Owner restores Frank Lloyd Wright house for public

WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio -- If Fallingwater is Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest work, then a house he designed in this Cleveland suburb is one of his most livable.\nOwner Paul Penfield has opened up the Louis Penfield House to guests after spending four years restoring it to the architect's original vision. \nThe 60-year-old Penfield lived in the house during his teenage years. His friends, who thought the place was a bit odd, nicknamed it "the steamboat house" because of its long, narrow design.\n"Here you really felt you were living with nature. That's what Frank Lloyd Wright wanted," said Marguerite Vonno, who stayed at the Penfield House in September.\nAbout 300 people have spent the night there since the house opened for guests last year. Matt and Cheryl Banning of Willoughby booked it first, using it for their wedding weekend, including pictures and the rehearsal dinner. They returned a year later for their anniversary.\nRon Scherubel, executive director of The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, which advocates the preservation of the 400 remaining Wright structures, said he likes the idea of the houses being opened to guests. \n"It spreads the word about how comfortable and beautiful Wright's houses are," he said.\nWright, who died in 1959 after a 70-year career in design, has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time." He designed buildings to fit into their settings and viewed them as not just structures but ideas that permeate the lives of those who inhabit them.\nPenfield's father, Louis, was a painter who became acquainted with Wright and asked him to design a house that would fit his 6-foot-8-inch frame. He remembers Wright as a stately man with long flowing white hair whose office was located at the end of a long corridor.\n"He's portrayed as a curmudgeon, but he really wasn't," Penfield said.\nThe Penfield House fell into disrepair after the family moved out and turned it into a rental property for about five years.\nPenfield put $100,000 into the restoration and did most of the work himself. He replaced its flat, leaky roof and refinished the extensive interior and exterior wood surfaces, wearing out a number of power sanders along the way.\nHe even milled trees from the property to build cabinets and furniture, such as platform beds, chairs and tables, based on Wright's angular designs.\nFinishing touches included such items as a rotary phone and a typewriter that keep the feel of the decade in which it was built.\n"My favorite time is the dead of winter when the snow is falling and the fire is going. ... It's as romantic as you can possibly find for a single-family dwelling," he said. "Most of our guests report that it's a very renewing experience"