Florence, Alabama is home to one of the early Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian homes.
In 1939 the parents of Stanley Rosenbaum gave he and his bride Mildred a two acre lot across the street from their home and $7500 to use for the construction of their home. They contacted Mr Wright who agreed to provide plans for their home. The house was completed in 1940. Eight years later he provided additional plans for an expansion of the home which brought it to the configuration seen today. Mr. Wright also designed the furniture used in the home.
The Rosenbaum's lived their lives in the house and raised four boys. By 1999 Stanley had passed and Mrs Rosenbaum went into assisted living. She wanted the home to be preserved and arranged for the City of Florence to acquire the home to be used as a city museum. The City undertook an extensive restoration which included repair of damaged roofs and considerable termite damage. The walls are comprised of a layer of plywood sheathed on each side with Cyprus siding. Termites ignore Cyprus, but consumed the plywood. Most every wall section was removed, the damaged plywood replaced with treated plywood and reassembled.
The house has been restored to its configuration from the 1940's including the furniture. All of the Rosenbaum library is included as are Mildred's weaving looms and examples of her weaving.
No interior photography is allowed so all blog images are exterior only.
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| The Usonian homes did not include stained glass as used in the Prairie style homes for cost reasons, however they did include specially cut wooden inserts in the windows to provide visual interest and interesting shadow patterns |
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| This is the home of Stanley Rosenbaum's parents across the street. The senior Rosenbaum made his fortune in the movie theater business |
For some reason that's not what I thought Frank Lloyd Wright looked like. I bet the gardens are quite pretty now that it's spring and summer.
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