David and Gladys Wright House, Frank Lloyd Wright residential structure in Arcadia, Phoenix, United States
The David and Gladys Wright House is a residential building made of concrete blocks in the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona, with Camelback Mountain visible in the distance. The structure rests on stilts above ground level and wraps around a central courtyard that contains a small plunge pool, with the living spaces arranged in a continuous spiral.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house for his son David and daughter-in-law Gladys; the couple acquired the land in 1950 and 1951, and it was built from 1950 to 1952. After Gladys died in 2008, her granddaughters sold it in 2009; a 2012 resale to a developer who planned demolition led to preservation efforts, and Zach Rawling bought it in December 2012. Benson Botsford LLC bought it in August 2020, and the family of Bing Hu and Wenchin Shi moved in and renovated it.
Wright designed the house for his son David and daughter-in-law Gladys, who moved in after its completion in 1952 and lived there until their deaths, David in 1997 and Gladys in 2008. The couple initially invited guests to the circular house, but by the 1960s they had stopped. The interior keeps circular motifs and geometric shapes, along with furnishings Wright designed, such as a carpet.
The house stands at 5212 East Exeter Boulevard, with a second address at 4505 North Rubicon Avenue; the spiral ramp climbs from the northeast entry courtyard to the front door at the southwest corner. There is no public access, so the building can only be seen from the street. The main house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The house was built above a working citrus orchard, and the stilts allowed cool air to flow beneath the floor, which helped keep the interior comfortable in the desert heat. Building a home directly over a fruit orchard was an unusual choice that set this design apart from anything else Wright built.
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