My heart started racing with the first picture. I am a huge FLW fan. Thanks for sharing!

Wow, beautifully sited and love the rooms shown. That is real rock instead of the fake rock shown everywhere now. Love the wood, love the dining room (view) and the den (windows). And I would love to see the rest.

I agree that the cream sofas look silly. I wouldn't care that it is or isn't a good representation of modernism, it is just beautiful to me and the materials used are authentic.
Diane

Wow, I didn't know about a house in Delaware. Thanks for making my heart sing, Pal!

Sorry I cannot move to Delaware! I love the house. Correct about the cream sofas....

Nancy

I meant to post this in February but forgot so I'll piggyback on Pal's post. This FLW home is for sale in Cincinnati- designed by FLW but built by his grandson. It has been owned by the same family for 57 years,

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/08/wright-tonkens-house/1903785/

Here is a link that might be useful: FLW house in Cincinnati

I think he did very few of these textile block houses, (like the Cincinnati one) notably the four Mayan revival houses in Los Angeles in the 1920s.

This post was edited by palimpsest on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 18:03

A beautiful house... As in a "beautiful museum piece".

Love to look at places like this but I can't imagine myself living in the house. It's too finished and inflexible to be comfortable for everyday life. I call it a "Versailles effect": you admire that grand baroque palace but you can't really live in it.

As someone who used to live near there, and drove by every now and then when taking the old Saab in for service, I was interested to see this. Thanks for posting. I saw the house when passing it but never knew what was there. I did a google search, and found this little piece written by someone in 2006:

The Spencer house is a few miles from where I grew up, and the first Wright house I saw in person. It is in excellent condition and meticulously cared for by the Spencers. I somehow convinced my father to stop the car as we were driving passed the house once when I was 12 or 13, because I saw a man tending to the drystone wall along Shipley road in front of the house. I timidly struck up a conversation with the man who turned out to be Mr. Spencer. I think he was surprised a 12 year old knew who FLLW was and that he was actually wanting to talk about his house. He graciously allowed me to walk a lap around the outside of his house and peek in the french doors on the terrace. I had no idea the house was a hemicycle (this was pre-Monographs and I had not yet seen a Storrer catalog) and was surprised at its similarities to the Laurent house I had just seen in the library's copy of the Natural House. I remember I was smitten by that house.

Mr. Spencer indicated that he had done some or all of masonry work on the house himself and that the house was completed in 1964, if I remember correctly. The carport that is in the set of Flickr images was built over the course of some years in the mid-'80's and not there when I walked my lap. I'm not sure of its designer, but it works with the house seemlessly, in my opinon. What had been designed by Wright as a carport, I don't think was ever used as such...it is glazed and provides additional living space...it also appears to have allowed a large and beautiful beech tree to remain that would have been lost to Wright's gravelled court.

I have just informed my husband that we are moving to Delaware. I could most definitely live there and would not feel at all constrained by the built-ins or anything else. DH just looked at it. He loves it, too. Loves the way it is integrated into the setting. The woodwork and stone are wonderful and it is certainly well-kept as the pictures tell the story.

It would also get me back north! Hmmm...

I love looking at FLW houses. I do not think I could live with the "compression" of the lowered ceilings though. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Thanks for posting.

found more photos on trulia.

Here's a bathroom

another bath

here's a closeup of the garden area that was in the background that pal posted. Look at the picture, it's the aerial view of the house I believe.

Cyn, are you really considering it? I think it is quite wonderful, I agree with you about the integration too. Thanks for digging up the additional pictures bee, and for posting pal. How much is it on the market for?

Thank you for sharing Pal. I always get something out of your real estate posts and everyone's thoughtful answers. (got a good laugh out of the taxidermy one)

Beth P.

Does anyone know how much?

Oops...just googled it....$1.35 million...

These types of homes are so cool. I would buy them in a second. I love homes that are different and unusual but am not into ultra modern. This looks comfortable and relaxed. I'd take the furniture too - except the white sofas!

Sochi, I really would consider it if I thought DH would ever actually leave this area. Every time I mention it or show him something I have found, he says he loves the house...being in PA near where I grew up would afford us the chance to eat at one of our favorite spots regularly (yes, ded, you know where that is!)...that it would be great to live on the water...the FLW house is amazing and he loves the way it sits on the land...It would be perfect to live in the country in France...but in reality, I don't think he would ever go along with it. Sometimes, I really get irritated, but I sort of get it and he has many ties in this area. Maybe someday, I will get my own place-some little space away from the hustle and just come back for visits! ;)

My ex-MIL lived in Oak Park, IL which is sort of FLW heaven for his fans.

Her comment once was that if FLW thought you needed a sofa, he would have designed it for the space.

There are some similarities to Taliesin west as well. Love the red architectural element in the garden and the conversation circle.