Wright For the Night

By Benjy Lipsman in Miscellaneous on Mar 4, 2008 3:45PM

Chicagoist has a list of places to visit and experiences we'd like to have before we die. We've hopefully got a few decades left to keep checking these items off, but some are certainly a bit more improbable than others -- like our dream of owning and living in a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece.

The Arthur Heurtley house -- just down the street from Wright's own home and studio in suburban Oak Park -- certainly fit the bill when it on the market last year, but the $2.5 million sale price was a slightly out of our budget, even if it was a relative bargain compared to the initial $5.75 million listing price.

Alas, maybe we can experience Wright living for just a couple days. The New York Times pointed us to a number of Wright-designed homes that can be rented for overnight stays.

Five of the six homes -- all smaller, Usonian-style homes from late in Wright's career -- are located here in the Midwest, while the Duncan House featured in the NYT was moved from Illinois and now sits just 15 miles way from Fallingwater, Wright's best known work, in rural Pennsylvania.

Those here in the Midwest are located across the region, from Ohio to Wisconsin. Prices range from just $135 at the Muirhead Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast in Hampshire, Illinois to $385 a night for the Duncan House. At these prices, a Wright weekend isn't a fantasy. The other homes that'll allow you to grab some pillow include the Louis Penfield House in Willoughby, Ohio; the Haynes House, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Lake Delton, Wisconsin's Seth Peterson Cottage as well as the Bernard Schwartz House in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Photo via penfieldhouse.com