A 57-YEAR-OLD MODERN HOME

I F you’ve ever wondered who kicked off the fashion for the kind of uber-modernist flat-roofed houses Prince Charles loves to hate, then look no further than Frank Lloyd Wright.

The American architect and interior designer is considered the father of modernism and designed dozens of houses as well as offices, schools churches and skyscrapers.

His homes are much treasured today, not only because they were ahead of their time when built from the late 19th century onwards, but because they are still ahead of their time today.

One of his later examples, a house in Minnesota completed a year after his death in 1959, is now on the market for the first time. Paul and Helen Olfelt who are now both in the 90s commissioned the house from Wright in 1958.

The property is rare because it still has all the original fixtures, fittings and furniture that he designed for the house, including its beautiful kitchen island and accompanying stools.

When Lloyd created the plans, he had come to understand how much family life had changed since his first designs for homes during the 1890s. The Olfelt house has many of the features today’s builders offer as standard but which then were considered shocking. These include an open-plan design, huge spans of glass bringing the outdoors inside, a large kitchen and a family room.

Originally priced at $1.495 million, the property has recently been reduced to $1.395 million. More information is available from TopTenRealEstateDeals.com