Frank Lloyd Wright Model B1

Being big fans of FLW we needed to catch this tour. Having seen some of his grand houses in other parts of the country it was very interesting to see some of his smallest creations. Our docent did a great job of laying out the story and walking us through the system houses on this block. Though not grand and audacious as some of his other designs the B1 is really well done.
The $ 15 admission is in line for a FLW tour given the scale of this one. Worth the hour of our time especially to support them in their mission to save these houses. Make sure to check the days and hours for tours since it is limited.

Model B1, B for the floor plan and 1 for the style of roof, this is a system built house, not a pre-​fab one. What does that mean? Pre-​fab homes have walls and roof gables, etc., constructed off site and then the homes are assembled on site. The system built homes had the wood needed for the build cut to specification off site. That’s it. All construction was done on the job site.
This home is one of a grouping of 6 homes built on Burnham street, and the only B1 in existence. These 6 homes were built to show prospective customers what their future home could look like, with the roof and interiors pretty much interchangeable from one unit to the next.
This particular house has been completely restored and is owned by Wright in Wisconsin, a preservation group that currently owns 4 of the 6 houses and plans (read HOPES) to buy the remaining two when/​if they come up for sale. Their plans are to restore all the homes and then use them as the group’s headquarters/​offices, a museum and then also for tours. One is currently available for rent, very much the same as the Seth Peterson Cottage in Mirror Lake State Park is, and that may continue after restoration, as well.
Back to THIS house. It looks very nice from the outside and is as nice inside with all the restored woodwork. Frank was very smart in his design in that he had the dining room table as well as the dressers in the bedrooms built into the walls. The windows bring in lots of light and give very expansive views (imagine before all the other houses were there). Would I have wanted to purchase this house back in the day? Perhaps. People were shorter in stature and didn’t have as much stuff then, in comparison to today. Would I live there today, if given a chance? I’d have to do some serious thinking about that, but I’m leaning towards no. The bedrooms are tiny, with scarcely any room, and this model only has two. At most, a double bed and POSSIBLY a desk would fit. The kitchen can only accommodate one person cooking, and the seating area for eating looked to only hold 4 people, so this would not be the best house for entertaining. The living room could only house one sofa and a coffee table. You might be able to squeeze a chair in, but it definitely couldn’t be a recliner.
This is a great place to visit to get up close and personal with Frank’s design. Both Taliesins are wonderful, but rooms are roped off and you only get to see them as what you are: an outsider. Here, you get to fully walk into each room and look around, but, like both Taliesins, no photography is allowed.
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Unexpected tour on a Monday, we were in Milwaukee and we knew that its a spot for Frank Lloyd Wright houses, so I decided to Google him. Model B1 shows up. We had two hours before our dinner reservations. So off we went, as we pulled up there was a woman talking to a young man near the duplexes. She walked over to us and asked if we knew what we were looking at, we said of course. She said if you want I can give you a tour? YES, she said you are very lucky we are only open two Saturdays a month. So we were very fortunate to get a private tour of the model and a history lesson on the house.
Thank you for the unexpected tour we greatly appreciated it. Extra bonus, she gave our boys Lincoln logs to play with while we toured.

This was a very cool tour on the Doors Open Milwaukee list today. It is quite small (800 sq. ft.), so it only takes about 15 minutes to see the place and learn all about Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of these American-​System Built homes for lower income folks.
I learned a lot about F.L.W. as I had no idea he designed his homes very early in the 20^th century. I always thought he was working in the 50’s and 60’s. He was definitely way ahead of his time. There are 6 F.L.W. homes all in a row on West Burnham Street. The Foundation has purchased 3 of the 6 and completely restored this one at 2714. As Mike said, this Model B1 is the only one known to exist. There are only 13 American System-​Built Homes in existence and 6 of them are right here in Milwaukee! That is pretty darn cool!
Of course, his flat roofs were not a very good design and these homes, like many of his, leak badly. Fortunately, the Foundation has done an outstanding job of restoring Model B1 and have raised quite a bit of money to start working on the next one, a duplex.
This is an excellent place to bring out of town guests if they are at all interested in history or architecture.

TOUR: a Frank Lloyd Wright designed American System-​Built Home, Model B1 — the ONLY EXAMPLE OF IT’S KIND IN EXISTENCE right here in Milwaukee.
COST: $ 10 Cash
OPEN: The home is open for tours the 2^nd Saturday and 4^th Saturday of each month from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M. Reservations are not necessary.
EXPERIENCE: For any Wright fan this is a great chance to see six buildings on one street, side by side. The tours are held only four days per month. I entered the Model B1 at 1:10 P.M. and was greeted by a volunteer who had me place protective socks over my shoes. Another volunteer then takes the entry fee and the tour starts. The B1 is only 800 square feet so the tour doesn’t last long BUT our tour guide let us tour a duplex that the foundation recently purchased and will restore in the future. The duplex is in pretty rough shape so it gives a greater appreciation for how spectacular the restored sites are.
Seeing a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building in person after reading about it in a book is like eating a steak after seeing photos of it in a food magazine.
While the Model B1 isn’t one of Wright’s most famous buildings it is a must see for Wright fans.
GREAT LINK: