By The Associated Press
A family in Cincinnati is selling their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home for $1.78 million.
The house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been in Gerald Tonkens’ family since 1955 and is described as being in “pristine” shape.
Tonkens, a car dealer, was 35 years old in 1953 when he asked Wright to build the home, even sending plans to the famous architect at his Taliesin West studio in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. All he had to offer Wright was $25,000 and gumption.
His timing couldn’t have been better.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Wright was in his mid-80s and was building what he called Usonian homes for “common” American families at a prolific rate. Some of his latest designs used interlocking, concrete blocks molded on site in hopes of saving owners money by involving them in the construction process.
Tonkens’ second wife, Beverly Tonkens, said that Wright invited her husband to Taliesin West and asked him if he would be a “guinea pig” and allow Wright to build a concrete home in the Usonian Automatic style he had developed.
