Frank Lloyd Wright - Stockman House

Every good story starts with a friendship. The Stockman House is no different. The Hillside Home School in Spring Green, WI was run by two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s aunts and attended by the daughters of Mason City attorney, James E.E. Markley. In 1902, Wright had completed the school’s second building and developed a friendship with Markley.

Markley and James E. Blythe, another prominent Mason City attorney, sat on the Board of Directors of the City National Bank. When the bank decided to construct a new building, Markley recommended his friend, Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1907-1908, Wright traveled to Mason City several times as discussions continued for the proposed bank building, which now included a hotel and offices for the Blythe, Markely, Rule and Smith law firm.

One of Markley’s neighbors, Dr. George C. Stockman, met with Wright who agreed to design a home for Stockman and his wife, Eleanor, in Mason City.

The Stockman House is the third iteration of Wright’s Fireproof House, a plan published in the April 1907 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. It features cantilevered roofs and a projecting entrance, broad veranda and a 2nd story balcony. The functionally efficient home has a revolutionary L-shaped open floor plan consisting of living spaces without walls. The house is stucco over frame construction, unlike the original Fireproof House which was to be constructed with reinforced concrete.