This $1.8 million Frank Lloyd Wright home in Kalamazoo, Mich., is a restored masterpiece

By Kristine Hansen

The price makes this Kalamazoo's second-most expensive home listing.

After buying the Robert D. and Winifred L. Winn House-one of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian homes-in 2012, the owners embarked on an $800,000 restoration.

Now the 2,469-square-foot home in Kalamazoo, Mich., is ready to be handed over to a new steward. Fred Taber of Jaqua Realtors is representing the listing.

Built in 1950, it has three bedrooms and 2.5 baths. The $1,850,000 list price makes this Kalamazoo's second-most expensive home listing.

This is one of four Wright-designed Usonian-style homes in a Michigan subdivision called Parkwyn Village. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.

Another one of these, the McCartney House, was just sold for $670,000.

"Kalamazoo County has eight Usonian homes. I don't think there's anywhere else in the country where there's that many," says Taber.

The Winn home features an open layout, walls of windows, and concrete-block exterior walls. There's also the carport and flat roof in the Usonian style.

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The two-story home is the only one in the subdivision with a walk-out lower level with a bedroom and half bath. It's also the only one without radiant floor heating, a hallmark in Wright's Usonians.

"Winifred did not want the radiant floor heating," says Taber. "They didn't understand it at the time. It was something new. They went with standard forced air."

The lot size is a sizable 2.3 acres.

"It's the only Frank Lloyd Wright home in the community that has two lots," says Taber." It's the most private setting of all the houses. It's like you're leaving the city, and within 100 yards, you're in the country."

In 2012, the sellers snapped up the home for $200,000.

"We know there's been at least three owners of the home," says Taber. "They did over $800,000 in restorations of this home. We're talking all the walls. It's like it was supposed to be.

"When the house was built, the Winns deviated from the plans (that called for) a half-wall around the kitchen," he continues. "Instead, they built a full wall. The kitchen now features a half-wall."

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Another deviation from the plans: a walled-in back porch that the sellers retained. Wright had designed an open terrace.

"It's the only house [in Parkwyn Village] that's technically waterfront" with views of Little Asylum Lake, says Taber.

The sellers hired Lee Doezema, a carpenter specializing in Wright restorations, to update the home.

"He's very skilled," says Taber. "The level and the quality of his work far exceed anything else."

Cement flooring was also updated, and the home features four origami chairs based on Wright's designs.

"The house is going to come with most of the items in it," says Taber. It will also include blueprints.

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Compared with Usonian homes on the coasts, Michigan's are a bargain-but slowly trending upward. Last fall, two neighboring Wright homes in Galesburg, Mich., came on the market for $4.5 million.

Taber thinks the buyer will come from outside of Michigan.

Based on "the amount of interest we had with the McCartney House, people (were) from California, Washington, Louisiana, and Florida. I expect it to be the same" with this house, he says.

Even so, "the goal is to always find a buyer who will take care of the home and continue the legacy of the house and not gut it," says Taber.

This story originally ran on Realtor.com.

-Kristine Hansen

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