This impeccably preserved Frank Lloyd Wright house feels like you've just stepped inside a midcentury time capsule. It's easy to imagine a 1950s nuclear family reading in the glow of the open hearth marble fireplace.
Henry Neils, retired president of the Flour City Ornamental Ironworks, was able to persuade the busy master architect to design a "one-story modern functional house" after sending Wright photos of his fabulous wooded property on Cedar Lake.
Today the 2,511 square-foot midcentury modern masterpiece in Minneapolis is on the market for $3.4 million.
The honey-hued wood paneled interiors, smart space-saving built-ins and expanses of glass are all signature Wright.
But it was the atypical materials used by Wright, requested by Neils, that helped land the home on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The architect's unique Usonian design is composed of marble block walls, Western larch paneling and aluminum window frames in place of wood.
One of the home's Wrightian "wow" features is its asymmetrical roof line with a gable dramatically projecting out like the prow of a ship.
Inside, the L-shaped floor plan's classic "Cherokee Red" concrete floor spans the living-active wing and private-quiet sleeping wing. The vaulted living room boasts a wall of glass facing Cedar Lake and views of the nearly half-acre property.
Wright was the master at creating outdoor connections and added sliding doors that open to a huge triangular patio. Instead of a garage, a mod stone carport has spots for three cars.
