Kalil House, a 1957 Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in New Hampshire, has been named to the National Register of Historic Places, according to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. Located in Manchester, New Hampshire, it is one of only seven of Wright’s “Usonian Automatic” homes to be built.
A variation on his “Usonian” architectural style, developed in the late 1930s to provide affordable, high-quality housing to middle-class Americans, Wright’s Usonian Automatic designs—of which there are thought to have been 20—aimed to further bring down building expenses by using modular concrete elements in the houses’ construction.
However, this did not turn out to be the case: commissioned in 1954 by Dr. Toufic and Mildred Kalil, the home’s estimated cost of $25,000 had ballooned to $75,000 by the time it was completed.
Still, the residence is an exemplar of Usonian Automatic design; constructed using 2,580 concrete blocks, the single-story structure has a poured concrete floor, hundreds of stacked rectangular windows, and mahogany panels and doors hung on the inner walls.
Owned by the Kalil family for much of its existence, it retains nearly all of its original Wright-designed furnishings, including lamps, rugs, fixtures, and furniture.
“Kalil House retains an extremely high level of integrity, having undergone no alterations or major restorations since it was completed,” the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources noted in its announcement of the site’s new designation.
Kalil House was purchased in 2019 by the Currier Museum of Art, which also owns Wright’s Zimmerman House down the street. Tours of both houses can be arranged through the museum.
