Three Frank Lloyd Wright Followers Designed This $1.1M Ohio Midcentury With an "Ivory Tower"

Restored after years of neglect, Glenbrow sits at the edge of a wooded ravine, with a Zen garden, site-sourced stone walls, and a four-story structure awaiting completion.

Location:  7495 E Broad Street, Blacklick, Ohio

Price: $1,099,000

Year Built: 1940

Tower Built: 1964

Architects: Tony Smith, Ted van Fossen, Laurence Cuneo

Last Renovated: 2017

Renovation Architect: Joe Kuspan

Home Footprint: 2,854 Square Feet (3 Beds, 3 Baths) 

Tower Footprint: 850 Square Feet

Lot Size: 2.5 Acres

From the Agent: "Glenbrow is a two-and-a-half-acre estate built in 1940 as the vision of three architects tied to Frank Lloyd Wright: Tony Smith, Ted van Fossen, and Laurence Cuneo. Drawing on Wright’s principles of organic architecture, the home is closely tied to its natural setting, with stone quarried on-site used in fireplaces and accent walls throughout. The landscape becomes an extension of the architecture, with views of a wooded ravine and meandering stream that shift with the seasons. French doors open the interiors to a series of patios, creating an easy flow between indoors and out, with plenty of space for alfresco dining, including one area with a wood-fired oven. The high-performance kitchen features soapstone counters, a coffee bar, and extensive built-ins, and it opens to a large dining room with views of the scenery. In the living room, a restored built-in sofa and table made of old-growth cypress sit alongside a woodburning fireplace and a cozy niche for work or creative projects. An open-concept primary suite offers views of the Zen garden and ravine. Also on the property is a four-story ‘Ivory Tower,’ designed in 1964 by Ted van Fossen. Partially restored, it remains one of the property’s most distinctive features, ready for the next owner to furnish. For those who appreciate architecture, Glenbrow is an opportunity to own a piece of Central Ohio’s modernist legacy."

Tony Smith, Ted van Fossen, and Laurence Cuneo met in 1937 at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, then headed by László Moholy-Nagy. After the school closed, Smith and Cuneo joined Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship; in 1939, van Fossen received a commission to design and build a house for Rob and Mary Gunning, a young couple with a wooded lot on the edge of a ravine. The trio applied Wright’s principles of organic design to the residence, which they named Glenbrow. 

Photo by Joe Kuspan

According to renovation architect Joe Kuspan, the restoration was designed to unify decades of exterior modifications while allowing old and new elements to remain distinct inside. The material palette follows the home’s 1940 language of plywood, 1-by-2 pine trim, colored concrete floors, cypress, and stone.

Photo by Joe Kuspan

The living room features a restored built-in sofa and table made of old-growth cypress, a functional stone woodburning fireplace, and a corner work niche. Original cypress window and clerestory frames were restored with new low-e insulating glass, while custom birch and cypress built-ins serve as storage, shelving, and an AV console. 

Photo by Joe Kuspan

See the full story on Dwell.com: Three Frank Lloyd Wright Followers Designed This $1.1M Ohio Midcentury With an "Ivory Tower"
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Structural Elements Steal the Show at This Loftified 388-Square-Foot Barcelona Apartment

Beams and braces are splashed with color in the opened-up space, signaling a spunky evolution for a home that’s been in the same family for generations.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Designer: Its Not A Studio / @itsnotastudio

Footprint: 388 square feet

Photographer: Rocco Bibbiani

From the Designer: "This small apartment is not just a dwelling; it is a space that has belonged to the same family for generations, loaded with memories and layers of history that were crying out for a new identity. Originally, the space was fragmented in an almost unbelievable way: four rooms, a kitchen, a dining area, and a bathroom located outside on the terrace. A subsequent renovation two decades ago attempted to maximize its nearly 17-foot ceilings with a mezzanine, but the home still felt dark and compartmentalized. Our goal was clear: to free up the space and let the apartment breathe again. We tore down all the partition walls to create a single volume where the monumental height takes center stage.

"Instead of hiding the past, we decided to celebrate it. We brought the original structural elements to light, turning them into the visual axis of the project. Moving away from traditional understatement, we injected vitality through a bold color palette. The result is a vibrant interplay that contrasts with the classical architecture of Sarrià, bringing a youthful, bright, and deeply optimistic energy.

"What was once a dark and divided space is now a fluid home that honors its roots while embracing modernity. We have transformed a lifelong family apartment into a vibrant loft, proving that square meters do not limit the greatness of a design when you have height, history, and chromatic courage."

Photo by Rocco Bibbiani

Photo by Rocco Bibbiani

Photo by Rocco Bibbiani

See the full story on Dwell.com: Structural Elements Steal the Show at This Loftified 388-Square-Foot Barcelona Apartment

Original Brickwork Adorns This 1930s Ontario Tudor Seeking $2.9M

Located in a neighborhood known for its historic homes, the residence has been refreshed by homeowner and designer Stephanie Bryce.

Location: 3081 Balmoral Avenue, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 

Price: $4,100,000 CAD (Approximately $2,887,500 USD)

Footprint: 4,055 Square Feet ( 4 Beds, 4.5 Baths)

Year Built: 1930

Renovation Designer: Stephanie Bryce Interiors

From the Agent: "Tucked in the heart of Burlington’s sought-after Old Roseland, this Tudor home offers exceptional space and refined luxury for family living. Meticulous attention to detail is evident throughout, from the elegant wall treatments and ceiling details to the designer lighting and built-in speakers. The main level features a formal dining room with a woodburning fireplace, a welcoming living room with a gas fireplace, and a chef’s kitchen complete with an Aga stove, paneled fridge, and a butler’s pantry with secondary ovens and dishwasher. A main-floor mudroom with custom millwork adds everyday function and style. Upstairs, the primary bedroom offers a peaceful escape with vaulted ceilings and a luxurious en suite. The fully finished lower level has a spacious rec room, a three-piece bath, and abundant storage."

Originally built in 1930, the home has been updated by current owner and designer, Stephanie Bryce. 

Photo by Monster Media House

The fenced-in backyard has a pool and a stone patio. 

Photo by Monster Media House

Photo by Monster Media House

See the full story on Dwell.com: Original Brickwork Adorns This 1930s Ontario Tudor Seeking $2.9M
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From the Archive: A Closer Look at Artist Jim Isermann’s Pattern Happy Universe

"Ultimately, I still believe in the pragmatic populist ideal that nothing is beneath being improved by being well designed," the designer—whose work spans tiles, handmade rugs, paintings, and more—told Dwell 20 years ago.

Welcome to From the Archive, a look back at stories from Dwell’s past. This story previously appeared in the June 2006 issue.

Many contemporary visual artists are mining the reservoirs of design history in their art practice. Museum exhibitions on the conflation of "art" and "design" abound, generating new discourses and practices that blur critical distinctions between the two realms. One of the artists who has been at the vanguard of these concerns is Palm Springs, California-based Jim Isermann.

Over the last 25 years, Isermann has combined the functional and the aesthetic in complex but surprisingly undidactic work that has consistently provoked questions about the status of art and design. Focusing on the fertile exchange of visual information between high art and postwar industrial design, Isermann has created (among other work) wall hangings, handmade woven rugs and tiles, and vacuum-molded wall modules that seem to celebrate—in the boldest sense—idealized and unmediated visual pleasure.

Today, Isermann divides his work between large-scale commissions like a 9,000-pound chandelier for Genentech Hall, in University of California, San Francisco’s Mission Bay Campus; gallery shows; and new projects, which include the most recent iT House decals and a graphic pattern for fashion designer Trina Turk’s spring line. On the occasion of his recent Deitch Projects show in New York, we thought it was the perfect time to check in with Isermann.

Photos by Darcy Hemley / Fredrik Milsen

Unlike the artists in last year’s Cooper-Hewitt exhibition Design ≠ Art, which featured functional designs by visual artists like Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Rachel Whiteread, your work engages with design on another level. I see your Corvi-Mora modular wall, for example, as a portal to understanding your work. It looks commercially fabricated, but is in fact handmade.

Fabrication of work for gallery shows creates a conundrum for me because it raises all those old questions for viewers as to whether the work is "art" or "design." I work with commercial manufacturers and art fabricators, and I make work by hand, depending on the project. Many artists work with fabricators, but they don’t make art that exists in this no-man’s land between art and design. Yes, at first glance the Corvi-Mora wall looks like it is commercially fabricated, but in fact I spent six months making the 112 modules myself. They are hand-painted and there is a degree of imperfection and difference between them. Like a lot of my practice, the work is not exactly what you initially think it is.

Your work has a very strong effect on its audience. I see it more in the tradition of installation and site-specific art than design, which further complicates what you do.

It’s true that what I do is very open-ended. I design, or I propose, or I make something that functions in a space and has a dual or multiple purpose because it functions as art but does not knock you over the head as being art—or as having an impenetrable concept. It is about a particular quality of experience.

I approach art making, and especially the commissioned work, from a pragmatic point of view. I want to do the best within the given limitations and give something that has a slow, long-term enjoyment that resonates with its site. When you live with something day in and day out, you become attached to it in another way.

Where do you situate yourself on the modernist map?

"Modern" is a word that has many different meanings and is often misused. I used to really be fascinated by work like Verner Panton’s that existed between modern and postmodern. He made the leap, left behind the sterile materials that all the architects were using, and took on new synthetic materials that were all about colors and shapes. It was no longer about ergonomics and organic materials. Instead, he invented a supersaturated color theory and was famous for saying, "One sits more comfortably on a color one likes." I love that stuff. It exists for reasons other than the modern rules. It doesn’t do that postmodern thing, looking backwards—it is very optimistic and forward-looking.

You mentioned that you visited artist Donald Judd’s home and that, in your view, he really was an interior decorator. He made furniture and was obsessive about placement. Do you identify with the term "interior decorator"?

I cavalierly use the word "decorator": I am old enough to have grown up without openly gay role models. Homosexuals were accepted as florists, hairdressers, and, yes, interior decorators. I am not very militantly gay, but when I identify myself as a decorator it is as close as I get to being so. I do think my work has a gay melancholy or sensibility that is very difficult to talk about, and is not available to all.

The art critic Dave Hickey has referred to your work as having a "utopian optimism" that is "essentially domestic" and of the moment. Can you address the idea of utopia?

I guess I do aim for the perfect ideal. The early work was about the failure of modernism’s utopia to solve all the problems with good design for all. So there is a built-in melancholy of that not being achieved. With some of my newer work, there is the physical reality of human imperfection in hand-fabricating modules. Ultimately, I still believe in the pragmatic populist ideal that nothing is beneath being improved by being well designed. And I continue to remake the world piece by piece, object by object.

Photo by Tom Powel Imaging / Courtesy Jim Isermann and Deitch Projects

See more from the Dwell archive on US Modernist.

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Before & After: To Save a Ruined Cottage, They Had to Take It Apart and Put It Back Together Again

Splinter Society dismantled, catalogued, and rebuilt the historic Melbourne home with an industrial rear addition, two courtyards, and a fireplace turned outdoor firepit.

When Cam Bailey bought a crumbling cottage in Melbourne’s Collingwood neighborhood, there didn't seem to be much to save. The property, however, fell under a heritage overlay—a planning control that recognizes historical significance. So, when Cam hired local architectural practice Splinter Society to plan a renovation and extension, they had to carefully dismantle the entire cottage, catalogue its parts, store them off-site, and rebuild it once the addition was completed.

"Honestly, I didn’t go into the project with a strong desire to preserve specific original features, mainly because the cottage was in quite an extreme state of disrepair," recalls Cam. "It was actually a bit of a surprise when it became clear that the existing structure needed to be retained. It required a real shift in how I was thinking about the project, and I had to reconsider what was possible."

In addition to restoring the original cottage, Splinter Society extended the home with an industrial-inspired rear addition and created two courtyards that extend the living space outside and invite natural light into the interiors.

Before: Exterior

In the late 19th century, Collingwood was a large manufacturing precinct with thousands of modest two- and three-room cottages built to house workers. During the 1960s and 1970s, most of the cottages were demolished and replaced by apartment buildings, and today the remaining cottages are deemed historically significant.

Before: "It wasn’t so much the cottage itself that initially drew me in, but the location," says homeowner Cam Bailey. "I had already lived in Collingwood for some time and really loved the area’s energy and character. I was particularly drawn to its industrial heritage and resulting aesthetic."

Photo courtesy of Splinter Society

The house Cam purchased was one of the original cottages, and it was in a severely dilapidated state. "The same old fellow had lived in it forever and had never done anything to it," recalls Splinter Society director Chris Stanley. "The floors had collapsed, the windows were smashed, and it still had the original cooker and bathtub."

Before: The dismantling process required the creation of heritage working drawings of the cottage, followed by the numbering and removal of individual elements. "That included all the decorative timberwork, the windows, and each brick—every single element of the building," says Splinter Society director Chris Stanley. The cottage then had to be completely reconstructed.

Photo courtesy of Splinter Society

After: Exterior

Cam, who works in finance, travels frequently for work, and he bought the home to serve as a base when living in Melbourne. He was attracted to Collingwood’s industrial vibes, and he selected Splinter Society for their track record of transforming old industrial sites. "He wanted layers of industrial, inner-city fabric brought together with a cottage," says Stanley. "It became a question of: how do you reconcile these two things?"

The old and new volumes are clearly distinct in style, but the vertical rhythm of the new cladding echoes the timberwork on the original gable roof, and the neutral color palette.

Photo by Jack Lovel

See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: To Save a Ruined Cottage, They Had to Take It Apart and Put It Back Together Again
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After a Ground-Up Revamp, a Santa Fe Adobe Home Seeks $1.8M

The ’80s post-and-beam residence has been overhauled with a new roof and fresh finishes, systems, windows, and plumbing.

Location: 722 Gonzales Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Price: $1,775,000

Footprint: 4,870 Square Feet (5 Beds, 3.5 Baths)

Lot Size: 1.13 Acres

Year Built: 1985

Renovation Year: 2025

From the Agent: "This home was redesigned to blend midcentury-modern and Santa Fe Southwestern styles, and it brings in natural light with an atrium, clerestory windows, and 14-foot ceilings. The new kitchen is appointed with Fisher & Paykel appliances, creamy Perlato Taj Satin quartzite from Brazil, and a wet bar with wine cooler, sink, and extra storage. In addition, there is a formal dining area perfect for hosting. The primary bedroom features a broad picture window showcasing  sweeping views of the Jemez, Sandias, and Cerrillos Hills plus the city lights of Santa Fe. The bathrooms have been newly redone with quartzite countertops and Italian terrazzo finishes. A separate studio off the garage can be used use as workshop or art studio. New improvements since 2023 include an insulated TPO roof with warranty, fresh exterior stucco and interior plaster, all-new plumbing and interior/exterior lighting fixtures, central air, new skylights, and Sierra Pacific windows throughout."

This Santa Fe home is located on an elevated lot with views of the nearby mountains. 

Photo by Luis Castillo

The adobe exterior conceals a contemporary interior with midcentury-modern accents. 

Photo by Luis Castillo

Photo by Luis Castillo

See the full story on Dwell.com: After a Ground-Up Revamp, a Santa Fe Adobe Home Seeks $1.8M
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They Used Family Farm Equipment to Build a Prefab Home in Spain

Architect Clara Crous designed modular timber-frame structures that she and her partner pieced together using his relatives’ heavy machinery.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Vilamacolum, Spain

Architect: Clara Crous Arquitectura / @claracrousarq

Footprint: 2,260 square feet

Photographer: Montse Capdevila / @montsecapdevila_

From the Architect: "Architect Clara Crous and her partner Carles acquired the last available plot on a street in Vilamacolum, a triangular site framed by the agricultural landscape that has shaped the Alt Empodà region and Carles’s own roots in farming. Carles, who works in digital fabrication with wood and plastic, comes from a family of local farmers, granting him access to a range of machinery for handling large-scale materials. This context made it possible for Clara and her team to conceive the project from the very beginning with self-construction in mind, integrating design, technical resources, and construction timelines.

"The build itself followed the rhythms of the land. Construction began at the end of the corn harvest, when local labor was available to actively participate in the project. What might have seemed a practical coincidence became a guiding principle, linking agricultural cycles with the pace of construction. The house is structured around a light timber frame, prefabricated in the workshop to optimize time and effort. From this framework, Casa Al Pradet unfolds as a series of modules of varying shapes and heights, echoing the vernacular outbuildings traditionally added to Catalan manor houses as families grew.

"Raised almost four feet above the ground due to its location in the lowest part of the village, where rainwater naturally flows toward a river below the site, the house is positioned to shield itself from the tramontana wind. Its staggered volumes respond to the triangular geometry of the plot and the fragmented layout of traditional country houses in the area (masias), blending naturally into the rural landscape.

"Local and natural materials define the project: cork, lime mortar, adobe, hydraulic tiles, and handmade ceramics are used throughout floors, skirtings, exterior surfaces, and small architectural details. Inside, wood shapes both structure and furniture, creating a sense of continuity and warmth. Traditional elements meet modern solutions: shutters have been motorized and are controlled by a smart system that adjusts them according to sun exposure and wind. Outside, a perimeter of ceramic gravel aids drainage, completing a construction approach where every decision balances practical knowledge and technical skill."

Photo by Montse Capdevila

Photo by Montse Capdevila

Photo by Montse Capdevila

See the full story on Dwell.com: They Used Family Farm Equipment to Build a Prefab Home in Spain
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