Mason City Iowa

[PNB]

Early in my appreciation of FLLW I visited the Stockman house in Mason City not knowing of the several other significant buildings in the community. This past weekend I returned to Mason City and went on their self guided walking tour and enjoyed it thoroughly. What I am wondering is if there are any times of the year when some of these homes are open to the public??

[FTA]

I suggest you go to the Mason City webpage or google Mason City Chamber of Commerce where they may have information or a number you could call for information. The curators of the STockman house might also have information for you if you have a brochure or visit their website for a number.

[mike]

I would suggest joining the walter griffin society.

They tour those homes every once and awhile.

[dkottum]

This is a magical place to visit. Tour FLLW's perfect realization of the Fireproof House plan, then walk across the street and see, one after another, Griffin and Mahony's incredible variations of this same plan idea. Griffin's Melson house is somewhere between art and the bizarre as it imitates the stone cliff it rests on, and is particularly interesting originally being a FLLW project.



In this same Rock Cliff-Rock Glen developement, see works of Drummond and Byrne, as well as a very nice little Usonian of later years by Curtis Bessinger. FLLW's only remaining hotel is downtown, alive, but just barely.



It is a pleasant neighborhood, the buildings in excellent condition, and the sidewalk is very, very close to the houses. You can see front, sides, and back of most of them. Griffin/Mahony's plan of creek, landscape, and community is evident. Morning or late day sunlight is best.



Doug Kottom, Battle lake, Minnesota

[PNB]

Hard to believe that the Drummond house was recently available for a mere $240,000. I saw that a recently sold Griffin home in the neighborhood was around $425-450K.

[Roderick Grant]

The Drummond house is a very small frame house not in the Ravine neighborhood, while the Griffin houses are all substantial structures on great sites facing the Ravine. The price of Yelland is not as surprising as the low price of whichever Griffin house was on the market. In 1984, when Stockmann was still on its original site next to a church some blocks away, it was on the market for $15,000!

[PSTraveler]

It's true that the Yelland House doesn't front on Willow Creek, but it is essentially across the street from the Melson House. According to the realtor's site, the house is over 2,500 sq. ft., which is not exactly small.



Visitors to Mason City may be interested to see my pages about the Prairie School buildings there. McCoy's walking tour guidebook is invaluable. You can get copies of it as the Stockman House as well as the Chamber of Commerce office.



http://prairieschooltraveler.com/html/i ... ncity.html