The Weltzheimer/Johnson House is one of Oberlin’s hidden architectural gems.
The house, which is tucked nearly out of sight on Morgan Street, was designed by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and now offers open houses through the Allen Memorial Art Museum and Oberlin College.
Stacie Ross, communications manager for the Allen Memorial Art Museum, said the house represents a unique piece of American architectural history.
“It’s one of the few Usonian houses in the U.S. open to the public,” Ross said. “Those houses were designed by Wright to be affordable to a middle income family.”
The house was completed in 1949 for the Weltzheimer family in Oberlin and was sold in 1968 to former Oberlin College art history professor Ellen Johnson.
The house had undergone alterations prior to Johnson’s purchase, but she helped return the home to its original form and arranged for it to be donated to Oberlin College when she died in 1992.
Tours of the house are available on the first Sunday of the month from now until November.
Tickets are going fast and they are sold out through July, Ross said.
“I think the word has gotten out more than other years,” she said. “Usually, it sells out before the event, but not months in advance.”
There is, however, a walk-in event during Oberlin College’s commencement weekend from 1-4 p.m., May 26, Ross said.
Admission is $10.
Ross said there is no pre-registration required, and all are welcome.
The feedback from those who visit the historic home is overwhelmingly positive, she said.
“People are really impressed with the comfort of it and the way the outside and the inside blend,” Ross said. “The spaces are quite small, but I think the attention to detail, the windows and the shapes and forms inside the house are consistent with Wright’s work.”
For more information, visit https://amam.oberlin.edu/flw-house.
