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The Journal staff
TOWN OF SAUKVILLE When people visit Jeffrey Cain's house on the fringe of the northern Kettle Moraine forest here, some are awe-struck. And others, he admits, don't have a clue what it's about.
The home, which Cain himself designed, could best be described as a modern-day Usonian home. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright coined the term for houses he designed from 1936 to about 1942 and considered perfect for the common man with a limited budget.
"Wright always described his Usonian homes as efficient and economical to build," Cain says. "It didn't always work out that way then or now. But it is a distinctive style that I fell in love with a long time ago, and I always said that when it came time to build my own house, that's what I would build."
Cain has been a residential remodeling contractor for about eight years. He is married to Donna Brehm, an Ozaukee County physician, and they have a son, Patrick, who is 2.
"As far back as my high school architecture class I remember studying Frank Lloyd Wright as the premier American architect," Cain says. "I was fascinated with him, and even considered architecture as a profession."
Cain lived in Ann Arbor, Mich., for five years; Wright built several homes there. Later Cain lived in Madison and would visit Taliesin, the late architect's Wisconsin home in Spring Green.
"I became obsessed with Wright and Taliesin when we lived out there," he says. "I would visit every day that I could. I was the kind of guy that when I would eat lunch in the Spring Green restaurant designed by Wright, I would...