If spending the night in a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home is on your bucket list (much like it is on mine), here’s your chance to cross this one off: A beautifully restored, 1953-built Usonian home envisioned by the legendary architect is up on Airbnb, and welcoming architecture lovers from all over the world.
Known as the Eppstein House, the 1953-built home has been described as “one of the finest examples of Usonian architecture” and is located in the elite Galesburg Country Homes community in Michigan, known as ‘The Acres’ for its lush rolling hills.
The peaceful and posh neighborhood near Kalamazoo, MI is listed under the National Register of Historic Places thanks to its impressive roster of real estate gems. Originally designed to host 20 homes, only five ever came to fruition, four of which were designed by Wright.
Two of them were listed for sale late last year — the Eppstein House and the Pratt House — with the latter selling in June 2024 for $1.8 million. But the Eppstein House is still up for grabs (currently listed for $2,100,000) and is now also available on Airbnb.
And we’ve touched base with one of its owners, Marika Broere, to see how their guests have been enjoying the property, and how the Michigan house stands out from other Frank Lloyd Wright designs out there.
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Usonian architecture at its best
The Eppstein House has been described as “one of the finest examples of Usonian architecture” in the press.
Completely restored by its architecture-loving owners, Marika Broere and Tony Hillebrandt — who have been nominated for the Wright Spirit Award for their work on restoring the two neighboring houses to their former glory — the 1953-built property is registered on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy as a part of The Acres community.
It’s also been featured in more than 150 articles worldwide, from the New York Times, to Mansion Global, ArchDaily, Dwell, and more, as well as referenced in books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs, making it a bit of a star in its own right.
The house has been carefully restored in recent years
The 1950s house has new plumbing, electrical, landscaping, and drainage, and a new, insulated roof. Wright’s Usonian designs were known to leak, but with modern roofing technology that’s a thing of the past.
All woodwork was carefully repaired and treated. The vulnerable concrete blocks that had crumbled over time were repaired and cleaned, and stained with a UV-blocking solution specially designed for the house by Sherwin Williams.
More importantly, despite all the recent upgrades, the footprint of the house is still the original one, setting this property aside from most Frank Lloyd Wright homes — whose floorplans were dramatically altered over time.
Furnished with original Frank Lloyd Wright pieces
The house is furnished with original Frank Lloyd Wright furniture and other rare pieces, with respect for the time period it was built in.
The built-in furniture wasn’t completely overlooked in the upgrades though, as it now sports fresh cushions with Maharam upholstery that replaced the old ones in the living room.
The owners wanted to share it with other architecture lovers
Talking about their decision to share the house with other architecture lovers, owner Marika Broere tells us that “Sharing the house with architecture enthusiasts from across the world is very important to us. When we were still in the process of restoring it, we figured that if we would occasionally rent it on Airbnb, we would earn some money for maintenance and upkeep.“
After listing on Airbnb, the home has been fully booked for months on end
But little did they know that the house would be in so high demand that they’d barely have any weekends left to spend there themselves. “We had no idea though that FLW’s legacy means so much to Americans,” Marika, who hails from The Netherlands and currently lives in Canada, told Fancy Pants Homes.
“The house is fully booked, all the time, and we actually have to reserve nights for ourselves. On average we stay there one week per month ourselves because the house is a dream come true for us, and we also lend it for free quite often.”
Younger demographics are showing renewed interest in Wright’s legacy
More interestingly, Marika noticed a shift in the demographics of the visitors. “Lately something very exciting is happening: in the first three or four years we mainly rented to people who were of retirement age and older, but after that, the demographic changed.”
“The average age of overnight guests is now between 20 and 40. This means that a younger generation has heard of Wright and is very interested!”
Getting the full experience of living in a Frank Lloyd Wright house
Unlike other Wright-designed homes open to visits, the Eppstein House is not a museum but rather an owned, lived-in home. So while, of course, it needs to be approached with sensibility, visitors who book a stay here get the full experience.
As the owner herself puts it, “The uniqueness of The Eppstein House is that it is not a museum. For the time that you stay there, you can completely consider it your house. You can touch and pick up items, cook your own meals, build a fire in the wood stove and play some vintage records.”
In line with Wright’s vision, the house makes guests feel fully immersed in nature
“It was FLW’s vision to build his Usonian homes so, that the inhabitants felt entirely immersed by nature,” Marika points out. “In line with his vision, The Eppstein House is built into a hill, not on top of it. From the bedroom windows you look out on soil level.”
“It has happened to us many times that we pulled up the blinds in the morning and found ourselves eye to eye with wildlife: turkeys, groundhogs, deer. The surroundings are stunningly beautiful, somehow both parkland and forest. The Acres community is absolutely unique, and we want it to stay like that. In our search for a buyer that is mostly on our minds, we hope to find someone who will preserve the house and grounds for many more years to come.”
Airbnb visitors have thoroughly enjoyed their stay here
“It is touching, and even a bit overwhelming to us, how much staying at the Eppstein House means to people. Many tell us that it is a lifelong dream come true. Also, many who were brought there by an architecture-loving friend, came under the spell and told us that they now want to learn more about Wright’s work.”
The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home is also on the market
The 2,500-square-foot home located at 11090 Hawthorne Dr in Galesburg, Michigan is also available for sale, and architecture enthusiasts can buy it outright for $2,100,000. Finding a buyer that’s respectful of the home’s (and its surrounding community’s) architectural significance is top-of-mind for the current owners.
“The Acres community is absolutely unique, and we want it to stay like that. In our search for a buyer that is mostly on our minds, we hope to find someone who will preserve the house and grounds for many more years to come.”
And comes with great income potential, as we’ve already seen
“The rental income is amazing, and if we would never stay there ourselves or let people stay for free, we would easily surpass $150,000 in income per year,” Marika tells us. “The bylaws have been changed and the HOA now allows short-term rental ‘forever’.”
However, if you don’t have $2.1 million to splurge but want the full Frank Lloyd Wright experience, you can book your stay on Airbnb here.
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