The Kalil House in Manchester, New Hampshire, has been officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places, recognizing it as one of only seven Usonian Automatic homes ever built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Now owned by the Currier Museum of Art, the house remains one of the best-preserved examples of Wright’s vision for affordable, high-quality middle-class housing.
Completed in 1957, the Kalil House retains nearly all original furniture, fixtures, textiles, and even stainless-steel kitchen appliances, offering a time-capsule view into Wright’s holistic design philosophy. The home’s modular concrete construction—using 2,580 interlocking blocks—reflects Wright’s ambition to combine simplicity, beauty, and potential owner-built assembly, though the project ultimately proved far more demanding than envisioned.
The single-story, L-shaped concrete structure features Philippine mahogany panels, deep overhangs, and a flat roof. The property also includes a small, unfinished guest house, unique among Usonian Automatic designs. After six decades in the Kalil family, the house opened to the public in 2019 and is now preserved by the Currier Museum, which also stewards the neighboring Zimmerman House, allowing visitors to explore two distinct Wright homes side by side.
The Kalil House stands as a rare, unaltered testament to Wright’s exploration of modularity, material honesty, and democratized design, cementing its place in American architectural heritage.
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