Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian design trend had a full-circle moment when fashion designer Marc Jacobs opened the newly restored Max Hoffman House in a gated community on North Mansuring Island in Rye, New York for an exclusive with Vogue.
The very first Usonian home was designed by Wright for another Jacobs – Herbert Jacobs of The Milwaukee Journal – who in 1936 issued a challenge to the architect to design a “good quality” house that could be built for under $5,000. That first Usonian home is now called the Herbert Jacobs House.
Photo Credit: The Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy.
Usonian, the term Wright borrowed from James Duff Law, but mistakenly attributed to Samuel Butler, refers to what could be considered the opening of the architect’s second act, a two-decade period of prolific design innovation centered around the ideal way to create a home among various American landscapes that featured the outdoors, framed for the home’s residents, while honoring nature within its mid-century walls. (Wright’s Usonian Period is considered to be from 1936-1959).
“The house was living proof of Wright’s hallmark Usonian principle, emphasizing a close connection between a structure and its surrounding environment.” – Marc Jacobs for Vogue
The Max Hoffman House is emblematic of Usonian homes, which feature flat roofs with large overhangs, tall windows – many with stained glass elements designed to frame and invite the outdoors, in – skylights, concrete slab flooring with radiant heat, built-in furniture and other features that can only be thought of as art in and of themselves, and more open floor plans than seen in most mid-century modern homes. These homes also popularized carports – an idea and term Wright himself coined as a more efficient form of automobile storage – and in these designs are cantilevered.
In the case of the Max Hoffman House, its exterior is stone, with tall windows, glass walls and doors looking out to the waterfront of the Long Island Sound, a pool, and features a slightly peaked slate roof trimmed in copper, which Jacobs & his husband, Charly Defrancesco, recreated to match the original. Built originally in 1955, one of the previous owners added a “north wing” and a Japanese-style garden in 1972 that still exist.
Examples of Wright’s Usonian homes can be found throughout the U.S. There were some 1,000 Usonian homes designed and built from New York to Oregon and everywhere in between. Another hallmark of the design is that the architect chose to place them on rather remote parcels of land that were not particularly noteworthy, except that he felt they were the appropriate framework for his creations. Each sight helped to inspire the interior and exterior designs. Of course, once a Frank Lloyd Wright home graced the property, each site became noteworthy, although not all of them have survived.
In this century, designer Jacobs bought the iconic residence for $9.17 million in 2019 and worked directly with the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy to renovate the 6,000 s.f. mansion with Defrancesco, whom he wed in the “monumental fireplace” of the iconic home in the fall of 2019.
“I hadn’t even stepped inside, but I could feel it – this place was different, and genuinely one of the coolest houses I had ever seen… The house embraced me in a way I could have never anticipated.” – Marc Jacobs for Vogue
Jacobs & Defrancesco are only the forth owners of the iconic L-shaped home and are described as its “stewards” by Architectural Digest because they chose to work so closely with the conservancy to return the home to Wright’s original vision. Previous owners include Hoffman, an Austrian who fled Nazi occupation and is credited with introducing Americans to imported European automobiles (Wright also designed his New York City showroom, which has now, sadly, been demolished), Emily Fisher Landau, and Alice and Thomas Tisch. The Tisches sold the home to Jacobs because, according to their agent, they were extremely careful about choosing who would carry the stewardship of the home forward.
The home had been previously updated/renovated in the 1990s and required Jacobs & Defrancesco to strip it down to its studs and original foundation to restore the flooring and “rehabilitate the original mechanical systems.” The new owners also updated the home’s infrastructure to support modern technologies – smart home tech – and an “over-the-top” basement (which is unusual for a Usonian design), that now features a full-time laundromat, infrared spa, pharmacy, hair salon, nail salon, gift and office supply center… And “the only properly proportioned wooden closets in the entire house for a fashion-obsessed couple.”
There is also an en suite den, a library filled with first editions, and of course the two-story great room, which was both an immediate draw for the couple, and a masterwork of Wright’s Usonian design principles that marry nature and dwelling as one.
“With each passing month, it became clear that the work and craftsmanship necessary was far beyond what anyone had anticipated,” Jacobs wrote. However, their dedication to restoration was absolute, and after four years, the home was ready for its unveiling, which is happening exclusively in Vogue’s December 2024 issue, which Jacobs was invited to guest-edit – a first for the American publication.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy in the News
The Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy was recently featured in the news for its efforts to stop the dismantling of Wright’s only skyscraper – sitting in the midst of the Oklahoma prairie. Easements for the conservancy’s right to stop his structures from being destroyed or stripped of their artistic design elements and furnishings are at the heart of an ongoing legal battle for Price Tower. The skyscraper, like the Max Hoffman House and many of Wright’s designs, brings elements of nature to its construction and features many custom-made pieces and copper fittings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Price Tower Sell?
The planned auction and/or sale of Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Price Tower has been delayed multiple times and is the subject of a protracted legal battle. The agent for the sale, TenX, now states the auction will take place in early 2025. Read more about Price Tower, here.
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