Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Marvel: The Weltzheimer/Johnson House

Innovative, charismatic and controversial, architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings which are in harmony with their environment. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Usonian architecture of Wright’s Weltzheimer/Johnson house. Designer Fred R. Unwin will profile the Weltzheimer/Johnson house in Lakewood Public Library’s Main Auditorium on Sunday, February 2, 2014, at 2 p.m.

Coined by James Duff Law in 1903, the word Usonian means uniquely American. In the context of architecture, Usonian refers to an American architectural style which is free from past conventions -- a new world of architecture. Usonian homes were designed by Wright to provide beautiful, yet affordable, houses for middle class Americans. The homes are modest and environmentally conscious; many contain solar heating and a multitude of windows for natural light.

Located in Oberlin, Ohio, the Weltzheimer/Johnson house was designed by Lloyd Wright in 1948 and completed in 1950. It was the first Usonian house built in Ohio and was donated to Oberlin College in 1992. It remains one of the few Usonian homes open to the public, and is the only Usonian home open in Ohio. Unusual features include clerestory panels and hundreds of stained croquet balls on the roof.

An interior designer and ardent enthusiast of Wright’s Usonian philosophy, Unwin volunteers as a docent at the Weltzheimer/Johnson house and is intimately familiar with the house’s many features. Unwin will profile the Weltzheimer/Johnson house at Lakewood Public Library’s Main Auditorium located at 15425 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, Ohio, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 2. Unwin’s talk is free and open to all; no advance registration is required.