- Malcolm Willey House
-
Willey, Malcolm, House
The streetside view of the Malcolm Willey house.
Location: 255 Bedford Street Southeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota Coordinates: 44°57′37.44″N 93°12′31.32″W / 44.9604°N 93.2087°WCoordinates: 44°57′37.44″N 93°12′31.32″W / 44.9604°N 93.2087°W44°57′37.67″N, 93°12′31.06″W Built: 1934 Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Architectural style: Prairie School Governing body: Private NRHP Reference#: 84001472 [1] Added to NRHP: February 23, 1984 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".[2]
Malcolm Willey was an administrator at the University of Minnesota. In June 1932, his wife Nancy Willey sent a letter to Wright asking if he would be able to provide them a "creation of art" for a budget of "about $8,000."[2] The current design is the second design that Wright conceived for the Willeys, since the first design proved too costly for the family. The home ended up a modest 1,200 square feet (110 m2) at a cost of $10,000.[2] The Willeys sold the home in 1963 to a family that later sold it to a Wright aficionado who only sporadically occupied the home; when the current owners purchased the home in 2002 it was in need of major restoration which is currently ongoing.[2]
The Willey House was primarily built out of red brick and cypress wood.[2] The house is designed so that the living room and dining room were unified in a single space, and the kitchen was separated from them by only a group of shelves. This allowed 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.[2]
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.[2]
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2006-03-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ a b c d e f g 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. ISBN 0-87351-540-4.
External links
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Category:National Register of Historic Places • 
Portal:National Register of Historic PlacesCategories:- Houses in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
- Houses completed in 1934
- Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
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