|
||
 |
 Reisley House Frank Lloyd Wright 1951 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. Carports - the word as well as the idea - were one of the low-cost innovations Wright contributed through his Usonian homes. The Reisley house has a particularly fine example.
Roland and Ronny Reisley built the Reisley House with their honeymoon money in 1951, and continue to live in it.
|
| 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). Usonia Road 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); turn left onto Bear Ridge Road (if coming from the south), then first left onto Usonia Road. See driving map. The Friedman House, the other Wright Usonian home in the neighborhood that is still in its original form, is just around the corner at 11 Orchard Brook Drive.
Books and other web sites Click the book titles to view and to order
direct from
|
 |
Usonia,
New York: Building a Community With Frank Lloyd Wright Ronald Reisley A personal account written by the resident of this house, who was Frank Lloyd Wright's client in 1951.
|
 |
Understanding Frank
Lloyd Wright's Architecture Donald Hoffmann A highly readable, generalist account of the influences, development and innovations of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, well illustrated. |
 |
Wright Sites : A Guide
to Frank Lloyd Wright Public Places Arlene Sanderson (editor) 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. All links outside galinsky will open in a new window. Close it when you've finished, or use the Window menu on your browser, to return to galinsky. |
|