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Wright Sized in Alabama: The Rosenbaum House
Get lessons in Usonian living from the design and evolution of a historic Frank Lloyd Wright home
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin and I am a certificate holder from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located... More »
Throughout his career, Frank Lloyd Wright had a passion for designing smaller homes. From his Prairie School houses in the early 1900s to his one story Usonian houses starting in the 1930s, Wright designed several homes of modest size for the typical middle class American family. Remarkably enough, it was in the 1930s, at the depths of the Great Depression, that Wright was able to realize several of these designs. Designs Wright named Usonian.
The first Usonian house was the 1936 Jacobs House in Madison, Wisc. Following this, Wright designed four Usonian houses in 1939. The Rosenbaum House in Florence Alabama was one of them.
Built in 1940, the Rosenbaum House was a wedding gift for Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum. Originally 1,500 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the house was expanded in 1948 when the Rosenbaums called on Wright to design an addition to accommodate their growing family.
Mildred Rosenbaum, one of the original owners, lived in the house for six decades. In 1999, when she was no longer able to live alone, she deeded the house to the City of Florence. Though some thought the house should have been torn down, Florence Mayor Eddie Frost saw to it that the house be restored and be an ongoing piece of the Florence cultural life. So important was the restoration of the house that when Mayor Frost died suddenly prior to the restoration's completion, interim mayor Dick Jordan kept the project moving along. The house, restored using funds generated by a one-cent sales tax, was reopened in 2000.
The first Usonian house was the 1936 Jacobs House in Madison, Wisc. Following this, Wright designed four Usonian houses in 1939. The Rosenbaum House in Florence Alabama was one of them.
Built in 1940, the Rosenbaum House was a wedding gift for Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum. Originally 1,500 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, the house was expanded in 1948 when the Rosenbaums called on Wright to design an addition to accommodate their growing family.
Mildred Rosenbaum, one of the original owners, lived in the house for six decades. In 1999, when she was no longer able to live alone, she deeded the house to the City of Florence. Though some thought the house should have been torn down, Florence Mayor Eddie Frost saw to it that the house be restored and be an ongoing piece of the Florence cultural life. So important was the restoration of the house that when Mayor Frost died suddenly prior to the restoration's completion, interim mayor Dick Jordan kept the project moving along. The house, restored using funds generated by a one-cent sales tax, was reopened in 2000.
| The back of the house faces southwest and has an extensive amount of glass with deep roof overhangs to block Alabama's summer sun. The two legs of the L-shaped plan form a patio where the family would have enjoyed outside living. The main living areas of the house are at the left of this photo, where there is a wall of glass doors, while the bedrooms are at the right. A "floating" balcony is evident at the right, just off the master bedroom. It's clear from this vantage point that the house reaches out and embraces its gently sloping site. |
| Like many of Wright's designs, the street side of the home is closed, and the entrance doesn't jump out at you. In fact, the only element that gives a hint at an entrance is the extensive cantilevered roof at the front door. Unlike the traditional single-family houses nearby, the new Rosenbaum House must have caused quite a stir. It's said that several hundred people per day would come by and gawk at the house as it was under construction. |
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| A sense of the dimensions of the cantilevered roof at the front door can be seen here. Originally a carport, the low ceiling of this space would never accommodate a Cadillac Escalade. |
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| Essentially a linear arrangement of rooms, a view from the northwest indicates just how thin the house is. The cantilevered roof at the entry is visible on the left and the patio at the back of the house is visible on the right. The home is clad in horizontally laid cypress siding. One of Wright's favorite materials, cypress is insect resistant and long lasting. |
From the front entry, the view is down the north wall of the house to Stanley Rosenbaum's den. Wood walls and ceilings as well as a stained concrete floor bring the materials used at the exterior to the interior. A row of recessed lights aligns with the scored concrete floor.
| Brick walls anchor the main living space. A wall of glass leads to the courtyard to the southwest. This wall of glass doors would have been a remarkable feature in 1940 as the typical house of the time may have had one door leading to a backyard. In many ways, Wright's Usonian homes were harbingers of the carefree and barefoot life styles we enjoy today. |
| Opposite the wall of glass to the yard is a solid wall of cypress paneling and built-in book shelves. The row of clerestory windows above the bookshelves is held tight to the ceiling. These windows allow cross ventilation of the room and create the feeling of the ceiling plane floating in space. The ceiling is raised at the center for the length of the room. Clerestory windows to one side of the raised ceiling increase natural light, while opposite these windows are concealed light fixtures. From the beginning of his career, Wright liked to explore ways to use both natural and artificial light to accent and complement the architecture. The house today includes many pieces from the original, Wright-designed furniture, such as these living room chairs. |
At the intersection of the two legs of the home's "L" is the kitchen with a dining area directly opposite.
While the dining area is nestled into the corner by the kitchen, it is open to and a part of the main living space. The glass doors that connect interior and exterior spaces also connect the dining area with the patio.
Stanley Rosenbaum's den is also connected to the backyard patio with glass doors. The room features a built-in desk and bookshelves, not unlike the rest of the main living area. For the 1948 addition, Rosenbaum specifically requested additional bookshelves, as his book collection had grown considerably.
The home features mitered corners of cypress paneling, and in a few instances, an open corner of all glass. Wright's use of a frameless glass corner was remarkable given the material technologies of the 1930s. It really has only been in the last decade or so that material technology has caught up with Wright's designs.
The hallway that leads to the master bedroom is wide enough to accommodate built-in storage components. The recessed lighting found elsewhere in the house continues in the hallway. My sense is that the hallway would have been much brighter when originally built, as the wall to the left would have been an exterior wall with some clerestory windows.
The master bedroom, like so many Wright designed, is quite small. A built-in makeup desk and mirror is well lit by the adjacent glass doors. And here, even in the bedrooms, the walls and ceilings are cypress paneling. This is certainly not the kind of house where the walls needed repainting every few years.
The dorm room of the 1948 addition accommodated the Rosenbaum's four sons. The room is quite large as it served as playroom, bedroom and more.
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Here is the original floor plan of 1939. The family and group rooms are in one leg, and the bedrooms and private spaces are in the other. Bathroom, kitchen and utility spaces are at the intersection of the two legs. The plan reveals the extensive use of glass doors leading to the exterior courtyard from the interior rooms, including bedrooms and den.
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| This floor plan shows the original house and 1948 addition. The addition included a larger kitchen and breakfast room, a larger utility and laundry room, a dorm room for the Rosenbaums' four boys, and a guest area. |
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| Some 4,000 people visited the house during a three-day "Walk Wright In" event held when the house first reopened in August, 2000. According to Barbara Broach, the director of arts and museums for Florence, people stood in long lines in the summer heat to get a glimpse of the home's interior. Visitors from Japan, Russia, Australia, England and from all over the United States come to Florence to visit the house. The house continues to welcome visitors from all over the world. For those who want to learn more about this remarkable "Wright Sized" house, pick up a copy of Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House: The Birth And Rebirth of an American Treasure, which details the home's design, construction and restoration. From budget to technical concerns to ultimately saving the house, this book provides an excellent narrative about an inspired client, a visionary architect and a progressive city. More: Taliesin Celebrates 100 Years Happy 75th, Fallingwater Getting It Wright: Today's Prairie Style |
Ideabook published on Jan. 18, 2012.
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Usonian is a combination of "Utopian" and "USA"
In brief, it was coined to refer to US citizens as opposed to North American citizens. FLLW used it to refer to a uniquely US American style of architecture and city planning (like Broadacre City).
Also, we visited the house in 2008 and found it to be serenely beautiful, filled with light and incredibly livable. So much better than what the photos can convey.
So glad that it was not torn down!
Wright really garnishes extremes it seems. For our part (that's my wife and dogs in the 3rd photo) and after having toured about a dozen Wright designed homes and working on a 1905 Wright designed home, we have found the designs to be full of light and incredibly livable (all the more remarkable considering Wright's personal domestic details). A real lesson in the importance of crafting well the spaces we inhabit.
As for it being dark -- maybe the people he designed it for wanted it dark, as not all of his homes are. An architect designs to a specification.
I found the kitchen and hallways dark too, but the living room, dining area and outdoor spaces are wonderful and there is such an attention to detail with all of the built-ins. I'm really glad I got to see the home and hopefully the kids I went with got something out of it too.
Florence is a lovely small town, it's a credit to the mayor and its citizens that this house not only still stands, but has been renovated and is open to the public. Thanks for putting this tour up for all to see!