The David and Gladys Wright House in Phoenix, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.Credit David and Gladys Wright House Foundation.

The 1952 house in Phoenix that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for his son, David, and daughter-in-law, Gladys, continues to create controversy.First, the property faced demolition by its owners, who planned to replace it with new homes. Then it was sold in 2012 to Zach Rawling, who comes from Phoenix and said he wanted to preserve it.

Now Mr. Rawling has applied for a special city permit to open the house to the public for tours, education programs and cultural events, including art exhibitions. He has also proposed a museum, cafe and bookstore, and he anticipates as many annual visitors as those to Wright’s Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz.: about 120,000.Some neighbors strongly object. “The preservation was simply a pretext,” said Peter V. Sperling, a homeowner in the area. “There will be several hundred thousand visitors a year to this property, which in my opinion completely disrupts the long-term semirural character of the neighborhood,” he added. “It’s turned out to be a fiasco.”......Continue Reading

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