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SC Johnson has always opened its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings to the public - except the mostly closed Research Tower on the company's main campus.
But that will change next year, when SCJ partially opens the unique tower for public tours for the first time ever. The 15-story structure is on the National Register of Historic Places but has been closed since 1982 - and never open to the public.
SCJ is currently in the middle of an eight-year, $30 million restoration and conservation plan.
"Our family's long partnership with Frank Lloyd Wright led to these architectural treasures that we're honored to work in every day," company president and CEO Fisk Johnson said Friday via email. "The Research Tower represents the completion of the work that Wright began here in the mid-1930s with our Administration Building.
"As we have made significant investments in these historic buildings and expanded our free public tour program, including the Tower was the natural next step."
According to SCJ, Wright envisioned a tower on the company campus as early as 1936 and included it in some of his prospective drawings. The Administration Building was commissioned that year and built first.
At SCJ, stories about difficulties with that construction project and conflicts between Wright and H.F. Johnson Jr....