Article II Sample

Katherine L. Pritchard

Article 2

Title: A Frank Lloyd Wright Minnesota Treasure

In Spring of 2016, when a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota went on the market for the first time since it was designed in 1958, it made the local news.

While the owners – Paul and Helen Olfelt – were in their 30’s (and who are now in their 90’s) they sought out 89-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright and asked him to design the home they would proceed to raise their four children in and call “home” for the next fifty-six-years.

The generous square footage equaling 2,647 feet came complete with three bedrooms, one full bathroom, one partial bath, a vaulted great room with a wood burning fireplace, glass walls, a finished lower level complete with an office, and a two-vehicle carport instead of a garage.

Sitting at the end of a caul-de-sac on 3.77 acres and overlooking a wildlife preserve, Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts have no doubt of the property’s architect.

Wright had an uncanny ability to build a structure on virtually any landscape. The Minnesota home was built into a hillside and still showcases Wright-designed furniture and furnishings, including built-in seating and woodwork, lighting fixtures, chairs, and ottomans.

From the front door, one can see the sharp slant of the carport roof leading up to the house. The wide front steps offer a hospitable welcome as does the surrounding landscape. The warm tan color of the home’s brick exterior is a wonderful contrast against the hunter green of the tall trees towering it.

The long hallway leading from the great room gives a guest a clear understanding of the true size of the beautiful home. Wooden beams built in a geometric fashion offer a fun and yet sophisticated look to the home’s timeless design. Floor to ceiling windows in the great room provide healthy and generous lighting as built-in seating lines the far wall. The home’s red concrete floors are a striking contrast against the walls. A wood chandelier hangs above the dining room table that sits next to the brick chimney in the great room.

The kitchen, complete with an island and stainless steel appliances, is an open and freeing space due to the high ceilings.

Some of the home’s interior walls are made of brick – similar to the warm color of the home’s exterior. Even one of the shower walls is made of brick.

The backyard is all greenery and wildlife complete with a blue sky.

The majority of Wright’s designs do not have basements – this one does, thus making it a rare architectural work of art.

The home comes completes with Wright’s signature by way of a hearth, a massive sloping overhang, and right angle designs.

As one of the nine surviving Wright houses in the state of Minnesota, and while a rarity in many ways, the St. Louis Park home hit the real estate market at a time when finding home buyers for expensive, one-of-a-kind properties wasn’t always simple. The asking price for the property was $1.495 million.

According to the Star Tribune, during April 2016, “there were nearly 700 houses priced at more than $1 million for sale in the Twin Cities metro, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. At the current sales pace, that means there are enough listings to last nearly 17 months, compared with 1.8 months for houses priced from $190,000 to $250,000.”

But as time goes on, the right owner will find the gem that is this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home.

(To view the home, please visit http://www.curbed.com/2016/6/10/11906428/frank-lloyd-wright-olfelt-house-minneapolis-sale)