Wausau home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright has sold

WAUSAU — A Wausau home designed by famed Wisconsin architect Frank Lloyd Wright has a new owner who aims to see the building added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The home, near the top of the East Hill at 1224 Highland Park Blvd., officially changed hands Wednesday. David Wood, 56, a management consultant of Austin, Texas, purchased the house from Donald Aucutt, who co-owned the property for a little more than 25 years.

Both men purchased the home with their hearts and a sense of history.

Wood said he bought the structure simply "because it's a Frank Lloyd Wright house." He had been to Wausau to see the home before it went on sale, and he already has started improving and restoring the building. He and his family will live in it part time, and he said he's in the midst of compiling the extensive paperwork needed to get the home listed on the National Register.

But Wood amiably declined the give a visitor a tour of the inside of the house. "We're just getting things set up, getting organized," he said.

Aucutt, 70, of Norway, Mich., bought the home a quarter century ago because he wanted to see the building preserved. Aucutt has been interested in architecture "for all my life; well, at least since I was a small boy. ... I like fine architecture, and that neighborhood has several interesting buildings," he said. "I'm interested in the creativity behind (architecture)."

The Highland Park Avenue home is one of two Wausau houses designed by Wright. The other is at 904 Grand Ave. Built in 1958 for music store owners Duey and Julia Wright, who were not related to the architect, that home is on the National Register of Historic Places. It's now owned by Midwest Communications.

Aucutt lived in the Highland Park Avenue house for about six years. "It was certainly a house that controlled you more than you controlled it," he said. "It was finished, and it was all wood inside, wood and brick. ... Unless you were a sort of drastic person, you couldn't change it. It was done."

Aucutt is a writer who likes to focus on home design, and he is a co-author of a book titled "Wausau Beautiful: A Guide to Our Historic Architecture." He wrote about the home in that book, and through the years collected photos and research about the design and history of the home.

The house was built in 1941 for Charles Manson, a journalist with an unfortunate name who had returned to Wausau to join his family's insurance business, and his wife, Dorothy. Wright designed their home without visiting the site, "relying instead on topographic maps," Aucutt wrote. "The small second story include a bedroom (originally for a maid), a bathroom and a darkroom for Charles's photography. The house has 37 windows framed by a design resembling pine trees, a modern followup to the art glass windows in Wright's acclaimed Prairie houses."

Aucutt declined to say how much the home sold for, but it was listed by Wausau real estate agent Yvonne Prey for just under $190,000. Prey said after she listed the home, calls started coming in from across the country.

Over the years that he owned it, Frank Lloyd Wright fans from all areas of the United States and some from Europe would contact Aucutt to tour the home.

"A lot of them were architects," he said.

Aucutt said he decided to sell the home because it just seemed to be time.

"We had it for 25 years," he said. "I think that was enough."

He met Wood and said he was confident that the home is now in good hands and would be cared for.

"It was a creative house," Aucutt said. "It has a lot of interesting spaces, interesting angles."

Keith Uhlig can be reached at 715-845-0651. Find him on Twitter as @UhligK.

You should know

The Frank Lloyd Wright home at 1224 Highland Park Blvd. is one of two houses in Wausau designed by the famed architect. In 1958, a home at 904 Grand Ave. was build for Duey and Julia Wright (no relation to the architect).