The Allen House (also known as the Henry J. Allen House and the Allen–Lambe House) is a

Prairie Style Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hip roof, hipped roofs with broad Overhang (architecture), ove ...

home in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

, designed by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

in 1915 for former Kansas Governor

Henry Justin Allen Henry Justin Allen (September 11, 1868 – January 17, 1950) was an American politician serving as the 21st Governor of Kansas (1919–1923) and U.S. Senator from Kansas (1929–30). Life and career Allen was born in Warren County, Pennsylvan ...

and his wife, Elsie.

Description and history

It was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's last Prairie Houses. The design influence of the prairie and Japanese architecture (Wright was working on the

Imperial Hotel Imperial Hotel or Hotel Imperial may refer to: Hotels Australia * Imperial Hotel, Ravenswood, Queensland * Imperial Hotel, York, Western Australia Austria * Hotel Imperial, Vienna India * The Imperial, New Delhi Ireland * Imperial Hotel, D ...

in Japan at the time) is apparent on both the exterior and interior. Also included in the forward-thinking house were such modern conveniences as a central vacuuming unit, an alarm system and gas fireplace logs. Another innovation was the first firewall in a residential home. The bricks contain iron, giving it a

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH ...

color. It is currently run by the Allen House Foundation as a museum under the stewardship of the Wichita Center for the Arts. The house was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on March 7, 1973.

References

* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.205)

External links

Allen House Foundation
Houses completed in 1917 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Historic house museums in Kansas Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas Museums in Wichita, Kansas Prairie School architecture in Kansas Houses in Sedgwick County, Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Wichita, Kansas {{Kansas-museum-stub