The Daily Reporter – WI Construction News & Bids Wisconsin's Construction Authority
Restoration is now complete, and a grand opening is scheduled for The Kenneth & Phyllis Laurent House in Rockford, Ill.
The Frank Lloyd Wright project was a custom-designed home for Kenneth Laurent, a disabled World War II veteran. The house is considered to be the only home designed by Wright for a person with a disability. It was constructed in 1948, and occupied by the Laurents until 2012.
Efforts to save the house and the Wright furniture within was taken on by several members of the community, and the Laurent House Foundation was formed to create a museum open to the public. One million dollars was raised within a month, and a $500,000 matching grant from the state of Illinois assisted in the acquisition.
As noted by the restoration architect John Eifler of Eifler & Associates Architects, Chicago, “the building is unique in that it has been continually occupied by the original owners, and contains not only furnishings designed by the architect, but many personal items of the owners. In other words, it is a complete work of art”.
The museum will open to the public June 7 and 8, and then be open for tours on the first and last weekend of each month, and by appointment for tour groups.
