Frank Lloyd Wright, Willey House, Minneapolis, USA, 1933 ( View in Google Maps)

The Malcolm Willey House is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. It was designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built in 1934. Wright named the house “Gardenwall”.

The Willey House is primarily built of red brick and cypress. Except for the red linoleum in the kitchen, the rooms on the main floor are floored with mortared brick pavers. A major design feature is the 30-60-90 triangle which shapes the terrace, the skylights, and two clerestory windows in the living room. The house is arranged so that the living room and dining room form a single space: the kitchen was separated from them by plate glass and a group of shelves. This gave a clear view from the kitchen to the living and dining area, allowing Mrs. Willey to watch the rest of the house while in the kitchen. This was an important step away from the historic precedent of compartmentalizing the functions of the house into separate rooms. The house can be considered a bridge between Wright’s earlier Prairie School style houses, and his later Usonian style houses, since it incorporates certain elements from both styles.

Located at 255 Bedford St. SE in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Prospect Park, the home remains private and is only partially visible from public roads. It sits adjacent to a freeway wall blocking it from the sight and sound of nearby Interstate 94. The home originally had a panoramic view of the Mississippi River gorge before the freeway’s construction obstructed it in 1960.

Selected links:

• http://www.thewilleyhouse.com/
• http://www.dgunning.org/architecture/Minn/willey.htm
• http://www.archdaily.com/130625/ad-classics-willey-house-frank-lloyd-wright

Millett, Larry (2007). AIA Guide to the Twin Cities: The Essential Source on the Architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 142

Reviewed by :

Rémi Farwati, Elena Giannitsopoulos, Nadir Bouchene, Adela Plasilova, March 2017