As one of the country’s most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright has deep roots in Wisconsin. Born in Richland Center, in the Driftless Region, in 1867, he later made his home at Taliesin, the sprawling 800-acre property in Spring Green. Many of his projects are throughout the state, including the Madison and Milwaukee areas, Wausau, Racine and Delavan.
Wright in Wisconsin organizes an annual tour each summer in a region within Wisconsin, spotlighting a mix of Wright-designed properties along with those inspired by his portfolio (hence the “Like” in the tour name). The last time it was in Milwaukee was in 2017.
This year’s tour is Saturday, July 29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and focuses on the communities of Bayside, Fox Point, River Hills and Shorewood, allowing participants to travel independently by car between the nine different homes. Three of the homes were designed by Wright and six by architects inspired by his work. The Wright homes are the Joseph Mollica House in Bayside, completed in 1959 and an example of a Pre-Fab by Marshall Erdman; the Elizabeth Murphy House in Shorewood, only discovered to be one of Wright’s American System-Built Homes in 2015; and Burnham Block, where two of the six American System-Built Homes on Milwaukee’s South Side will be open for tours.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Architects who designed homes on the tour in the spirit of Wright include Willis and Lillian Leenhouts, John Randal McDonald, Justin Racinowski, Howard Schroeder and Russell Barr Williamson (with later remodeling work by Llewellyn Streff).
Another Wright-designed site is also included: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee (on 92nd Street, between Hampton Avenue and Capitol Drive), completed in 1961. Tours of this site are only from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Advance tickets cost $60 (for Wright in Wisconsin members or Frank Lloyd Wright National Reciprocal Sites Membership Program members) and $70 for non-members of those groups. Non-advance tickets are $70 and $80. They can be purchased here, on Wright in Wisconsin’s website. Tickets include access to homes featured on the tour, where guided tours take place. Many are only open during tours such as this, providing a rare opportunity to step into fine architecture for a spell. One must provide their own transportation between sites.
