The Zimmerman House and the Kalil House are the only Wright buildings open to the public in New England. Both were built in the 1950s when Wright’s domestic architecture reshaped American home design.
The Zimmerman House was commissioned by Dr. Isadore and Lucille Zimmerman in 1949. The two-bedroom home embodies Wright’s Usonian architectural concepts. The compact design contrasts narrow passages with dramatic, open spaces that blend different functions, in a manner which predicts today’s open-plan homes. The house is constructed of brick and Georgia cypress, and retains its original furniture and garden, both designed by Wright.
Designed in 1955, the Kalil House is one of only seven Usonian Automatics ever constructed. Wright termed the style “automatic” because they were intended to be easily and quickly built. Dr. Toufic and Mildred Kalil were inspired to commission the house by their close friends and neighbors Dr. Isadore and Lucille Zimmerman, who had commissioned a Wright house a few years earlier on the same street.
