Community Corner

PHOTOS: Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed San Anselmo Home Listed for $2.5 Million

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a San Anselmo residence that Robert Berger, a Marin engineering teacher, could build on his own in the 1950s.

 

A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed San Anselmo residence has been listed for $2.5 million.

The 1,760-square-foot home, designed and built in the 1950s, has views overlooking San Anselmo and the surrounding hills.

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Designing the 259 Redwood Road home, called the Berger Residence, was a largely unfulfilled dream for the widely celebrated architect who designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in the 1950s as well as many other large projects. The attached PDF tells the story of how Wright, the designer of Marin’s Civic Center, often sought to design homes for the “person of modest means.”

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Robert Berger, an engineering teacher in Marin, approached Wright in 1950 with the request Wright design a house Berger can build himself. His “shot in the dark” proposal was returned with news from Wright’s secretary that Wright would design the house for $15,000.

Berger lived in a tent during the first phase of the construction. It reportedly took him five years of building before he could move into the home with his wife, Gloria, and their four children.

The family camped in sleeping bags in the main living area until the bedroom wing was completed, two years later. More details of the story can be found in the attached PDF.

Wright also designed furniture and a famous doghouse, which was commissioned by Berger’s son, to match the residence.

What do you think of the home? Would you want to own a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright? 


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