Frieda and Henry J. Neils House | |
 The Neils House viewed from the south | |
   | |
| Location | 2801 Burnham Boulevard,Minneapolis,Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 44°57′29″N93°19′4″W / 44.95806°N 93.31778°W /44.95806; -93.31778 |
| Built | 1951[2] |
| Architect | Frank Lloyd Wright,Lyle Halverson |
| Architectural style | Usonian |
| NRHP reference No. | 04000531[1] |
| Added to NRHP | May 26, 2004 |
TheFrieda and Henry J. Neils House is a house inMinneapolis designed byFrank Lloyd Wright. The home was designed for Henry J. Neils, a stone and architectural materials distributor, and his wife Frieda. It is unusual for a Wright-designed home both in the type of stone used as well as in its aluminum window framing.[3]
The Neils approached Wright in 1949 to help build a new home on property adjacent to their existing home, overlookingCedar Lake.[2] The home was designed through close collaboration between the architect and the Neils who were knowledgeable about architecture.[2] It was Wright's only home to usemarble walls: the small marble blocks were left over from other marble projects, and Henry Neil, who was atrustee of a marble company, was able to acquire them at a good price and convince Wright to use the material; however, the color of the completed walls did not satisfy either Wright or the Neils, and some of the blocks were later stained.[2] Unlike Wright's normal use of wooden window frames, the home used aluminum frames made by Neils' company.[2]
The house was designed in Wright's post-World War IIUsonian architecture, with the goal of "affordable, beautiful housing for a democratic America." The L-shaped, one-story home's floor plan features a dominant living room and social and spatial separation into "active" and "quiet" areas.[4] The short side of the L consists of the "active" portion, centering on a living room with 17-foot (5.2 m)-highvaulted ceiling and views of Cedar Lake; the "quiet" portion is the long side ending in a three-car carport and has bedrooms as well as agallery leading to a hidden main entrance.[2]
Located on 2801 Burnham Boulevard, the home is visible from public streets but remains privately owned by members of the Neils family.[2]
