On our drive from Pennsylvania to Indiana, Trev discovered there was a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Springfield, Ohio, that wasn’t that far off the highway. We often take opportunities to drive by and see these houses, even when they are not open and are still privately owned. We are some of those annoying folks, I guess, that slow down or stop to take photos and admire the houses. As Trev sees it, when you own a house of that kind of notoriety, you clearly love the history of the home and must understand that others are going to be interested.
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The Westcott House in Springfield, Ohio, is actually open to the public and offers guided tours. Given our timeline (limited) and already maybe being a touch road-weary, we opted to simply admire it from the sidewalk. This was also a welcome chance to stretch our legs. It is quite the beauty.
We went in the gift shop to look for a small brochure for some info specific to it. Designed in 1906 and build in 1908 for a local businessman, the house is distinct as the only example of Wright’s prairie style residence in Ohio. Broken up into apartments in the 1940’s, it was renovated over four years and completed in 2005. Walking around the shop, Trev and I mused how wouldn’t it be interesting to have almost a reference of houses for our roadtrips. And bingo, there is one. We realize there are quite a few we have seen and will be getting some post-its to document those we have seen. Almost like a birding list, but with Wright houses.
Anyway, the other benefit of making sidetrips like this is to get off the highway and get to see a bit more of the towns and cities along the way. Highway driving to get where you are going is tempting and necessary for us when you have long distances to cover in a few days. (Remember, we try to work during the week and travel on the weekends.) Springfield was a surprise for the other elaborate mansions all along East High Street that was housed the high society back in the day for this booming town.
So making use of that book, we learned there were three of his works in Kansas City, Missouri, which we were passing through on our way west. One was on the north side of the city in a surprisingly hilly neighborhood that reminded us both of Ogden Dunes (where we found one of his houses). This required us to drive through town one way, and back south to see the other two a different way.
Funny caveat. We started watching the first episode of Ted Lasso’s fourth season and recognized many apparently iconic landmarks in Kansas City. This includes the Uptown Theater where there were lines of goth fans lined up to see a metalcore band. We don’t see that in our every day. Might regret not getting a photo of that. Nevertheless, these are the surprises of travel, like reading a post about Frank Lloyd Wright that ends with mention of a goth band.
