Friedman House
11 Orchard Brook Drive
Pleasantville NY 10570
Frank Lloyd Wright 1948
Frank Lloyd Wright started
building his 'Usonian' homes in the 1930s: simplified developments from
his earlier prairie houses that brought his redesigned, open-plan ways of
living to a modest size and budget.
The Usonian community at
Pleasantville is relatively late in Wright's development: he developed the
master plan in 1947. Fifty Usonian-style houses, with much variety within
the common theme, are spread around 100 acres of woodland, with common
land and facilities shared as a cooperative. Wright personally designed
three of the houses, of which two are more or less unchanged today.
The Friedman House forms part of
the development of Wright's use of the circle, culminating in his Guggenheim
Museum in New York.
Simon Glynn 2001
How to visit
The house is a private
residence and is not open to the public. Since it is built on a
spacious, wooded plot, it is only partially visible from the road
(especially in summer among the leaves).
Orchard Brook Drive is on the
east edge of Pleasantville, which is in Westchester about an hour's drive
north of Manhattan. The easiest way to navigate is to approach
Pleasantville along route 120 (from the I-684); then Orchard Brook Drive
is a simple left turn off this road (if coming from the south). See
driving map.
The Reisley
House, the other Wright Usonian home in the neighborhood that is still
in its original form, is just around the corner at 44 Usonia Road. From
Orchard Brook Drive turn right into Usonia Road.
Books and other web
sites
Click the book titles to view and to order
direct from
A practical visitors' guide to thirty six
publicly accessible Frank Lloyd Wright sites, with a straightforward one or two page
description of each, with black and white photographs. Note: Does not
include this private house.
www.geocities.com/SoHo/1469
provides both its own Frank Lloyd Wright content and a set of links to other Frank Lloyd
Wright sites on the web.
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