13 Frank Lloyd Wright Houses You Can Tour Across the U.S. (2024)

Frank Lloyd Wright is arguably the most legendary American architect and one of the most recognized architects in the world. Wright designed hundreds of residential, commercial, and civic buildings as well as furniture and other structures throughout the United States, earning numerous National Historic Landmark and UNESCO World Heritage designations.

Born in Wisconsin in 1867, Wright’s career officially began in Chicago in the 1880s. He dedicated seven decades to creating and teaching architecture and design, resulting in thousands of designs and hundreds of built locations, many of which remain today. His home bases included Illinois, Wisconsin, and later Arizona, where he eventually died.

As a residential architect, he was known for his Prairie Style and design philosophy that embraced nature and created homes that blended with and incorporated the surrounding landscape. His work influenced everything from open floor plans to furniture design. Designing during two World Wars and the Depression, he also developed affordable housing while strongly advocating that small and affordable homes could still be thoughtfully and beautifully designed.

Here, we highlight 13 houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that you can tour in the United States. They span the length of his career, from the 1880s through the 1950s, and are a mix of grand historic sites and smaller, locally run houses—some of which only opened to the public in the past decade. As such, their accessibility varies, too: while some may offer tours year-round, others may have set available times or require special booking; many require advanced ticket purchases rather than day-of admission at the door.

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Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio: Oak Park, Illinois

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This is Wright’s first home and studio as an architect, where he lived from 1889 through 1909. It was his first solo work where he had complete artistic control, and Wright altered its structure both while he lived there and after, including updates for later owners.

The initial structure was his home at an important time in Wright’s life, including his influential work under architect Louis Sullivan and when he struck out on his own in 1893. Leading his own successful company, Wright added a studio to the home in 1898. Today, the buildings include colorful stained glass, painted murals, and many international motifs. The shingle-styled exterior feels significantly different from his later iconic Prairie School works.

Visit: Guided tours of both the home and studio are available.

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Taliesin: Spring Green, Wisconsin

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Located in the area of his family’s ancestral home, the 800-acre estate around Taliesin is a deeply personal location to Wright. The area includes buildings developed throughout his career, from the Wright-designed interior of the 1886 Unity Chapel to the estate’s visitor center, completed in the 1960s after Wright’s death.

The name Taliesin refers specifically to the 37,000-square-foot home that Wright not only designed but lived and worked in. It was developed in three phases between 1911 and 1925. Much like Wright himself, the house has a tempestuous history, including multiple fires and murder.

The Taliesin house sits on a property that includes many other sites designed by Wright, including a barn (1952) and windmill (1897). Before he developed Taliesin, Wright built the Hillside School (1903) for his aunts and a home for his sister’s family (1907) on the property. The school became the home of the Wright Fellowship, which started in the 1930s.

Visit: Multiple tour options allow you to explore the Taliesin house, grounds, and other buildings on the site.

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Hollyhock House: Los Angeles, California

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One of Wright’s earliest homes on the West Coast belonged to Aline Barnsdall. The heiress to an oil fortune, she sought out Wright to help design an artists’ community on a 36-acre plot in the Hollywood area in 1919.

Wright included Barnsdall’s favorite flower, hollyhocks, throughout the design, including roof finials, furniture, art glass windows, and ornamental friezes and accents. Very different from many of his other works—particularly the works on this list—the Hollyhock House has Mayan influences, Art Deco details, and is constructed of hollow-clay blocks with a stucco coating and cast stone ornamentation.

Ultimately, the house and structures Wright had begun developing were not what Barnsdall was looking for, and in 1927 she gave the city of Los Angeles stewardship of the house, another Wright-designed guest house, and some of the land.

Visit: You can take a self-guided tour of the property.

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Robie House: Chicago, Illinois

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Completed in 1909, the Robie House is a stand-out example of Wright’s Prairie School aesthetic: a style that reflects the prairie’s ongoing horizon. The Robie House is strikingly horizontal—one of the signature characteristics of the style—from the overall shape to the details, such as the orientation of the brick and mortar on the outside. It features a large, long living space separated by a fireplace, which is iconic to many of Wright’s designs as well. Wright also designed some of his more recognizable furniture for this house, including the Robie chair and Robie sofa.

Visit: Guided interior and exterior tours are available.

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Burnham Block: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Early in his career, Wright showed an interest in affordable housing production. Wright collaborated with Arthur L. Richards in Milwaukee to create affordable, easy-to-build yet stylish homes. American System-Built Homes were developed by Wright between 1911 and 1917 (the U.S. entry into WWI stopped progress). American System-Built Homes were cut at a factory, then shipped for on-site assembly.To demonstrate the concept, Richards built six of Wright’s homes on Burnham Street in south Milwaukee.

According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, more than a dozen dealers sold these home designs, with multiple built across Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, in addition to Wisconsin. These homes may be recognized from the most recent season of Top Chef, where the crew visits Burnham (along with Taliesin) in episode four.

Visit: Today, visitors can tour two developments, though all six remain.

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Martin House: Buffalo, New York

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Darwin Martin was an important figure in Wright’s career who hired Wright to construct multiple properties for his family, as well as offering Wright his first commercial commission. Initially, Martin had Wright design a house for his sister; the Barton House, as it is known, was completed in 1903.

Completed four years later on the same property, Wright developed Martin’s family home, adding a pergola, conservatory, and carriage house. A cottage was added in 1909. The Martin House architecture features Wright’s classic cantilever design, and its details include 16 different abstract patterns of art glass, including Wright’s legendary “tree of life” pattern.

Today, the property is home to the Barton and Martin houses, as well as the 1909 cottage. The carriage house, conservatory, and pergola were demolished in the 1960s but rebuilt in the mid-2000s, according to Wright’s original drawings.

Fallingwater: Mill Run, Pennsylvania

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In 1991, the American Institute of Architects called Fallingwater the “best all-time work of American architecture.” Fallingwater was originally a summer home commissioned by Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann, parents of a student in Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship. It is easily Wright’s most iconic residential work, heralded for its representation of his organic approach to architecture and the intertwining of architecture and nature. Wright used sandstone from the area and built the home over a waterfall, its cantilevered design and numerous terraces reflecting the rock ledges of its surroundings.

The main house was completed in 1937 and a guest house was added in 1939. It opened for public tours in 1964, and today, the home includes the Kaufmann’s own art collection and many original interior furnishings chosen by Wright.

Visit: The estate is busy, offering a mix of guided interior and grounds tours, as well as culinary experiences, programs, and events.

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Seth Peterson Cottage: Lake Delton, Wisconsin

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The Seth Peterson Cottage is one of Wright’s smallest residences, a petite 880-square-foot house nestled amongst the trees of Mirror Lake State Park. The small structure allows most of the interior to be drenched in natural light from the windows and terrace that offer a view of Mirror Lake. The simple layout wraps around a central fireplace. The structure is made largely of local sandstone, flagstone, and wood accents, fully embracing Wright’s organic design ethos.

The house was commissioned by Seth Peterson, an admirer of Wright’s work, in 1957, and both Wright and Peterson died before it was complete. It was abandoned for several years before it was ultimately rescued and restored.

Visit: Not only is the house available for touring, but it’s also open to rent so you can experience living in a Frank Lloyd Wright home yourself.

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Bradley House: Kankakee, Illinois

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Built in 1900, the Bradley House is an early work by Frank Lloyd Wright, considered to be his first Prairie house. It’s located on one acre of land along the Kankakee River. Of note are the house’s 90 art glass windows, most of which are originals. The Bradley house has passed through numerous hands as a private residence, and even existed as a restaurant, inn, and office space. It was eventually restored to its residential roots and converted to a public museum in 2010.

Visits: The Bradley House offers tours that give a close-up look at both Wright’s house and stable.

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Rosenbaum House: Florence, Alabama

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The only Frank Lloyd Wright home in Alabama, the Rosenbaum House is one of many examples of Wright’s Usonian designs: low-cost housing intended to help families achieve their homeownership dreams. It is also one of the earliest examples of his Usonian homes.

Originally 1,540 square feet, the Rosenbaum House was built for newlyweds Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum in 1939. After having children, the Rosenbaums asked Wright to design an addition, adding more than 1,000 square feet in 1948 and demonstrating the ability of his architecture to grow with the American family. Built of wood, brick, and glass, it showcases many characteristics of the Usonian design: a fairly flat structure with multi-level roofs, tall windows, and a carport. It also includes furniture originally designed by Wright for the house.The home was owned by the Rosenbaum family until 1999 when the city took ownership.

Visit: The home now serves as a museum where 45-minute guided tours are available.

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Kalil House: Manchester, New Hampshire

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The Kalil House is a rare Usonian Automatic House—one of only seven ever built. Constructed with concrete blocks in a modular design, these homes were intended to be even less expensive than Wright’s previous Usonian designs. The result is a look that differs greatly from much of Wright's remaining residential designs. This 1,406-square-foot home was built in 1955 for Toufic H. Kalil, who knew Wright’s work from the Zimmermans, a couple who had commissioned Wright to design their house on the same street in 1949.

The house only recently became open to the public, after the Courier Art Museum acquired it from private ownership in late 2019.

Visit: A two-hour tour visits both of the Kalil and Zimmerman Houses.

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Willey House: Minneapolis, Minnesota

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The Willey House holds a unique place in Wright’s career: It was the first commission after Wright established the Taliesin Fellowship, and it is considered to be the beginning of the end for the Prairie school and the beginning of the Usonian designs.

Wright published an autobiography in 1932 that inspired Malcolm and Nancy Willey to contact Wright about creating a home for them. He actually designed two—the first was too large and expensive but the second became the Willey House, completed in 1934. The placement of the kitchen as more open to the rest of the floor plan is a significant change in his work that’s visible in the Willey House.New owners in the early 2000s made preservation a priority.

Visit: Although the house remains privately owned, it is available for booking group tours and occasionally holds open houses.

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Taliesin West: Scottsdale, Arizona

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Much like the Midwest’s flat prairie influence, Wright again found inspiration in nature, this time from the desert and McDowell Mountains. The result is Taliesin West, a structure originally developed largely of rock, wood, cement, and sand.

Organic in style as well as material, it had Wright’s common low-slung profile with strong angles and local color. It was Wright’s winter residence and workspace. Established in 1937, it was frequently developed throughout Wright’s life until he died in nearby Phoenix in 1959. Taliesin West held a drafting studio, residence, and workshops for apprentices, and gathering spaces such as a dining hall and theaters.

Visit: The location is home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and offers guided and audio tours.