Wingspread is a lesser-known Frank Lloyd Wright house located a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin. Tours book out well in advance. Do it. It’s the only way to see its interior — every roof tile, wall, and walkway rendered in Wright’s favoured palette of ochres, browns, and rust reds. There’s a 30-foot-high chimney, a retractable dining table, and a glass-enclosed “crow’s nest” lookout, which Wright designed for no other reason than to give the owner’s children a place to hide during epic games of hide-and-seek.
In a small second-storey bedroom next to one famously favoured by frequent houseguest Eleanor Roosevelt, tours pause at a 5x5-foot LEGO® model of Wingspread itself. It took over 500 hours and 50,000 pieces to create. “Along the way, this has been so many things to me,” builder Jameson Gagnepain explained, “constant frustration, a continued locus of contemplation, an immense challenge of my abilities.”
