The William and Mary Palmer House is a house in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 in 1952. The home was designed for William Palmer, an economics professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, and his wife Mary. It sits on three lots

Lot (real estate)

In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...

 at the end of a quiet, dirt road cul-de-sac. The location is near the Nichols Arboretum

Nichols Arboretum

Nichols Arboretum is an arboretum operated by the University of Michigan located on the eastern edge of its Central Campus at 1610 Washington Heights in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Huron River forms the northern border of the arboretum. The arboretum is open daily from sunrise to sunset with no...

, and less than mile (1.2 km) from the university.

History

The house was continuously owned by the Palmer family from 1951 to 2009. It was placed on the market in early August 2008, with restrictions in place. Jeffrey and Kathryn Schox purchased the house in March 2009. Jeffrey Schox, who is a San Francisco patent attorney, spends several weeks a year in Ann Arbor. When he is not in Ann Arbor, the Palmer House will be available for rent as a guest house and as a meeting location.

Architecture

The Palmer House is a multilevel brick and cypress late period Frank Lloyd Wright house, the plan and design of which is based on the equilateral triangle. The house is sheltered by a long broad hipped roof with deep overhangs. The cantilever extending over the terrace is the most dramatic feature of the house. The walls are finished with brick that ranges from pale pink to light grayish yellowish brown, and the roof with wood shingles and copper flashing. The trim is clear grained cypress. The house rests on a red-tinted concrete mat. The chimney mass rises above the brick base and the roof. A window band encircles the house. Terraces extend from the porch off the living room of the house. Shallow stairs rise gradually to the main front entrance. The house has three wings arranged off the main entrance: Beyond the entrance to the north, the long loggia of the carport extends to the projecting tool shed; to the east is the triangular living room wing; to the southwest the compact bedroom wing. The open interior is fitted with Wright-designed furniture and built-in cabinetry. The Palmer house exemplifies Wright's open, American organic architecture in which all parts are related to the whole and are linked to the environment in an adaptation of form to nature.

Significance

The Palmer House is one of the finest late works of master architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). The house is considered one of the best of a long series of houses based on a module that is either an equilateral triangle or a parallelogram. The house rests comfortably tucked into a narrow ridge of hills and surrounded by a lush informal garden that drops down the ravine to the east and southeast. The landscape garden possesses superior aesthetic quality and constitutes an important artistic statement.

External links

• Palmer House on peterbeers.net
• Palmer House on waymarking.com
• Photos on Arcaid
• Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 0226776212 (S.332)