Frank Lloyd Wright's Boynton House--Part 1 of MCM Architectural Series in Rochester, NY

Although never a hotbed of mid-century modern architecture, there are some note-worthy MCM homes in the Rochester, NY area.  I plan to do a multi-part series on mid-century architecture in Rochester as it is just beginning to gain the recognition it deserves.

For the first of this series, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight Frank Lloyd Wright, since so many MCM designs were based on his architecture.  Rochester, NY is home to the Boynton House, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908.  It is amazing to realize this house is over 100 years old!  It sits on a beautiful, leafy street of large, old traditional homes.  It looks a bit out of place with the architecture around it, which makes it so unique.  I love it--even 100 years later, it looks like a spaceship from another world landed in a very traditional neighborhood.

 


 

The home was purchased which was purchased 3 years ago by a private couple (Fran Cosentino and Jane Parker) who were fans of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.  In addition to buying it for about $1 million, they have spent over $2 million dollars of their own money restoring it as termites and water leakage had done quite a lot of damage over the years.  Our local public television station, WXXI, has aired some documentaries on the restoration of the home and it was quite amazing what they had to do to restore this treasure. 

Many local craftsmen contributed to the restoration of this home.  Here is a slideshow I found with an overview of the restoration from Beros Architecture, who was one of the architectural firms who were involved.  The slideshow does a nice job of with an overview of the history of the home and the challenge that the new owners had.

We are very lucky to have preservationist-minded people with the resources to save this historical landmark.   The home is not open for tours, it is their private residence.


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