Built 1955 NRHP Reference # 96001622 Added to NRHP 7 February 1997 | Architectural style Moderne, Other Opened 1955 | |
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Address 2203 River Rd, Willoughby Hills, OH 44094, USA Similar Brandes house, Usonia Historic District, John D Haynes House, Bernard Schwartz House, Weltzheimer/Johnson House | ||
Video tour of the louis penfield house
The Louis Penfield House is a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright, located in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. 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.