historic frank lloyd wright home in phoenix to get upgrade

One of the final houses designed by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright is now in line for an upgrading.

The home is located on a 5.9-acre wooded site at 5212 E. Exeter Boulevard in Phoenix’s upscale Arcadia neighborhood.

Wright, who during the span of a more than 70-year career, designed more than 1,000 residential, commercial, and institutional structures, designed the Arcadia home in 1951 as a gift for his son and daughter-in-law.

The 2,500 square-foot David and Gladys Wright House was put on the market some time after the death of Gladys Wright in 2008, whose husband David had predeceased her in 1997.

Various bids for the concrete block house, known for its circular form and spiral wraparound walkway, were unsuccessful when it could not be ascertained whether the structure would be preserved.

Now the Boston-based Benson Botsford financial services firm has purchased the structure for $7.2 million with plans to not only keep it intact, but upgrade aspects of the residence along the lines of Wright’s original plans.

Spearheading that restoration will be Jim Benson, chief executive officer of Benson Botsford; and the architects Bing Hu and Wenchin Shi. Both Benson and Hu serve on the board of the School of Architecture at Taliesin in Scottsdale.

The home, with a heavily reinforced concrete floor, has three bedrooms and four bathrooms, as well as a rooftop deck.    
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Earlier reports that the house is actually the final residential structure designed by Wright are most likely inaccurate, contends author William Storrer in his 2017 book The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, as the famed architect remained professionally active nearly a decade after completing the Phoenix house.

​By Garry Boulard

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