Frankfort was a small town in 1910 when Rev. Jesse Zeigler, minister of First Presbyterian Church, commissioned famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a house for him, his wife Charlotte, and their three children at 509 Shelby Street. Wright and Zeigler met while traveling overseas, and construction of the house took place while Wright was still in Europe, which may account for the level of detail contained in the working drawings.
These drawings, along with the rich legacy of Wright's influence, have been passed down from the Zeiglers through each of the families who have owned the house since. Current owners Ed and Sue Stodola, who have always admired the architect's work, told themselves that if the house ever became available, they'd consider moving from Lexington to Frankfort where Ed, a Licensed Psychologist, does consulting work for the Cabinet for Families and Children. One day in 2000, Ed saw a "For Sale" sign on his way home from work, and the couple soon became the sixth owners to enjoy and preserve this prairie-style dwelling.
Born in Wisconsin in 1867, Frank Lloyd Wright was strongly influenced by the vast, flat vista of the prairie. His designs are characterized by horizontal planes, including hip roofs and "ribbons of windows" designed to connect the interior of a building to the outside environment. Wright was also a strong believer in "breaking the box" of the Victorian-style houses typical of his day, and his open floor plans encourage mingling.
The 2000-square-foot Zeigler house contains many recognizable Wright elements. Windows and doors surrounded by rich oak framing are connected through a horizontal plane of oak that runs from room to room. And the large windows and doors, 30 of them original art-glass, help to bring the outside in.
Even on overcast and rainy days, light pours into this house. The five art-glass doors in the living room open onto a front patio and provide a panoramic view of the street below. In the kitchen, a relatively small room by today's standards, large windows above the sink provide a welcoming view of the back garden, complete with a dry stone fence built by Ed. "I love this room," Ed said, "and it's because of the windows that it is so inviting."
The central fireplace, another Wright trademark, serves as a focal point for the open floor plan. Even the mortar joints between the bricks support the horizontal theme, with joints on the horizontal plane being much deeper than those on the vertical.
Above the fireplace is a lighted cabinet with art glass doors, a feature unique among Wright's 532 residential designs. Other built-ins include an exquisite buffet in the dining room, its art-glass doors set off with copper caning, as well as closets in the entryway and on the landing to the second floor. According to the plans, the closets on the landing were intended for steamer trunks. Not having much use for steamer trunks these days, Ed and Sue have found more creative uses for this space.
Wright was a minimalist who didn't believe in long-term storage, so his houses were normally built without basements or attics. With a full basement, the Frankfort house is an exception, and previous owners finished it off to include an office, a bath with whirlpool tub and walk-in shower, and spaces for laundry and storage. Even so, Ed and Sue needed more room for foodstuffs, so in 2004 they commissioned master woodworker Paul Elsey to build in closets for a pantry just off the kitchen.
Elsey, born in 1959, the same year Wright died, was determined to execute his work in such a way that the pantry might have been constructed in 1910. However, the stone foundations of the house had subsided in the intervening years, resulting in walls and floors that were no longer plumb or level, and making construction extremely difficult. Using the entryway closets as a guide, Elsey constructed the pantry almost entirely on site, scribing the framing to fit the space exactly. To assure he did the best job possible, he used professional-quality tools from German toolmaker Festool, who was so impressed with the results that they asked him to write about his experience. Sadly, Paul Elsey passed away in late 2005, but a detailed article describing his work can be found on Festool's site http://www.festoolusa.com/woodworking.aspx.
Wright's design genius continues in the home's upstairs. From the outside, the observer sees the unbroken ribbon of windows Wright was famous for, though in actuality they are divided among three bedrooms and a windowed closet. Two of the bedrooms and a study open onto balconies that nestle into the body of the house. The result is space both open and private, the perfect spot to sip champagne under the stars or to stretch out with a book on a quiet, rainy afternoon, protected from the elements and yet fully exposed to the outdoors.
The Zeigler house, the only Wright design built in Kentucky during his lifetime, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. When they first moved in, Ed and Sue would occasionally look up from their dining room table to find tourists peering in at them from the front patio. A "Private Home" sign placed discreetly on the walk leading to the front door has cut down a bit on folks being too "up close and personal," though Ed will frequently see visitors reading the historic marker in front of the house and go out to greet them and answer questions.
One of the couple's most unusual visitors arrived on a Sunday morning several years ago. When the doorbell rang, Ed answered to find a young woman who announced that she taught in the Denmark school system in eastern Wisconsin. "Did someone tell you I lived here?" Ed inquired, but the woman, Anna Schultz, said no, she had gotten information about the house from a brochure she picked up at an Interstate rest area between Louisville and Frankfort.
"Each year I do a unit on Frank Lloyd Wright," Anna said, "so I thought I'd take this opportunity to see one of his houses."
Ed, by this time thoroughly intrigued, explained to Anna that he, too, had attended Denmark schools and that his mother Mildred had been a teacher there. When he asked if she knew the Stodolas, Anna went to the car to get her husband. Not only did they know Ed's mom, it turned out they both had been her fourth-grade students. And Anna taught in the same room Mildred had taught in years ago.
In 1948, when he was 81 years old, Wright visited the Zeigler house he had never seen, reportedly walking right past the somewhat startled owner who had come to answer the door. The way Ed heard the tale, once the owner had recovered, he asked Wright just what he had in mind when he designed the cabinet over the fireplace. "I don't exactly recall," was the reply, "but I'm sure it was something very advanced"!
Wright (never one to boast of modesty) once said, "Not only do I fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. Yes, I intend to be the greatest architect of all time." Though some may dispute whether or not he has achieved his ambition, there is no question that his buildings continue to leave a mark on the people, places, and spaces within their realm. The Zeigler house may be the oldest on Shelby Street, but Wright's innovative design will keep it new for generations to come.