Toufic H. Kalil House

Toufic H. Kalil House
Map
Interactive map showing Khalil House
General information
TypeHouse
Architectural styleUsonian
Location117 Heather St, Manchester, New Hampshire 03104
Coordinates43°01′18″N 71°27′55″W / 43.021639°N 71.465353°W / 43.021639; -71.465353
Construction started1955
Technical details
Floor area1,380 sq ft
Design and construction
Architect(s)Frank Lloyd Wright
Website
kalilhouse.com

The Toufic H. Kalil House is a house museum in the North End neighborhood of Manchester, New Hampshire, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1955. The Usonian Automatic design of this house allowed Wright to meet the requirements of Dr. Toufic and Mildred Kalil, a Lebanese professional couple. Wright used the term Usonian Automatic to describe the design of economical Usonian style houses constructed of modular concrete blocks. This house illustrates Wright's creative use of this inexpensive material.

Typical of Wright's Usonian style, the Kalil house draws its beauty from simple, linear forms rather than ornamental details. Symmetrical rows of rectangular window openings give the heavy concrete a sense of airiness.

The Kalil house was designed in the mid-1950s, near the end of Wright's life. The Zimmerman House was built in a very different Usonian style for Dr. Toufic Kalil's good friend and hospital colleague, Dr. Zimmerman, three lots down, on the same street, five years earlier.

This 1,380-square-foot (128 m2) house contains a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two baths and a study. All of the original furniture, most of which is built-in, is still intact.

In September 2019, it was reported that the house would be put up for sale in October, with an asking price of $850,000.[1][2] The Currier Museum of Art, also in Manchester and very close by, subsequently acquired the house in November 2019, and began operating public tours there alongside the nearby Wright-designed Zimmerman House.[3]

  1. ^ Szaniszlo, Marie (September 18, 2019). "Rare Frank Lloyd Wright house in New Hampshire for sale for first time". Boston Herald. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  2. ^ Hayward, Mark (September 18, 2019). "Manchester family's Frank Lloyd Wright house goes on the market for the first time". New Hampshire Union Leader. Manchester, New Hampshire. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  3. ^ Leader, Jonathan Phelps New Hampshire Union (15 November 2019). "Currier Museum acquires second Frank Lloyd Wright home". UnionLeader.com. Retrieved 2019-11-16.