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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Stuart Richardson house in Glen Ridge, NJ.
Photo courtesy of the owners

Frank Lloyd Wright’s NYC-area houses, mapped

Wright may not have loved New York City, but you’ll find plenty of his homes just outside the five boroughs

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Stuart Richardson house in Glen Ridge, NJ.
| Photo courtesy of the owners

Though Frank Lloyd Wright designed many private residences throughout the United States, there is just one in New York City: the Crimson Beech on Staten Island, part of the architect’s line of prefabricated homes produced by Marshall Erdman & Associates. (The Guggenheim, while spectacular, is blessedly a public space and thus not eligible for this particular piece.)

But widen the geographic circle a bit to within an hour or so from the five boroughs, and you’ll find a bevy of Wright-designed homes, from a 15-acre cottage in the Connecticut suburbs to a utopian planned community in Westchester County. Each of these homes is undoubtedly Wright-ian, and share similar design principles—integration with nature, for one, along with the architect’s particular decorative proclivities (so many fireplaces!). But they’re also wildly different, too.

They’re also all still in use as private residences, with some even looking for buyers. (If you have a couple million dollars to spare, that is.)

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James B. Christie House

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Sitting on seven acres of secluded woodlands, the 1940 James B. Christie House embodies Wright’s Usonian concept, which called for simple, single-story dwellings that embrace natural materials and a strong visual connection to the outdoors. The expansive horizontal structure, built from cypress wood, brick, and glass, features an L-shape plan common to Wright’s Usonian houses. Glass walls, clerestory windows, and original built-in seating, tables, and chairs can be found throughout the home. It’s currently on the market for $1.45 million.

Weichert

Stuart Richardson House

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Wright designed the Stuart Richardson House in 1941 for an actuary and his wife following his concept of Usonian architecture. Constructed ten years later under his guidance (and meticulously restored to “purists’s standards” in 2006), the 1,800-square-foot three-bedroom features a unique hexagonal floor plan that leaves all but two of the residence’s angles measuring either 60 or 120 degrees. The brick house also boasts extensive cypress paneling and woodwork, most noticeably on the ceilings, where boards meet at chevron-like angles, drawing the eye toward various points of the house. It’s now on sale for $1.2 million.

Courtesy of the owners

The Crimson Beech

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This humble Staten Island structure was part of a line of prefabricated homes that Wright designed for builder Marshall Erdman, reflecting their shared passion for affordable, easy-to-construct housing. The Crimson Beech, as it’s known, is an L-shaped structure with four bedrooms, a sunken living room, a standard carport (as opposed to a garage, which was added in later iterations), and a gallery. It was built in 1959 and is still used as a private residence.

Max Touhey

Socrates Zaferiou House

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Another one of Wright’s Marshall Erdman prefabs can be found in Blauvelt, NY, where a 1960-built home known as the Socrates Zaferiou House still sits. Like the Crimson Beech on Staten Island, this is an L-shaped house with four bedrooms and a carport. Situated on 2.5 acres, it’s a lovely example of the affordable, yet architecturally significant, prefabricated homes that Wright was obsessed with throughout his career. In 2014, the home listed for $795,000; it ended up selling for $730,000.

Wright was responsible for both the planning and the design of three of the homes within the Usonia community, located in Pleasantville, NY. Situated on 97 acres of land, the community eventually grew to have 47 homes. “One of Usonia’s main draws was the idea that you could build a beautiful home in the community for very little money—$5,000 to $7,500, according to Wright’s original estimates,” writes Amelia Schonbek in a history of the cooperative on Curbed. (Of course, those prices ballooned quickly—as Wright projects tended to do.) But the community—and its Wright-designed homes—remains to this day, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ben Rebhuhn House

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Another Usonian home can be found on Long Island, where Wright built this seven-room house for publisher Ben Rebhuhn and his wife. Built for $35,000, the house has two bedrooms, with the second floor opening up into a huge, two-story “great room” on the ground level. The home was nearly destroyed by a fire in the 1970s, but after the fact, it was restored by Wright acolyte Morton Delson and remains a single-family residence.

Max Hoffman House

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The now-lost Hoffman Auto Showroom on Park Avenue wasn’t the only collaboration that Wright did with Austrian auto importer Max Hoffman. The architect also created a personal residence for Hoffman in Rye, NY, within a posh gated community. The “seashore cottage” was designed to Wright’s exacting specifications, though Hoffman was able to persuade him to make some changes; a carpet design, never used, ended up in Wright’s Taliesin compound. The L-shaped home has gotten some additions over the years, including an enclosed garage.

A post shared by Christopher Ball (@cb_ll) on

Rayward-Shepherd House

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Tiranna, a 1955-built residence named after the aboriginal word for “running waters,” recently sold for $4.8 million. The incredible 15-acre property, also known as the Rayward-Shepherd House and the John L. Rayward House, has been well-preserved after undergoing an extensive restoration that also added a few updates. The horseshoe-shaped house measures nearly 7,000 square feet and is arranged around a courtyard and includes seven bedrooms, eight baths, expansive open-plan living space, a rotating steel-and-glass observatory on the roof, multiple fireplaces, a greenhouse, guest studio, and so much more.

James B. Christie House

Sitting on seven acres of secluded woodlands, the 1940 James B. Christie House embodies Wright’s Usonian concept, which called for simple, single-story dwellings that embrace natural materials and a strong visual connection to the outdoors. The expansive horizontal structure, built from cypress wood, brick, and glass, features an L-shape plan common to Wright’s Usonian houses. Glass walls, clerestory windows, and original built-in seating, tables, and chairs can be found throughout the home. It’s currently on the market for $1.45 million.

Weichert

Stuart Richardson House

Wright designed the Stuart Richardson House in 1941 for an actuary and his wife following his concept of Usonian architecture. Constructed ten years later under his guidance (and meticulously restored to “purists’s standards” in 2006), the 1,800-square-foot three-bedroom features a unique hexagonal floor plan that leaves all but two of the residence’s angles measuring either 60 or 120 degrees. The brick house also boasts extensive cypress paneling and woodwork, most noticeably on the ceilings, where boards meet at chevron-like angles, drawing the eye toward various points of the house. It’s now on sale for $1.2 million.

Courtesy of the owners

The Crimson Beech

This humble Staten Island structure was part of a line of prefabricated homes that Wright designed for builder Marshall Erdman, reflecting their shared passion for affordable, easy-to-construct housing. The Crimson Beech, as it’s known, is an L-shaped structure with four bedrooms, a sunken living room, a standard carport (as opposed to a garage, which was added in later iterations), and a gallery. It was built in 1959 and is still used as a private residence.

Max Touhey

Socrates Zaferiou House

Another one of Wright’s Marshall Erdman prefabs can be found in Blauvelt, NY, where a 1960-built home known as the Socrates Zaferiou House still sits. Like the Crimson Beech on Staten Island, this is an L-shaped house with four bedrooms and a carport. Situated on 2.5 acres, it’s a lovely example of the affordable, yet architecturally significant, prefabricated homes that Wright was obsessed with throughout his career. In 2014, the home listed for $795,000; it ended up selling for $730,000.

Usonia

Wright was responsible for both the planning and the design of three of the homes within the Usonia community, located in Pleasantville, NY. Situated on 97 acres of land, the community eventually grew to have 47 homes. “One of Usonia’s main draws was the idea that you could build a beautiful home in the community for very little money—$5,000 to $7,500, according to Wright’s original estimates,” writes Amelia Schonbek in a history of the cooperative on Curbed. (Of course, those prices ballooned quickly—as Wright projects tended to do.) But the community—and its Wright-designed homes—remains to this day, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ben Rebhuhn House

Another Usonian home can be found on Long Island, where Wright built this seven-room house for publisher Ben Rebhuhn and his wife. Built for $35,000, the house has two bedrooms, with the second floor opening up into a huge, two-story “great room” on the ground level. The home was nearly destroyed by a fire in the 1970s, but after the fact, it was restored by Wright acolyte Morton Delson and remains a single-family residence.

Max Hoffman House

The now-lost Hoffman Auto Showroom on Park Avenue wasn’t the only collaboration that Wright did with Austrian auto importer Max Hoffman. The architect also created a personal residence for Hoffman in Rye, NY, within a posh gated community. The “seashore cottage” was designed to Wright’s exacting specifications, though Hoffman was able to persuade him to make some changes; a carpet design, never used, ended up in Wright’s Taliesin compound. The L-shaped home has gotten some additions over the years, including an enclosed garage.

A post shared by Christopher Ball (@cb_ll) on

Rayward-Shepherd House

Tiranna, a 1955-built residence named after the aboriginal word for “running waters,” recently sold for $4.8 million. The incredible 15-acre property, also known as the Rayward-Shepherd House and the John L. Rayward House, has been well-preserved after undergoing an extensive restoration that also added a few updates. The horseshoe-shaped house measures nearly 7,000 square feet and is arranged around a courtyard and includes seven bedrooms, eight baths, expansive open-plan living space, a rotating steel-and-glass observatory on the roof, multiple fireplaces, a greenhouse, guest studio, and so much more.