In 1936 Herbert Fisk Johnson, grandson of the founder of SC Johnson & Son, Inc., hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new administration building for his company in Racine, Wisconsin. Soon after, he commissioned Wright to build him a home on nearby farmland.

That 14,000 square-foot home, built in 1938-39, is Wingspread. In 1959, Johnson and his wife moved into an adjacent residence and donated Wingspread to The Johnson Foundation to be used as an international educational conference facility.

Wingspread nestles amid 36 acres on Wind Point, a peninsula on the western shore of Lake Michigan. The lake and lighthouse is a short walk from Wingspread.

Wingspread is configured in wings, which fan out like a pinwheel from the central dome. Each wing is a “zone”; the master bedroom wing, children’s wing, kitchen wing, and guest/garage wing. The arrangement of the wings allows nearly every room easy access to a patio or balcony.

The center of Wingspread is a living space Wright dubbed a “wigwam.” The 40- by 60-foot octagonal room is dominated by a 30-foot high chimney, around which are ranged four distinct living areas: a dining area, an inglenook, an intimate library, and a formal living room. Each space features a fireplace and built-in furniture that Wright designed for Wingspread.

The dome of the wigwam consists of three tiers of clerestory windows through which ever-shifting natural light fills the room. Tall brick piers separated by 15-foot-high glass doors and windows form the wigwam’s outside walls, and giving the building the feeling of transparency between interior and exterior.

The master bedroom (north) wing is Wingspread’s only second level. Cantilevered at its far end, this level forms a mezzanine over the eastern side of the living room, from which one can climb a spiral staircase to an observation tower.

The mezzanine also features one of Wright’s less successful innovations: a fireplace designed to burn 12-foot logs leaning vertically against the firewall. Unfortunately, when the fireplace was first lighted, the logs burned from the bottom, collapsed, and fell into the room.

The children’s (east) wing included three bedrooms and a large playroom opening onto a patio and swimming pool.

Guests and automobiles were housed in the west wing, and kitchen facilities and servants’ quarters were in the south wing. The pantry wall has an opening to the dining area through which the dining table was designed to slide, allowing kitchen staff to remove the course and replace it with the next. Some uncertainty exists about whether the sliding table was Johnson’s idea or Wright’s. Whoever its genius, Johnson eventually put a halt to the moveable feast when one too many unwary diners were left with fork in hand as their salads slid slowly away.

The floor is made of four-foot-square concrete slabs colored Cherokee red, under which Wright laid pipes for radiant heating. The system provided uneven heat, lacking the high-tech regulating mechanisms available today, and it is no longer used. Flooring in the master wing and mezzanine consists of strips of 2-inch crosscut plywood.

Amid the most modern features, Wright also included details from the past. The spaced wood blocks -- dentils -- are a modification of a motif common in Greek and Roman building; Wright used them in his own Oak Park home in 1889. The Wingspread barrel chair is adapted from a heavier version he designed in 1904 for the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, New York.

Other details help make Wingspread the masterpiece that it is. The brick was specially made, the vertical mortar tinted red, and the horizontal mortar raked deep to emphasize the building’s horizontal lines. Wright said that Wingspread’s brickwork was the best he had ever seen.

Wingspread possesses many of the characteristics associated with Wright: its horizontal lines, its integration with the land, its long low silhouette. It is, in Wright’s words, “organic,” featuring cypress, stone, oak, brick and earthtone colors, continuous interchange between exterior and interior, and easy movement from space to space.

The Johnson Foundation has made as few alterations as possible in turning what was a residence into a conference center. Guest quarters and garages were transformed into office space, and a storage area beneath the master wing was remodeled to provide lavatories and a cloakroom. Several small bathrooms were removed, and some rooms were expanded by the elimination of interior walls.

The House

H.F. Johnson and his wife, Irene Purcell, lived here after moving out of Wingspread in 1959. This building was donated and brought into general conference use during 1982 and provides additional and larger conference space.

The Grounds

Lawns and gardens surround Wingspread and The House. The grounds are a refuge for over 220 species of birds, including waterfowl. Foxes, coyotes, squirrels and other small animals live on the grounds. A stream and connecting ponds meander through the grounds and flow into Lake Michigan, a short walk to the east.

Tours

Public Tours are limited toTuesday through Friday from 9:30am - 3:00pm. No tours are given during conferences. Please check the conference schedule, then call 262-681-3353 or email tour@johnsonfdn.org.