Frank Lloyd Wright: The Usonian House

Usonian Utopian Houses was the invention by Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect (1867-1959). Based around the principals of having a small and simple yet stylish house that was affordable and designed for the middle-class people of American. Wright also believed that Usonian houses were a type of architecture more than a style of house, he was quoted to have said, “Style is important, a style is not”. The last 20 years of Wright’s life was when he was focused of the designs of Usonian houses, starting with “Jacob’s House” (shown on photo on Left) located in Madison, Wisconsin in 1937. Less than 20 years later in the 1950’s Wright had designed a few hundred of the Usonian houses and had given them the nickname “Usonian Automatics”. In the mid 1930’s during the Great Depression in the United States, Wright had a sudden realization that would lead to America's housing needs, being changed forever. Wright was inspired to try and create a distinct style unique to his nation that would give middle-class people of America access to affordable houses. Most of the clients

Many believe that Usonian homes helped pave the way for more domestic and family friendly architecture throughout America. The unique “indoor-outdoor” style of these houses known as the Ranch Style is said to have been inspired by the public's realization of Wright’s Usonian houses. Wright took ideas from the European ideas of collective living and his exceptional skills he gained from the Arts and Craft movement, Wright was able to create a sustainable and well thought out community based way for living that was affordable for Middle-Class Americans that is still a successful way of living