Wright Chat

Wow!

Has anyone seen the interior?

http://www.savewright.org/index.php?page=33&id=101

http://www.peterbeers.net/interests/flw ... _house.htm

http://docublogger.typepad.com/midcentu ... -iowa.html

peterm-

I have not seen the interior, but I did visit the house last June, about a week after the flooding in Charles City subsided.

I am not surprised at all that the house is for sale. While I was at the house, I had an opportunity to speak with a friend of the owners who was assisting them with the clean-up efforts on the interior of the house, which had over 4 feet of water inside the building. This gentleman told me that the owner was a veterinarian in town, and that his place of business was also dmaged by the floodwaters. He told me that the owner had recently suffered some health problems as well, and that the combination of all of these traumatic events had led the owners to decide that it was time to sell the house. He mentioned that this was not the first flood the owners had been through, but that this was by far the worst.

All in all, a very sad situation. The house is quite striking from the exterior, and the setting is gorgeous, not more than thirty or so feet from the edge of the Cedar River, in a park-like environment. But the setting is a double-edge sword, as the very river that adds so much beauty to the property is also its downfall. And unless something changes drastically in the near future, it is folly to think that another disaster does not await this house somewhere down the road.

I remember the discussion about the flooding, but I was hoping there might have been some positive turn of events...


The house is a beauty. Move it?

I know, probably impossible. Any Hollywood producers in the market?

Maybe to Malibu?

The price was not listed on the FLWBC site. Does anyone know what they are asking for it?

I was unable to find the real estate listing.

I wonder what condition the interior is current in (restored/unrestored) and how much mold has grown since the flood.

Average sale price of homes currently for sale in Charles City is well under $100K.

Paul, Miller would go for more than $100K; the current owner added the dentistry office that had been originally designed for the property, which was also to have had a second residence. The office space was redefined as additional residence, significantly enlarging the original house. The first two photos from the street show the addition to the right, as do the first two photos on "MidWestern MidCentury" site, and third and fourth photos on Peter's site. This is a wonderful design that could be protected from future flooding only by infrastructure to control the river, which is probably not going to be done anytime soon.

Roderick Grant wrote:Miller would go for more than $100K

yes, of course this is true. My point was that it most likely would go for 5 to 10 times the average market price if it was in restored condition, a tough sale in this economy.

I have seen the house both before and after the addition. The octagonal addition, while constructed to add additional residential space for the family, was built with all the walls, doors and windows positioned according to Wright's original plans. The patient rooms are used as bedrooms for his kids.

At one time the owner had the intention of purchasing the house to the east so that he could build the other wing, but had to wait for the owner to die because they were not interested in selling.

Beautiful exterior. Probably not the right location for flat roofs, though.

That white stucco wall is interesting. Is that the new addition? I haven't seen that treatment on a usonian before...was it what FLW specified?

Same with the white on the eaves.

Deke

So does anyone know the asking price? Interesting how it states that furniture might possibly be included in the sales price.

Any news about the Alvin Miller house? Last anyone posted, work was well under way by the new owners. We'd hoped to make it to Charles City this summer but didn't, so don't have that first hand info. Anyone???

I saw the house in 2013. It is in seriously tough shape and needs a lot of work. Not sure if any progress has been made since then. For a small town in Iowa 275 K is VERY expensive, especially considering all the work I suspect still needs to be done.

Stafford Norris is working on it. Progress has been made, though there is still more to do.

If ever a Wright home needed to be moved, it is this one. Of course, that won't happen until a means has been devised -- teleportation? Star Trek "beaming"? -- to move the whole in one piece. Unlike Farnsworth, perhaps, this structure does not lend itself to temporary elevation !

SDR

6/24/2024

8/3/24 CORRECTION: The owner has informed me that it was 1 INCH OF WATER NOT 1 FOOT.

The Alvin Miller House in Charles City, IA has been inundated by the current flooding of the Cedar River which is in their back yard. The house sustained 1 INCH of water inside. All the interior furniture was removed last week and the interior was protected from most damage. I was at the property yesterday a 1pm and there was no damage to the house and yard. The river crested this morning. That was when the water intruded.

The previous flood was in 2008 with 4 feet throughout the Miller house.

We've had lots and lots of rain in Mason City over the past month. Flooding is focused on the Winnebago River area. Our new house is 0.5mi north of the Winnebago river.