QuikTrip: Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Home

Every home in the Heritage Hill District of Grand Rapids has a history and the Meyer May home, which is just a couple of blocks from where we are staying, has a very interesting one. We came across it as we were taking a walk one morning. I told Dale that it looks like a home designed Frank Lloyd Wright. When we got back to the house, I looked it up, and I was right! You can see below how it caught my attention. It stands in stark contrast to all the surrounding Victorian-era homes.

The home was designed for Meyer May, president of May’s clothing store, and was built in 1908–09 at 450 Madison Avenue SE. It is from Wright’s Prairie School era, and is known as “Michigan’s Prairie masterpiece”.

I discovered that tours are open to the public for free but only three days a week for just a few hours a day – and it is totally booked up for the next few months! I took a chance and submitted a form about us visiting from Texas and would that we would love to see inside, and the same day I received an appointment confirmation email! Woohoo!

I won’t go into a lot of detail about information you can find on Wikipedia about the house, but rather I’ll just share my impressions.

It has been meticulously restored and is lovingly maintained. Steelcase bought the home in 1985, then spent time and money restoring it to its original condition, along with the original furnishings or authentically-recreated pieces that couldn’t be found. They did this through much research of photos, house plans and other archived documentation.

It is extraordinarily modern, especially for a home built in1909. Not only is it open concept but it is also minimalistic. Every home I have stayed around that era are the opposite. But by no means is it stark or unadorned. The use of basic geometric shapes throughout and the clean, simple lines make it timeless. Plus it has electricity, a modern-looking shower, and a central vacuum system. The neighbors thought it was extremely odd, but to me it looks like a “normal” home compared to all the homes around it which are obviously “old”.

The living space was very family oriented. It seemed to me that in that era, especially for the wealthy, children were mostly out of sight and out of mind. However, this home was designed so that the bedrooms were near one another, and the living areas were optimized for reading together, eating together and generally just living life together.

Everything about the home was custom. Every window, light fixture, piece of furniture, and even the scale of the home itself was designed specifically for this particular family. Because the husband was only 5’8” tall the windows, borders and light fixtures were scaled for his enjoyment. Amazing what money can buy.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and our guide was very friendly and informative. I am so thankful that we were able to get an appointment to see the home.