Louis Penfield House

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Louis A. Penfield House
Penfield House May 2013.jpg
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Location2203 River Rd.,
Willoughby Hills, Ohio
Coordinates 41°37′7.78″N81°24′30.38″W / 41.6188278°N 81.4084389°W / 41.6188278; -81.4084389 Coordinates: 41°37′7.78″N81°24′30.38″W / 41.6188278°N 81.4084389°W / 41.6188278; -81.4084389
Built1955
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Architectural styleModerne
NRHP reference No. 96001622 [1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 7, 1997

The Louis Penfield House is a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright, located in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby Hills. It is one of Wright's nine Usonian homes in Ohio.

Louis Penfield, a painter and acquaintance of Wright, commissioned the architect to design a house that would accommodate his 6-foot-8-inch (2.03 m) frame. This house, then, built in 1955, is unique in its high doorways, as Wright preferred low entryways.

Notably long and thin in comparison to an average home, the house has a "floating staircase" supported by ceiling beams, a bottleneck entryway, and several walls made almost entirely of windows, one of which gives a panoramic view of the outside. The house's basic color scheme centers on red-stained wood and ochre walls.

Some years after Louis died, the family moved out, and maintained it as a rental property for five years. The Penfield house was restored over a period of four years by Paul Penfield, son of Louis, at a cost of some $100,000 USD. Since 2003, the Louis Penfield House has been one of a few Wright-designed homes where guests can spend the night. [2]

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References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Jaquay, Sarah (2009-11-29). "See what it's like to live Wright". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 2009-12-10.