Why the Penfield House?

In the early 1970’s, I bought a book titled “The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright” by William Allin Storrer. The book is a catalogue of ALL buildings of Wright that were constructed. I was living in Erie, PA at the time and the book listed two homes in nearby Ohio: Louis Penfield (Willoughby Hills); Karl Staley (North Madison).

I wrote to both owners hoping to get an invitation. It worked. With invitations in hand, we set out on a series of day trips, visiting both owners in a single day.

Visits to Lou Penfield became more frequent. We started corresponding via phone, letters, etc. Several days after a visit to Mr. Penfield’s, we received a tube in the mail that contained blueprints of the house, blueprints of the chairs and an assortment of photos (which, to this day I can’t remember what of.)

I lost contact with Lou in the early 80s when I relocated to South Florida. In 1991, I moved again, this time to Pittsburgh. Every move I made, that tube of drawings went with me. Finally, in 1992, Louis Astorino, a prominent Pittsburgh architect who was involved in the Fallingwater restoration, suggested I donate the blueprints to the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) architectural archives. I did just that. I knew they would be in good hands.

Surprisingly soon after that, my son, Aaron (who resided in Erie at the time), called me to say that ‘a Lou Penfield’ called him, wanting my phone number. Within minutes of my son handing over the number, I got a call from Lou. We hadn’t spoken in years. He said he wasn’t living in the house anymore. Sad. I told him what I had done with the blueprints and he was so excited. So excited in fact, he contacted CMU and donated more materials. We only spoke once after that.

Several years ago I found out that the Penfield house had been restored by Mr. Penfield’s son, Paul, and was available as a B&B for nightly rentals. Last year we paid our first visit. It was wonderful to see it at it’s finest. We just recently came off of a 4-day stay there.

Anyway, once I retired, I decided I wanted a challenge. The Penfield house was the perfect project. I ordered copies of the blueprints from CMU in July. I began the journey in August. The Penfields (Paul and Donna) have been wonderfully supportive and helpful. They also happen to possess that last catalogued Wright design for a residence. It is the Louis Penfield House II or, RiverRock. Eventually it wiil be built further down the property from the original house.

You can visit the original house at: www.penfieldhouse.com.

Thus far, this has been quite a journey, which I will share with you here.