Skip to main content

The Cheapest-Ever Frank Lloyd Wright House Just Went Up for Sale

FLR House
Courtesy of Audrey Seidman

Over the last few years, the Midwest has gained great acclaim for its low-cost housing. If you haven’t already migrated from a big coastal city back to your hometown or somewhere near it, you probably know a few people who have. Shitbox studio apartments are fine when you’re in your 20s and figuring stuff out, but once your career hits its stride and/or you meet someone worth holding onto, there’s a natural urge to seek a little more room for your expanding lifestyle.

If that’s where you find yourself, and you’re doing reasonably well, may we suggest the scenic neighborhood of Okemos, Michigan? Along with having a dense concentration of wooded areas and bodies of water, an adjacent university with its accompanying progressive scene, and the city of Detroit just a short drive away, the township is home to what has to be the most affordable Frank Lloyd Wright home in existence. And it’s for sale, right now.

The Goetsch-Winckler Home was built in 1940, one of just a handful of Wright-designed houses located in the state of Michigan. It bears the distinction of being the most elegant exemplar of Wright’s “Usonian” design suite, a term the legendary architect made up as a play on the abbreviation “U.S.” The Usonian suite was designed to be affordable, livable, and simple, all words that perfectly describe this mid-century gem. Its modest 1,400-square-foot size is enhanced by a classic Wright-style open floor plan, not to mention the three beautifully wooded acres that surround the property. It’s perfect for an individual, couple, or small family who aim for a lifestyle that combines a small footprint with exceptional taste.

The two-bedroom, one-bath house features signature Wright touches like in-line layout (the entire home lies in a straight line), built-in shelves and furniture (including a dining room table, a bar, and a hearthside couch), and expansive windows that flood the home with natural light. At one end, the living room occupies the majority of the square footage, featuring a chimney at one end in front of a workspace adorned with clerestory windows on one side and an adjacent bank of full-length casement windows. At the other end of the house, two bedrooms, separated by a bathroom, eachopen via glass doors out on to a patio overlooking the woods. The red brick and concrete interior soften the home’s modernist lines with a warm natural patina, while variable ceiling heights give the cozy space a lofty vibe.

The current owners, who purchased the home in 2007, spent the last 13 years bringing the infrastructure up to date. Drainage on the property has been improved along with the heating and electrical systems, while maintaining the home’s one-of-a-kind historical features.

And now for the best part: The price tag. This one-of-a-kind residence, designed by America’s most legendary architect and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, can be yours for just $479,000. That won’t even get you a closet in San Francisco or New York City. But you know that already.

Wright called the home his favorite small house — pretty big praise from the designer of Taliesin, the Ennis House, and the Biltmore hotel. But if you need more recommendation than that, consider these words from the home’s current owner: “With a house you get a house. With this house you get a house and a story to tell.”

The listing for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Goetsch-Winckler House can be found on the home’s official website.

Editors' Recommendations

Chelsea Batten
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chelsea Batten is a writer, photographer, and Kerouac groupie. One of the original digital nomads, she was seduced from life…
Everything points to Apple TV+ making a change you’re not going to like
Is an ad-supported tier coming to Apple TV+?
The Apple TV Plus Logo

It turns out that TV worked pretty well under its old model. According to a new report from Business Insider, Apple TV+ may be the latest streaming service that's set to introduce an ad-supported tier and charge those who don't stream with ads a premium fee to access their great shows and movies.

At this point, the report is still speculation, but Apple has made several recent hires in the advertising space that seem to suggest the direction they're planning to take. The company recently hired former NBCUniversal ad executive Joseph Cady to serve as executive vice president of advanced advertising and partnerships, a move that comes following the company's hiring of another former NBCUniversal executive, Jason Frum, who joined Apple's video ad sales team.

Read more
From Gilda Radner to Ali Wong, these are the best female comedians of all time
These women from all generations will make you laugh out loud
Ai Wong comedian 2017 Moontower comedy festival

Hot take: I don’t care for straight male comedians. It’s not that they’re not funny, they’re just … I don’t know, boring? Maybe that’s reductive of me, but I never seem to leave a straight male comedian’s set feeling particularly inspired. And though some may argue that it’s not important for a set to "inspire" its audience, I’d actually argue that the opposite is true. For me, I want to see a comedian use humor to address real issues and say real things about the world, even if they do it in a completely goofy way.

Therefore, I tend to prefer female and female-identified comedians. They’re sharp, tough, and have often seen shit that makes their comedy feel raw and true. Undoubtedly there are male comedians who do this, too, but to a much lesser degree, in my very humble and very personal opinion.

Read more
12 classic sci-fi books everyone should read
If you love science fiction and reading, these classic sci-fi novels are a must
Man reading a book and drinking coffee

It may feel like we were recently living in a science-fiction dystopia life -- and in some ways, we were -- but that doesn't mean that we should simply avoid an entire genre of writing. Hardly. In fact, this is probably the perfect time to explore classic sci-fi books, to see what the masters have written, and maybe even see if someone predicted anything like this. Many, though, simply ignore sci-fi wholly and completely because of an association with robots, aliens, and the like.

Long story short, if you think you don't like sci-fi, you have never read great books from the genre. But indeed, many such books abound, including a number that has delighted generations of readers going back well over 150 years. In fact, one of the best things about so many sci-fi books is their very timelessness. As by definition, this type of fiction breaks away from the norms of the everyday world -- whether slightly twisting things or taking place on entire other worlds -- the stories often feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were published decades ago.

Read more