
Size: 9,300 square feet
Tours available: Thursday to Tuesday
The Genius of This Frank Lloyd Wright House
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Fallingwater is inarguably Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece. One of the most famous houses on the planet, it is built right on top of a waterfall.
Rather than obstruct or damage the natural features of the Pennsylvania woods, the house manages to camouflage in them. If an alien were to land near it, they may not even notice that the house was not an organic part of its surroundings.
The waterfall is, of course, the highlight of this home, but its interior is also quite impressive. Large windows let you enjoy the forest, while stone and wood make you feel connected to it.
Its impressive design earned Fallingwater a feature on the cover of Time magazine in 1938, a year before construction was completed. Though it is no longer a private residence, the house is estimated to be worth $10 million.
Honorable Mention: Lake Tahoe Lodge
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Intended location: Lake Tahoe, California
Year: 1923
Tour available: Angi virtual concept
The Genius of This Frank Lloyd Wright House
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There are many Frank Lloyd Wright houses that deserve a mention, but we're going to go for a very peculiar one: a house that doesn't exist.
The vast majority of the architect's designs didn't come to fruition, but the Lake Tahoe Lodge stands out to us because he designed it as a dream of his own rather than a commission.
In later years, he said that the best houses exist only on paper, highlighting this home. In Frank Lloyd Wright's dreams, the house would be a lodge that immersed travelers into the beauty of Lake Tahoe.
He might not have been able to see it come to life, but thanks to technology, we can see take a virtual tour to see what it would have looked like. You can also stay at the Nakoma Golf Resort, which was built using this design concept.
For obvious reasons, the value is impossible to know. But given that this place had a special place in Wright's heart makes it invaluable to us.