A pristine Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in New Canaan, Connecticut, is sitting on the market for $7.2 million. But, despite what you might assume, buyers aren’t exactly lining up for the chance to live in a home by America’s master architect. In fact, brokers say selling one of FLW’s 380 existing buildings poses unique challenges.
For one, brokers need to become fast experts on the significance and details of Wright and his legacy.
“It’s like dealing with a group of theater critics. You’ve got to put on a good performance to generate accolades, and if you don’t, you’re going to hear from them,” Paul Penfield, the owner of a Wright house in Ohio that is on the market, told the New York Times.
About 45 Wright properties have changed hands in the last five years, according to the Times.
“These houses may not have the number of bedrooms or baths and the large, open kitchens that people demand now, but the livability comes with the warmth and light, and that special feel you have being in these homes,” Barbara Gordon, the executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, a nonprofit organization in Chicago, told the Times. [NYT] —Christopher Cameron