WRIGHT of passage

It was 1954 and Virginia Lovness was nervously waiting to meet architect Frank Lloyd Wright to show him her designs for a space she wanted to convert into her studio on White Bear Lake.

After a few minutes, Virginia was summoned to his bedroom at Taliesin, his estate in Spring Green, Wis. "I was so afraid," she said. "Why was I bothering this great man?"

Wright, then in his 80s, was unshaven and disheveled. He graciously looked at her design and started making so many changes that there was little left of her original plan.

"So Mr. Wright said 'We'll have to design a studio for you,'" said Virginia.

Wright kept his word -- the contract was a gentleman's handshake -- and one of the greatest American architects of the 20th century drew up a plan for an earthy wood-and-stone dwelling that included floor-to-ceiling windows, a great room, children's wing and master suite.

Virginia, and her late husband Donald, didn't have money to hire a builder. They bought 20 acres west of Stillwater and with Wright's blessing, built the 1,800-square-foot home stone-by-stone over two years with little help from others.

Today the 1955 home, which they called the studio, and a Wright-designed cottage they built in 1972 near the shore of Woodpile Lake are for sale for $3.75 million. The price includes the Wright-designed furnishings hand-crafted by master woodworker Donald and a bonus -- Wright's original designs for three other cottages.

"I'm 82 and can't do it alone," said Virginia. Donald died in 2001 from a heart attack and her dream is for the new owner to eventually build those structures. "Let the next person have the fun we had doing it."

But with the "fun" came plenty of hard labor. The couple hauled more than 100 tons of Wisconsin rock in wheelbarrows and mixed cement with a box and hoe. They hand-split stone to construct the massive fireplace, the heart of a Wright home. Donald installed the electrical, plumbing and in-floor radiant heat, a Wright invention. "We were so enthusiastic," she said. "Mr Wright called us his 'do-it-yourself couple.'"

At the time, Donald worked as a 3M chemical engineer and they were raising two toddler daughters in a trailer with no running water. Sometimes at the end of the day, Virginia was so tired and sore "I didn't think I could get up and make dinner," she said.

Although Wright, who died in 1959, never visited the Lovness home due to illness, he was there in spirit. The couple often traveled to Taliesin, Wright's fabled architecture and arts studio, to ask questions and show him snapshots of their ambitious work-in-progress.

One time, Virginia phoned him for a solution for the too-dark dining room. "He was in the middle of a dinner party," she said. "But he sent over the design for a chandelier." That oak chandelier, crafted by Donald, is a handsome fixture Wright aficionados would savor.

Before long, the Lovnesses would be the guests at the Wrights' dinner parties, staying at Taliesin so often that the Wrights built and named a suite for them.

Over his 70-year career, Wright earned the reputation of being a tyrant, but Virginia saw another side. "Mr. Wright was so funny and charming," she said. When the Lovnesses told Wright the final cost of the studio was about $18,000, "he laughed and laughed. He had never come in under budget before," Virginia said.

Priced today at $3.75 million, the Lovness estate is a one-of-a-kind property that's been on the market for a year and a half and needs international exposure to attract the right buyer, said current listing agent, Kimberly Falker, sales associate for Sky Sotheby's International Realty.

Since listing the house in May, Falker said that she's received inquires from both coasts and even architects from France.

"The buyer could be someone of prominence who wants a private getaway," said Falker. "And who appreciates art and a Frank Lloyd Wright original rather than focusing on price per square foot."

A classic design

The studio is a classic Frank Lloyd Wright design that's constructed of stone, wood and glass with a cantilevered flat roof that feels as though it could have sprouted in the woodsy landscape.

"He was the master at knowing where to place a building and how to use a simple palette of materials in a way that complements the site," said Larry Millett, St. Paul architecture writer and author of "AIA Guide to Twin Cities Architecture." The dwelling's one-level, open floor plan is centered on a massive stone fireplace and flows into the galley kitchen and the bedroom wings.

"When you enter the Lovness studio, you sense that everything is where it should be. [Wright's design] gives it this sense of calm and harmony," Millett said.

"I loved living here" said Virginia, whose favorite space on the property is a stone deck that overlooks the lake. "Mr. Wright made it perfect. Every stone pillar is in the right place."

Virginia calls the smaller cottage, which is down a gravel path from the studio, "my little playhouse" and that's where she lives today. Built as a cozy retreat, the serene 800-square-foot structure overlooks the lake and echoes many of the studio's architectural features.

Millett said the studio and cottage are fine examples of a budget-conscious house type Wright called Usonian.

"Wright wanted to create high-quality, efficient, but not too expensive, beautiful homes for the middle class," he said. "They were modernist in their approach, small and compact, without a lot of elaborate detail."

Wright's economical use of space is realized in the many oak furniture built-ins and shelving for the couple to display their Asian art collection, gathered on their travels.

"The quality and the love that went into the building of the two Wright homes shows," Millett said.

Standing in the studio, Virginia reflected on the privilege of bringing Wright's designs to life.

"I believe it has a soul," said Virginia of the first home they built. "When I'm back from being away, it hits me how much I love it."

And when she sells?

"I'll cry a lot," she said.

Lynn Underwood • 612-673-7619

Lynn Underwood • lunderwood@startribune.com