The James B. Christie house—a Frank Lloyd Wright—came up for sale this fall.
The Usonian in New Jersey is actually one of two to come up for sale in the Northeast this season. One hit the market in New Hampshire just last month. That home, the Toufic H. Kalil house, is located in Manchester, dates to 1955, and is priced at $850K. It is a Usonian Automatic, which was Wright’s ‘build-it-yourself’ standardized series of seven preset designs.
The Christie House is located in Bernardsville, New Jersey, dates to 1940, and is priced at $1.495 million. It is one of four homes personally designed by Wright in the Garden State. The low-slung structure was constructed using brick, glass and cypress.
The Usonian style was Wright’s ideal of the ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ house: seemingly effortlessly integrated and expressive of its landscape, liberated by the art of the functional, and of reasonable build cost. They were frequently L-shaped, and many sport a flat roof and ‘stacked plane’ massing.
The interiors of the three-bed, three-bath Christie house are exceedingly warm, with earth tones a-plenty: red brick, plentiful wood, and tile floors. The open concept living area features plank ceilings, a window seat, a brick fireplace and accent wall, and a cottagey kitchen.
The home extends to just 2,000 square feet—but that’s relatively large for a Usonian, and in fact places the Christie house as the largest of Wright’s homes in New Jersey.