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Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College. The house became part of the college upon Johnson's death in 1992.
Wright designed 58 houses across the country that he called "Usonian," which meant designed for the United States. The dwellings were intended for middle-income families; they were small, integrated and offered built-ins to reduce furnishing costs. Although they were supposed to be moderately priced, that was seldom the case. Still, by the time Wright finally designed this house, he had mastered his Usonian concept.
The Weltzheimer/Johnson house in size and treatment resembles similar Usonian houses, particularly the 1939 Rosenbaum house in Florence, Ala., and the Sara and Melvyn Maxwell Smith house in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Considerably larger than the Pope-Leighy house in Woodlawn, Va., the most famous Usonian house, it stands low on a concrete slab without basement, attic or garage.
Clad in red-orange brick and redwood, it is Wright's only redwood house outside California. The exterior finish has always been a problem. Today, it looks very dark on the north side and overly streaked on the south. The roof, penetrated by the chimney core, is flat with wide overhangs deflecting the summer sun. Glass walls on the south admit the winter sun. Back-tilting roof edges visually bring the house to the earth.
Visitors today approach the house from the lawn's far edge, walking down a straight grassed-over gravel road at the right of the lot. Ahead lies the south facade with its single-pane window walls and four sets of redwood-framed French doors. Walk around the house's right corner and you come upon...