Year built: 1950Price: $1,695,000After Frank Lloyd Wright built the first Usonian home in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1936, he spent decades iterating on his concept of affordable middle-class housing, tweaking angles and rooflines so that each design, while almost always single-story and full of windows, was still slightly different.
Not much changed on the property until 1965, when the Carr family sold the home to Edward and Carol Ann Busche. An industrial architect by training, Edward Busche took on the daunting task of adding a larger master bedroom and more space for entertaining without sacrificing the authenticity of Wright’s Usonian design. “[My father] really struggled with it,” says the couple’s son, Brian, who grew up in the house. “You don’t want to do it wrong.
Photo: Matara Media for Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty Matching the interior materials was even more challenging. “I remember going to lumber yards [as a 12-year-old] with my dad and trying to handpick mahogany boards directly off of the railcards to find boards that would match the original ceiling,” Brian recalls.
Photo: Matara Media for Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty Since the Busches’ careful expansion, the home has remained largely the same. Two fireplaces — including one in a sunken conversation pit — dominate the living room area, and 18 pairs of French doors lead out to the pool. Under the Carrs’ ownership, the kitchen had white formica stamped with red and green amoeba shapes; the Busche family added the current stainless steel-edged and rust-colored counters to better match the brick.