Stillwater: Sunday’s historic homes tour features property designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

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Situated on 20 wooded acres and a small lake west of Stillwater, a house and cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright were built by Virginia and Don Lovness. The house, shown here in a June 20, 2006 file photo, is known as the studio, and is about 1,750 square feet, a one-story compressed version of Wright's typical "Usonian" (his term for "American") design. The property will be part of the 2024 Stillwater Historic House Tour on Sunday, May 19, 2024. (Joe Rossi / Pioneer Press)
Situated on 20 wooded acres and a small lake west of Stillwater, a house and cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright were built by Virginia and Don Lovness. The compound's 800 square-foot cottage, shown here in a June 20, 2006 file photo, perches on the lakeshore. Based on a 1957 Wright design, it was built by the Lovnesses in the 1970s. (Joe Rossi / Pioneer Press)
Situated on 20 wooded acres and a small lake west of Stillwater, a house and cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright were built by Virginia and Don Lovness. The interior of the 800 square-foot cottage, shown here in a June 20, 2006 file photo, includes a dining room table and chairs, examples of the Wrightian furniture that fills the two homes. (Joe Rossi / Pioneer Press)
Situated on 20 wooded acres and a small lake west of Stillwater, a house and cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright were built by Virginia and Don Lovness. The interior of the 800 square-foot cottage, shown here in a June 20, 2006 file photo, includes a dining room table and chairs, examples of the Wrightian furniture that fills the two homes. Don Lovness built much of the furniture. (Joe Rossi / Pioneer Press)
Situated on 20 wooded acres and a small lake west of Stillwater, a house and cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright were built by Virginia and Don Lovness. The property includes sculptures, shown here in a June 20, 2006 file photo, which were salvaged from Midway Gardens in Chicago, designed by Wright in 1913. (Joe Rossi / Pioneer Press)

By Mary Divine | mdivine@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press

PUBLISHED: May 17, 2024 at 2:44 p.m. | UPDATED: May 19, 2024 at 12:45 p.m.

Architecture enthusiasts will have a chance this weekend to tour a mid-century home designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Lovness House estate, which includes two of the 13 Wright sites in Minnesota, will be featured in the Stillwater Historic Homes Tour from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Designed by Wright in 1955, the estate includes a studio and cottage nestled into a wooded 20-acre site along the shores of Woodpile Lake in Grant, west of Stillwater.

Don and Virginia Lovness hand-built the 1,750-square-foot, flat-roofed Usonian studio with a great room, two small bedrooms, a galley kitchen, and a gigantic stone fireplace, according to an article written by architecture critic Larry Millett that was published in the Pioneer Press in 2006. In the 1970s, the couple built another of Wright’s designs — a 800-square-foot cottage with a soaring glass wall under a shed roof — on the property, according to Millett.

From the archives: Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, built by Minnesotans

Also on the tour: the 1853 Warden’s House Museum; the newly renovated Washington County Historic Courthouse, the William Sauntry Mansion and the Aurora Staples Home.

The featured houses span more than 100 years and “show the transformation of Stillwater, from a rough and tumble lumber town to a gentler, river city,” said Brent Peterson, executive director of the Washington County Historical Society, which sponsors the tour. “The differences really put you in the timeline of the history of Stillwater and show the beauty of each era.”

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased online or at the Washington County Heritage Center, 1862 S. Greeley St., Stillwater. For more information, call 651-439-5956 or go to www.wchsmn.org.