Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kenneth Laurent House up for sale
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The Illinois Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kenneth Laurent House and furnishings have been consigned to auction by the original owner, Kenneth Laurent. It’s been scheduled for December 15 auction through Chicago-based auction company Wright.
In 1948 Laurent commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build a home in Rockford, Illinois that integrated his needs as a wheelchair-bound disabled veteran with Wright’s signature open-plan designs. Wright used to opportunity to develop his elliptical plan for the first time, and the resulting soft curves, open floor plan and flowing space were utilised in later houses in the 1950s. The Laurents became friendly with Wright and travelled often to Taliesin, commissioning interior furnishing for the home and a later addition to the property. In conversation with Edgar Kaufmann Jr., Lloyd Wright referred to the Laurent House as a serene masterpiece and his “little gem”.
“We are interested in the preservation mid-century architectural masterpieces,” states auctioneer Richard Wright, president of Wright. “We have an audience that appreciates the historical and aesthetic value of these special homes and is not strictly bound by the values of the local real estate market.”
The home and original Frank Lloyd Wright-designed furnishings will be estimated at US$500,000 to US$700,000.
Wright is an international auction house based in Chicago that has offered historically important architectural masterpieces in their art and design auctions before, most famously with the sale of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House #21 in Los Angeles that sold in December 2006 for $3,185,600.
The 4646 Spring Brook Road house sits on 1.3 acres. Its interiors are 232 square metres in the single-story structure with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and it features numerous built-in desks and cabinets.
The furniture includes Frank Lloyd Wright furnishings: one pair of barrel lounge chairs, one pair of panel armchairs, six occasional tables, six hassocks, one entrance table, one hall table and two wrought-iron fireplace grates. Taliesin designed furnishings include: one dining table, six dining chairs, two Taliesin slatted wall lights, three decorative screens and external lighting elements.
It’s referred to in literature including: Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph: 1942-1950 by Futagawa and Pfeiffer, Frank Lloyd Wright: Interiors and Furniture by Heinz, 50 Favorite Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright by Maddex, and Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks by Larkin and Pfeiffer Provenance.
"The Buehler House", a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in California, is also for sale with price hopes of US$4,995,000.
