The Meyer May House is a

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 ...

-designed house in the Heritage Hill Historic District of

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, in the United States. It was built in 1908–09, and is located at 450 Madison Avenue SE. It is considered a fine example of Wright's

Prairie School 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 hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

era, and "Michigan's Prairie masterpiece".

History

The Meyer May House was commissioned in 1908 by Meyer S. May, president of May's clothing store in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, and his wife Sophie. The house's appearance stands in contrast to the Victorian houses typical of the period and the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Meyer May House is stylistically typical of Wright's Prairie houses, a two-story, T-plan constructed of pale brick, with

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

s and long broad

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

art glass Art glass is a subset of glass art, this latter covering the whole range of art made from glass. Art glass normally refers only to pieces made since the mid-19th century, and typically to those purely made as sculpture or decorative art, with ...

windows and skylights.Caroline Knight, ''Frank Lloyd Wright'', p. 88, Parragon; 2004. The first floor windows are tucked under the eaves and raised from ground level, providing both privacy and providing light to the staircase and second floor gallery. Wright carefully sited the house to allow maximum southern exposure for the living room windows and skylights and to create a spacious yard for the perennial gardens. Leaded and colored glass accented doors and casement windows open out to terraces and gardens with garden walls and planters incorporated into the design. Inside, wood grills hide the

radiators Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

, iridescent strips of gold art glass were placed in the horizontal grout lines of both brick fireplaces. A pastel mural of

hollyhock ''Alcea'' is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, ...

s created by

George Mann Niedecken George Mann Niedecken (August 16, 1878 – November 3, 1945) was an American prairie style furniture designer and interior architect from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is best known for his collaboration with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He als ...

is featured on a dividing wall between the living room and dining room. The mural had been painted over, but has since been restored. Niedecken also supervised and coordinated the home's interior, which was completed in 1910. In 1922, two bedrooms were added upstairs, as were

servants' quarters Servants' quarters are those parts of a building, traditionally in a private house, which contain the domestic offices and staff accommodation. From the late 17th century until the early 20th century, they were a common feature in many large ...

on the ground floor. May died in 1936 and the house remained empty for six years, not selling until 1942. Sold again in 1945, carports and additional entrances were added, and the bedroom additions were rented out. The Meyer May House was placed on the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites in 1986 and is also part of the Heritage Hill Historic District. The Heritage Hill district was listed in 1971 on both 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 ...

Restoration

Steelcase Steelcase Inc. is an American manufacturer of furniture, casegoods, seating, and space solutions for offices, hospitals, classrooms, and residential interiors. It is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. History Originally known as Th ...

, an international

office furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). ...

company founded and headquartered in Grand Rapids, purchased the house in 1985. Before restoration began, extensive research into the home's original 1909 state was conducted through personal interviews, historic photos, original drawings and documents, and publications about Wright. During this restoration, the 1922 addition was removed, all the plaster ceilings were replaced, the roof was rebuilt, the Niedecken mural was restored, more than 100 windows and skylights were repaired, and an enclosed veranda was opened up. The landscaping was also restored to its original 1909 design. Restoration began in 1986 and the house opened for visitor tours in 1987. The house is one of the most completely restored of Wright's Prairie residences. Rooms in the restored house are furnished with a mixture of original pieces, reproductions of original pieces, and similar

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

style items from the period. Carpets were also woven according to Wright's designs and colors.

Public tours

Meyer May House opened to the public in 1987. Tours are offered Tuesdays & Thursdays from 10 to 1 and on Sundays from 1 to 4. Admission is free.

Wright's other Grand Rapids work

The David M. Amberg House was completed in 1910. This house is not a complete Wright design, as he was preoccupied and traveling in Europe at the time. In 1909, Wright turned the project over to

Marion Mahony Marion Mahony Griffin (; February 14, 1871 – August 10, 1961) was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School. Her work in ...

and Herman von Holst for completion.

References

* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.148)

External links

Official SiteFrank Lloyd Wright FoundationFrank Lloyd Wright Preservation TrustPhotos on Arcaid
{{DEFAULTSORT:May House Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Houses completed in 1909 Museums in Grand Rapids, Michigan Historic district contributing properties in Michigan Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Houses in Kent County, Michigan Historic house museums in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Kent County, Michigan Marion Mahony Griffin