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Bachman-Wilson House. Image used by permission. Copyright TarantinoSTUDIO@2014. All rights reserved.

Endangered Frank Lloyd Wright house moved to Arkansas

Bachman-Wilson House. Image used by permission. Copyright TarantinoSTUDIO@2014. All rights reserved.
Bachman-Wilson House. Image used by permission. Copyright TarantinoSTUDIO@2014. All rights reserved.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AFP) – A 1950s family house in New Jersey designed by Frank Lloyd Wright but endangered by flooding, is moving 1,200 miles (nearly 2,000 kilometers) to start a new life in Arkansas.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, opened in 2011 by the Walton family of Walmart fame, has acquired the Bachman Wilson House that was built 60 years ago in Millstone village.

“We’re honored to be able to preserve and share this significant example of American architecture, as Frank Lloyd Wright’s work embodies our own mission of celebrating art and nature,” said Crystal Bridges executive director Rod Bigelow in a statement.

The museum didn’t say how much it paid for the 2,000 square foot (190 square meter) residence that reflected Wright’s signature Usonian design philosophy, but its sellers had reportedly put it on the market for $1.5 million — moving costs included.

Wright, who died in 1959 at the age of 91, had been asked to design the low-slung house when he was engaged in creating one of his best-known buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

But it had sustained flooding from a nearby river so often over the years that its architect-owners put it up for sale in 2012 on condition that the buyer preserve it, contents intact, at a new and drier location.

Crystal Bridges said it would reassemble the house on its 120 acre (nearly 50 hectare) grounds, where visitors will be able to tour it from 2015.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE


Bachman-Wilson House. Image used by permission. Copyright TarantinoSTUDIO@2014. All rights reserved.
Bachman-Wilson House. Image used by permission. Copyright TarantinoSTUDIO@2014. All rights reserved.