Discover Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midwest Legacy on These Eye-Opening Tours
From the shores of Lake Michigan and the plains of Kansas to small towns and big cities throughout, the timeless charm of Frank Lloyd Wright’s many architectural masterpieces can be found all over the Midwest.
Over many decades, Wright designed over 1,000 structures, becoming a pioneer of the “Prairie School” movement of architecture, seamlessly blending functional homes with their natural environments.
From some of the largest and smallest Wright-designed homes to some of the most unique and famous, visitors can take numerous tours in the Midwest to gain a first-person perspective of these architectural wonders up close.
Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio
951 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois
In Oak Park, Illinois, visitors can take tours of his home and studios to get an up-close-and-personal glimpse into where Wright worked and perfected his famous Prairie Style designs. Oak Park is also home to more FLW buildings than anywhere else in the world and visitors can see examples of work throughout town as works by other Prairie School architects.
Taliesin
5481 County Rd C, Spring Green, Wisconsin
For enthusiasts of architecture and design, Taliesin Preservation (also known as Taliesin East) is a pilgrimage worth making. It’s a testament to Wright’s vision and genius and offers visitors a glimpse into his innovative design principles with intimate details around every corner.
Curtis Meyer House
11108 Hawthorne Dr, Galesburg, Michigan
Constructed in 1950-51 as part of a group of Galesburg homes known as The Acres, the Meyer House is a Usonian home featuring a hemicycle solar design and custom-built concrete blocks. Over 13 years, the home was meticulously restored in several phases. While the Meyer House is a private residence, it is available for tours and rentals on Airbnb.
RELATED: Explore more Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Michigan.
Dana-Thomas House
301 E Lawrence Ave, Springfield, Illinois
This house was designed by Wright during his early Prairie period for socialite Susan Lawrence Dana. Designed in 1902, it has never been significantly altered and features over 100 pieces of original Wright-designed oak furniture, along with 250 examples of art glass light fixtures and lamps. Daily tours are offered and visitors can also take virtual tours.
Allen House
255 North Roosevelt Street, Wichita, Kansas
Completed in 1918 for newspaper publisher Henry Allen, this famous Kansas house is the last of Wright’s Prairie homes. It’s considered one of the best Wright home tours in the nation and one of the most intricately designed with nearly three dozen pieces of furniture, art glass, and innovative, “new-for-their-time” features like an attached garage and wall-hung water closets.
Kraus House
120 N Ballas Rd, Kirkwood, Missouri
Built in 1951 for Russell Kraus, the home curves around a sloping hillside and is notable for its cantilevered roof and molded brick, which helps maintain its architectural integrity. The home also retains its original furnishings, many of which were built by Kraus.
Affleck House
925 Bloomfield Woods Court, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
This Bloomfield Hills Usonian home was Wright’s answer to low-cost housing. Standing just one story, the living and dining rooms and kitchen are merged together to form a unified space with large windows to enhance the living space.
John and Catherine Christian House
1301 Woodland Avenue, West Lafayette, Indiana
Completed in 1956 for Purdue University professor John Christian and his wife, the house, also known as SAMARA, is a bold Usonian home that stands as a testament to Wright’s dedication to his clients — he insisted that the Christians see the house’s construction to completion. Seasonal tours are available from April through November.
Wingspread
33 East Four Mile Road, Racine, Wisconsin
Wingspread is the home Wright considered his final Prairie home and was built in 1937. It’s also the largest Prairie home at 14,000 square feet and is open for free tours with reservations. The home is laid out in a pinwheel design with a three-story central octagon. It also features a “Crow’s Nest” and a “Juliet balcony” — both at the requests of the client’s children.
George Stockman House
530 1st St NE, Mason City, Iowa
This stunning example of Prairie-style architecture and the third iteration of Wright’s fireproof homes — stucco over frame construction features a functional, open, L-shaped floor plan. Tours of the Stockman House are available from May through October and offer a first-hand view of Wright’s architecture and his impact on Mason City.
Frederick C. Robie House
5757 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
Of all Wright’s Prairie-style homes, the Robie House in Chi-Town may be the most famous of them all. Completed in 1910, it stands as the consummate expression of Wright’s signature style, sparking an architectural revolution. From its recognizable roofline, and brick and limestone exterior to its expansive living space, it remains an iconic home, offering guided and self-guided tours.
Melvyn Maxwell Smith House
5045 Pon Valley Road, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Completed in 1950, the Smith House was donated to the Cranbrook Educational Community in 2017. Built for schoolteachers Sara and Melvyn Smith, the house follows the style of Wright’s Usonia houses with an open floor plan, large windows, and cantilevered roofs, which create a sense of spaciousness and connection to the outdoors.
The home is open for seasonal tours beginning the first weekend in May with tours occurring on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The final tours for the season occur during the last weekend in November.
Fabyan Villa
1925 S. Batavia Ave, Geneva, Illinois
The centerpiece of the Fabyans’ Riverbank estate was remodeled by Wright in 1907 and has been developed into the Fabyan Villa Museum, where visitors can see original furnishings and family artifacts. Wright’s redesign in 1907 added a south wing, large eaves, verandas, window bands, and an open floor plan, transforming the home into a Prairie-style country home.
The B. Harley Bradley House
701 South Harrison Avenue, Kankakee, Illinois
Completed in 1900 and considered Wright’s first Prairie-style home, the Bradley home is noted for having dozens of art glass windows. The panoramic views and other design elements exemplify Wright’s quest to blend the interior and exterior. Since 2010, the home has been a museum and public tours are available.
Walter Residence
Buchanan Co Hwy W-35, Independence, Iowa
Many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s best designs are limited to a single house, but this residence at Cedar Rock is part of an entire Usonian estate.
Visitors to the estate can see the main house, an entrance gate, and a boathouse. The Walter residence is typical of Usonian designs with a living and dining area at the “head” of the home and the bedrooms at the “tail.” Seasonally tours are available starting in May.
Laurent House
4646 Spring Brook Rd, Rockford, Illinois
One of the most unique Wright-designed homes was completed in 1949 and is the only one specifically designed for someone with a disability. The home was designed for Kenneth Laurent, who used a wheelchair, and his wife, and is considered one of Wright’s most well-preserved homes. Public tours are available with reservations from April through Thanksgiving.
Emil Bach House
7415 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago and the surrounding area are home to many Wright-designed homes, but the Bach House stands out because it can be toured and rented for events and vacations. Completed in 1915, the two-story home is one of Wright’s late Prairie-style homes with cubic masses and a flat roof. A Japanese Tea Garden was later added during renovations, offering a scenic space to explore outside the home.
Bernard Schwartz House
3425 Adams St, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Also known as Stillbend, this Usonian two-story Wisconsin home can be seen on the World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals on Netflix and was designed in 1938 as a Wright-designed “Dream House” inspired by Life Magazine. Wright turned Bernard Schwartz’s dream into reality by creating a home with his typical furnishings, a rec room, high ceilings, and an open living area.
Seth Peterson Cottage
E9982 Fern Dell Rd, Reedsburg, Wisconsin
At 880 square feet, the Seth Peterson Cottage is Wright’s smallest residential design. The home is framed by sandstone terrace buttresses and sits on the edge of a wooded hill. Inside the home, a central fireplace offers a cozy retreat and a frieze of stylized pine trees cut from plywood and set into a row of windows above the main living room windows.
Tour a Magnificent Frank Lloyd Wright Home in the Midwest
From Taliesin and Stillbend to Castle Rock and the Robie House, Frank Lloyd Wright left a lasting legacy in the Midwest that can be appreciated up close on a public tour. Whether you’re an architecture buff, a voracious traveler, or a history fan, a tour of a Wright-designed home offers an interesting look at some of the most unique homes in the country.