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U-V: Architecture Terms Starting With U and V

What Is a Usonian?
Frank Lloyd Wright's Answer to the Great Depression

By Jackie Craven
Architecture Expert
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Entrance to Pope-Leighey House, 1940 Usonian design by Frank Lloyd Wright in northern
Virginia. Pope-Leighey House, 1940. Photo by Rick Gerharter/Lonely Planet Images/Getty
Images
Definition:

In 1936, when the United States was in the depths of an economic depression, American
architect Frank Lloyd Wright developed a series of homes he called Usonian. Designed to
control costs, Wright's Usonian houses had no attics, no basements, and little ornamentation.
Some have said that the word Usonia is an abbreviation for United States of North America. This
meaning explains Wright's aspiration to create a democratic, distinctly national style that was
affordable for the "common people" of the United States.
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"Nationality is a craze with us," Wright said in 1927. "Samuel Butler fitted us with a good name.
He called us Usonians, and our Nation of combined States, Usonia. Why not use the name?" So,
Wright used the name.
SOURCE: "Frank Lloyd Wright On Architecture: Selected Writings (1894-1940)," Frederick Gutheim, ed., Grosset's Universal Library, 1941, p.
100.

Characteristics:
Usonian architecture grew out of Frank Lloyd Wright's earlier Prairie style homes. Both styles
featured low roofs and open living areas. Both styles made abundant use of brick, wood, and
other natural material. However, Wright's Usonian homes were small, one-story structures set on
concrete slabs with piping for radiant heat beneath. The kitchens were incorporated into the
living areas. Open car ports took the place of garages.
In the 1950s, when he was in his '80s, Frank Lloyd Wright first used the term Usonian Automatic
to describe a Usonian style house made of inexpensive concrete blocks. The three-inch-thick
modular blocks could be assembled in a variety of ways and secured with steel rods and grout.
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Frank Lloyd Wright hoped that home buyers would save money by building their own Usonian
Automatic houses. But assembling the modular parts proved complicated - most buyers hired
pros to construct their Usonian houses.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian architecture played an important role in the evolution of
America's Mid-century homes. But, despite Wright's aspirations toward simplicity and economy,
Usonian houses often exceeded budgeted costs. Like all of Wright's designs, Usonians became
unique, custom homes for families of comfortable means.
Examples:
Beginning with a house in Madison, Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright built more than a hundred
Usonian houses. A few of the most famous Usonian houses are:

First Herbert Jacobs House, Madison, WI, 1936

Pope-Leighey House, northern Virginia
Curtis Meyer House, Galesburn, MI, 1948
Zimmerman House, Manchester, NH, 1950
Hagan House (Kentuck Knob), Chalk Hill, PA, 1954
Toufic H. Kalil House, Manchester, NH, 1955

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