In 1936, Herbert Fisk Johnson, Jr. (1899-1978) commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new administration building for S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (formerly known as Johnson Wax). Johnson loved the plan so much that he later commissioned Wright to design his new home. Completed in 1939, Wright called the 14,000-foot creation Wingspread, because its four wings embrace the prairie, while the roof over the central Great Hall soars skyward.

Wingspread’s primary materials – Kasota limestone, red Streator Brick, tinted stucco and unstained tidewater cypress – anchor the house to the earth, while its many windows and skylights open it to the heavens by admitting air, light and views of the sky and landscape.

On June 24,1961, the Johnson family formally dedicated Wingspread to The Johnson Foundation to be used as a conference center.

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior designated Wingspread as a National Historic Landmark in 1990.