With no attics and no basements, Frank Lloyd Wright's bare bone Usonian houses were designed to control costs. The world famous architect wanted to create democratic housing that anyone in the United States could afford. Wright's vision was well-meaning, but keeping a budget proved difficult. Perhaps it's time to revisit the Usonian ideal?
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Photo of the Toufic Kalil Home in Manchester, New Hampshire ©Jackie Craven
Today, May 18, is the birthday of German-born architect and Harvard professor
Walter Gropius (1883-1969).
For over 30 years, Gropius and his family lived in this house he built near Boston. The stark simplicity of the 1938
Walter Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts may seem very different from the designs of his contemporary,
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). However, both architects shared the aesthetics of a rapidly changing world.
Read More...It's home to the Addams Family. 
It's the haunting hilltop architecture seen in movies such as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Why has the Second Empire or Mansard style house become the perfect setting for horror films and all things spooky?
Read More...With the 18th section of its spire now in place,
One World Trade Center is the tallest building in New York.
At 1,776 feet, the
David Childs-designed structure is now the third tallest skyscraper in the world.
The steel broadcasting tower sits atop the 104-story office building built on the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks. When the World Trade Center Twin Towers were destroyed on 9/11, the Empire State Building became New York's tallest building, as it had been when it opened on May 1, 1931.
But now, lower Manhattan is getting back in business. The spire doesn't quite look like the architect's rendering, but when the top beacon is finally lit later this year, New York's tallest building will be visible for 50 miles in every direction.
Photo of spire installed on May 10, 2013 courtesy Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
