George Blossom House

The George Blossom House is located next door to and immediately south of the Warren MacArthur House. The average onlooker would have no reason to believe the two houses were designed by the same architect, let alone in the same year, as they share very few common characteristics. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the George Blossom House with a revivalist tone. This is a rare example of a home designed by Wright with an abundance of historic reference. The front porch is held up by thin, Ionic columns of wood, and Neo-Palladian windows surround the house. Unlike the neighboring McArthur House, the front door of the George Blossom House is indeed in the front of the house. The house is currently in serious need of restoration. The front porch looks dangerously flimsy; the wood is obviously warped and suffering from decay. While the house clearly has a revivalist skin, the general massing of the house points forward to the Prairie Style, especially with its low hipped roof and overhanging roof eaves. Similar to Louis Sullivan’s Idea for the tall office building, the George Blossom House is a tripartite structure with a clearly defined base, shaft, and capital. The base is comprised of the Roman bricks that Wright was fond of using in his early work. Roman bricks are long, flat, and horizontal -they add an elegant touch to a home as well as emphasize horizontality.