A century-old homeowner is offering rare insights into Frank Lloyd Wright's revolutionary Usonian housing philosophy through guided tours of his pristine residence in New York's Usonia Historic District. Roland Reisley, now 100 years old and the sole surviving original owner of a Wright-designed Usonian home, credits his remarkable vitality to living surrounded by the architectural genius's vision of harmonious design.
Frank Lloyd Wright, known for his linguistic precision as much as his architectural innovation, rejected the conventional use of "American" to describe his cultural and architectural vision for the United States. Drawing inspiration from geographer James Duff Law's early 1900s terminology, Wright coined the term "Usonian" to represent what he saw as a distinctly new civilization in the New World—one that offered humanity an unprecedented opportunity for reinvention.
The first Usonian house, completed for Herbert and Katherine Jacobs in Madison, Wisconsin, during the Great Depression, emerged from Wright's challenge to create a quality home for just $5,000. According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, this project allowed the architect to realize his vision of affordable architecture that broke free from European conventions and responded directly to the American landscape. The innovative design principles established with this inaugural project would influence approximately 60 subsequent Usonian homes.
These revolutionary homes embodied Wright's philosophy of organic architecture by connecting directly to the earth without traditional foundations, front porches, protruding chimneys, or decorative landscaping that might distract from the natural environment. Glass curtain walls combined with natural materials including wood, stone, and brick to seamlessly integrate each structure with its surroundings, creating living spaces that felt like natural extensions of the landscape.
The Usonia Historic District in Pleasantville, New York, stands as a testament to Wright's broader vision, encompassing 47 homes, three of which were personally designed by the master architect himself. Recent BBC Global and Architectural Digest videos showcase tours of these remarkable properties, featuring both Reisley's meticulously preserved residence and the Bertha and Sol Friedman House, which Wright affectionately nicknamed "Toyhill."
Both featured homes have been maintained with extraordinary fidelity to Wright's original vision, preserving not only the physical structures but also the philosophical ideals that were intended to spark a renaissance in American civilization. The owners have resisted modern alterations that might compromise the integrity of Wright's design principles, allowing visitors to experience these spaces much as Wright intended when he conceived them decades ago.
While Wright's Usonian homes may not have achieved his utopian aspirations for transforming American society, they significantly influenced postwar suburban development and have profoundly enriched the lives of residents who truly appreciate their unique qualities. The architectural innovations pioneered in these homes, from open floor plans to integration with natural settings, became foundational elements in mid-century American residential design.
Reisley himself serves as living proof of the homes' positive impact, attributing his remarkable longevity and youthful appearance at age 100 to the daily experience of living surrounded by both Wright's carefully crafted architectural beauty and the natural environment it celebrates. Perhaps equally significant, Reisley represents one of the rare clients who maintained a positive working relationship with Wright, who was notoriously difficult to work with throughout his career.
The preservation of these Usonian homes offers contemporary audiences a unique window into Wright's vision of how thoughtful architecture could transform not just individual living spaces, but American society as a whole. Through guided tours and video documentaries, Reisley and other preservationists continue to share Wright's revolutionary ideas about the relationship between built environments and human well-being with new generations of admirers.
