Product Code Database
The Acres, also known as Galesburg Country Homes, is a residential development in Charleston Township, Michigan, United States. Developed starting in the late 1940s, it consists of 21 or 22 circular , of which five contain houses. Four of the houses were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, while the other was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects fellow Francis Wilsey after Wright's death. The Acres also contains of open land, including a pond; the entire complex is accessed through a single road, Hawthorne Drive. The development was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
From west to east, the development consists of the Pratt, Fonken, Meyer, Eppstein, and Weisblat houses. All of the houses have different designs, though each has a concrete-block and mahogany exterior. The Pratt, Weisblat, and Eppstein houses are designed in the Usonian style with an "in-line" floor plan. The Usonian houses generally share features such as open plan floor layouts, radiant heating systems, overhanging flat roofs, and . The Fonken House is partially built into a hill, with a capital "T"-shaped layout, and the Meyer House is a solar hemicycle. All of the houses have either two or three bedrooms, in addition to rooms such as a combined living–dining space and a kitchen.
In the 1940s, a group of scientists from the Upjohn pharmaceutical company planned to build a community of homes. They eventually split into two groups, who developed the Galesburg Country Homes on a farm and Parkwyn Village closer to Kalamazoo; both groups hired Wright to design their respective projects. Plans for the Acres called for up to 22 houses on the site, most of which were never built. The first four houses (for the Weisblat, Pratt, Eppstein, and Meyer families) were built from 1948 to 1953, and two of them were subsequently expanded. Wilsey designed an additional house for the Fonken family in 1959, after Wright died. After the houses were completed, each house was sold several times; the last original resident, Christine Weisblat, died in 2007.
The houses are accessed by from Hawthorne Drive, a narrow, winding street flanked by trees; it serves as the only thoroughfare in the Acres. At the entrance to the neighborhood is a stone signpost structure, which contains letters spelling out "The Acres" on one side. The signpost measures about wide by tall. There are six niches within the signpost: one for packages and the other five for mail (with each family having its own mail niche).
Although seven of the lots were sold to individual owners, only five of these contain houses. Three of the houses are located south of Hawthorne Drive, while two are to the north. The Fonken and Meyer houses are accessed by driveways branching off Hawthorne Drive to the north and south, respectively, and the other houses are closer to the road. The Fonken House is accessed by a curving driveway that slopes down from Hawthorne Drive north of the Pratt House. Another driveway extends southeast near the Pratt House, ascending a slope before looping back to the north; the Meyer House is located on this driveway.
A creek and a bog run through the Acres; the presence of these geographical features had been particularly attractive to Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect who designed four of the Acres' five houses. There is a pond at the northern end of the development, which is cited as covering or and was created by placing a dam across the creek. The pond is fed by a natural stream on the site. Prior to the development of the Acres, the stream was too shallow for swimming or fishing; depending on the time of year, it could measure as small as wide and deep. Early plans for the development entailed the creation of multiple terraces with ponds, though this was ultimately not done. The rest of the Acres contains vegetation and trees. There is a communal tennis court next to the Eppstein House, which dates from 1958.
Although the five houses have unique designs, all are low-rise structures with horizontal roof lines. The Pratt, Weisblat, and Eppstein houses are designed in the Usonian style; they are sometimes characterized as Usonian Automatic houses because their concrete-block construction contrasts with the Batten design of typical Usonian houses. Like some of Wright's other Usonian designs, they are arranged around an "in-line" plan, in which all the rooms are arranged more-or-less along an axis, with bedrooms on one end. By contrast, the Meyer House is a solar hemicycle and is arranged to maximize sunlight exposure. While the Pratt, Weisblat, and Eppstein houses used Usonian Automatic Blocks, the Meyer House was built out of standard concrete blocks. The Fonken House, though built later, is also designed in a Usonian style. One source described the Acres as "Wright's first foray into organic ranch-style architecture".
The Pratt House's facade, made of and mahogany trim, is topped by a flat roof and overhanging eaves. The center of the house's northern elevation has perforated concrete blocks, which illuminate the interior while still providing privacy, while the eastern elevation is made of solid concrete. The rest of the facade has windows of varying sizes, including some floor-to-ceiling windows. There is also a carport at the northeast corner of the house.
The house has or , with two bathrooms and two bedrooms. The interior is arranged around a grid of square modules, and has decorations such as a red concrete floor and mahogany trim. There is a radiant heating system beneath the floor slab. The bedrooms, study, and one bathroom are within the western end of the house. A second bathroom, a "workspace" kitchen, and laundry room are located within the house's core, while the western part of the living–dining room abuts the core to the south. The rest of the living–dining room, along with the studio and carport, are to the east of the core; the living–dining room has two fireplaces. The Pratt family constructed their own house; since they were not experienced contractors, some of the interior walls do not line up with the floor grid. The house originally had three bedrooms, but a partition between two of the bedrooms was removed in the 1990s.
The "stem" of the T runs west–east and contains the main living areas. The stem ends at a north–south crossbar which contains bedrooms at its northern end and a carport at its southern end. The master bedroom is located at the northeast corner of the crossbar, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a patio outside the master bedroom.
The Meyer House's exterior is made of hollow-core concrete blocks with mahogany trim. At the eastern end of the house is a drum-shaped cylindrical mass, as well as a carport extending south of the drum. Along the house's outer curve to the west, the house's lower level is underground, and there are windows on the second floor. The ground slopes down to the southeast, where the lower-level facade is visible; on the lower level, there is a storage area under the carport. There are clerestory windows at the top of the drum, as well as a cantilevered balcony protruding from it. The inner curve of the house is shielded by an eave that protrudes significantly, and there are also doors leading to the house's garden. One of the eaves originally had a tree growing through it, since Wright generally did not want to disrupt preexisting natural features.
The house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The floor plan is arranged around a grid of , which converge at a point outside the house. The radial lines divide the house into sections with a central angle of 7.5 degrees, which in turn are divided into arcs measuring wide. There is a radiant heating system beneath the floor slab. Inside the house, much of the first story is occupied by a combined living–dining room. The drum contains a staircase, which adjoins a workspace kitchen and utility space on the first level, as well as a study on the second level. The rest of the second story consists of two bedrooms and a bathroom, united by a gallery. The bedrooms are above the rear of the living room, which allow the front portion of the living room to be a two-story space with a spacious skylight.
In general, the Eppstein House's facade is made of concrete blocks and mahogany. The western elevation of the facade has solid concrete walls with perforated-block panels. The southern elevation has floor-to-ceiling windows, a raised roof section, and a terrace. There are a mixture of shoulder-height windows and floor-to-ceiling panels on the eastern elevation. The northern elevation also includes floor-to-ceiling windows, which are covered by an upward-sloping roof. A terrace along the eastern elevation of the house connects the master bedroom and living room, and another terrace at the northern end of the house is surrounded by a semicircular parapet wall.
The house has two bathrooms and three bedrooms; it is variously cited as having , , or of space. The floor plan is arranged around a grid of square modules and has decorations such as a red concrete floor and mahogany trim. The living–dining room and the workspace kitchen are in the northern half of the house, while the bedrooms are in the southern half. The northernmost bedroom is the master bedroom, which is next to a bath and laundry room. To the south are four smaller bedrooms (two of which adjoin a second bathroom), in addition to a general-purpose room at the southern end of the house. The current layout dates to a 1959 expansion, when the house was expanded to include a basement, terrace, and family room.
The original house's facade is generally made of concrete blocks and mahogany, and one side of the concrete blocks is embossed with a chevron pattern; the annex is made of the same materials. Thirty-four different shapes of concrete blocks were used to construct the exterior walls. There is a carport at the northern end of the house, which contains the house's main entrance at one corner. The original portion of the house has a gable roof, and the annex has a flat roof; the eaves protrude up to from the facade. The roof lacks structural steel; a rooftop eave, cantilevered from the living-room facade, is supported by brick headers. Part of the original house is embedded into the slope of a hill and is illuminated by clerestory windows. There is an enclosed patio just west of the original house, as well as a larger patio surrounding it. The northwest corner of the house has a screened-in porch despite Wright's opposition to that design feature.
The house has and contains two bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. The original structure is arranged around a grid of square modules and has decorations such as a red concrete floor and mahogany trim. There is a radiant heating system beneath the floor slab. Like the Eppstein and Pratt houses, the Weisblat House is arranged linearly; the living–dining room and the workspace kitchen are at the southern end of the house, while the bedrooms are at the northern end. A narrow passageway, with clerestory windows, links the two parts of the original house. All of these rooms are illuminated by windows, except the workspace, which has only a skylight. Peters and Howe's annex includes a laundry room, bathroom, bedroom, study, greenhouse, and shed. The annex also includes a basement, a highly unusual feature for a Usonian house. As with many of his Usonian houses, Wright designed the Weisblat House's furniture, including tables, shelves, and built-in storage.
The Acres' minutes indicate that the group met nearly every week, making decisions about the development jointly. Members spent three months drawing a topographical map, documenting every geographical feature on the site, in their spare time. Wright visited the site in March 1947 to gather information. After viewing the topographical map, Wright decided to cluster the houses at the development's southern end, with a natural-looking landscape at the northern end. Wright presented plans for the Acres to the Galesburg group in October 1947. The plan consisted of numerous land lots laid-out in an unconventional circular pattern, with the interstitial areas to be held in common. There would be a playground, small farm, and community garden, as well as a watercourse. Part of the development was to be preserved in its natural condition, and the development also contained several curving roads between the circular lots. By then, six families had expressed interest in the Galesburg development; overall, the group wanted at least 15 families to develop houses there.
The Acres' members held a lottery to determine which family would get which lot. Afterward, each member wrote to Wright about what exactly they wanted in their respective houses. After communicating their desired design features to Wright, they visited the architect's Taliesin studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin, to discuss their plan with the architect. Eric Pratt, the Acres' purchasing agent, joined the Acres after everyone else had, and Wright agreed to design a house for the Pratt family as well. Though most of the houses were designed in the Usonian style, Wright, who was drawing up plans for a solar hemicycle structure, gave the hemicycle plans to Curtis and Lillian Meyer after Curtis expressed interest in that design. Financial institutions were reluctant to lend money for the Acres because of its unusual design. For example, they expressed concerns that the Weisblat House's kitchen skylight would cause heat stroke and that the carport canopies would collapse, though neither happened. The Acres' members eventually found other financing, as they wanted to preserve their circular land lots' shapes.
Wright's apprentice John H. Howe, who was appointed to oversee the Acres' construction, sometimes came to observe the work. Neither Wright nor Howe were particularly involved in construction. Christine Weisblat said that, on one of the few times that Wright did visit the site, he advised the Acres' members to not "be too precise while up the blocks", a recommendation that Christine's husband disliked. The Acres' members held Howe in higher regard; Christine Weisblat later reflected that Wright was less approachable than Howe was. During 1950 and 1951, the Acres' members hired college students to help with three of the Acres' homes. The Weisblat family eventually gave up on constructing their house themselves, hiring outside contractors to complete the work at night while Wright was not paying attention. Despite being interested in Wright's designs, all of the Acres' families soon became so frustrated with the architect that, according to Wright expert Brian Kirksey, "none of them wanted to work with him ever again."
The Weisblat House was completed in 1951, being the first finished house in the development. The Pratts built their house starting in 1950 and moved in during September 1951. The Curtis and Lillian Meyer House was also constructed between 1950 and 1951, and the first phase of the Samuel and Dorothy Eppstein House was completed from 1951 to 1953. The Pratt family added a study and bedroom to their house in 1953, and the Eppstein House was expanded in 1959 with a terrace, family room, and basement. After Wright's death, the Fonken family wanted to hire Wright's former apprentice Lee Kawahara to design them a house at the Acres, but the family had to find another architect after Kawahara disappeared without telling them. Wilsey was hired to develop a house for Gunther and Anne Fonken, who moved into their house in December 1960. Howe and William Wesley Peters designed an addition to the Weisblat House in 1961, which included a greenhouse, laundry, and family room.
The Pratt family was the first to leave, selling their house in 1979; the family's adult children had all moved out, and the Pratts were unable to keep up with the required maintenance. Subsequently, the Pratt House fell into disrepair. The remaining families continued to own the rest of the houses. The American Institute of Architects gave the Acres' residents an architectural-design award in 1984, honoring the development's architecture. By the 1990s, the Couch family owned the Meyer House, while the teacher Arlene Moran owned the Pratt House. Moran, who purchased her house in 1992, spent $180,000 renovating it and attempted to sell it, with little success. The businessman Matt Kane obtained the Eppstein House in the late 1990s, and that house was refurbished during 1998 and 1999. Afterward, the Eppstein House fell into disrepair and was not maintained for nearly two decades.
The Fonken House was sold in 2013. The Weisblat family placed their house for sale in 2016 and sold it the next year to Gloria Poore and Benjamin Harroll, who spent $500,000 renovating the structure. Also in 2016, married couple Tony Hillebrandt and Marika Broere bought the Eppstein House for $368,000; the house had been listed for sale for four years. Hillebrandt and Broere renovated the Eppstein House, including the floor, windows, woodwork, roof, and mechanical systems; they offered that house for rent on Airbnb in 2017, once the renovation had been completed. Afterward, Hillebrandt and Broere decided to buy the vacant Pratt House from its owner, a Detroit attorney. They acquired the Pratt House in 2021, signing a land contract that did not require them to pay interest. Hillebrandt and Broere restored the Pratt House's roof, woodwork, and concrete, and they replaced the electrical and mechanical systems in both the Pratt and Eppstein houses. The couple spent an estimated $1 million on these renovations.
Hillebrandt and Broere placed the Pratt and Eppstein houses for sale in 2023; they initially intended to sell only one of the structures, using the other as a private residence. The Pratt House was sold in June 2024 for $1.8 million. The Eppstein House continued to be rented out on Airbnb, earning up to $150,000 a year, and the Meyer House was also rented out on Airbnb. The Eppstein House was still listed for sale in early 2025, when the Weisblat House was also placed for sale. Poore gave the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy an easement to prevent the Weisblat House's redevelopment, and Poore and Harroll obtained a court order that prevented any further development in the Acres.
|
|
