ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — There are plans to open a visitors’ center in Rockford, Illinois, for the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Laurent House , which opened as a museum four years ago.
The Rockford Register Star reports the Laurent House Foundation plans to renovate dilapidated properties across the street from the home. It will offer a visitors’ center, gift shop and have offices and parking. Private donations are funding the $500,000 project. An estimated 2,000 people toured the home last year and it has attracted visitors from Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.
The 2,600-square-foot (242-square-meter) Laurent House, built in the early 1950s, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the only house Wright designed specifically for someone with disabilities.
The foundation won approval Monday from the Rockford City Council to annex the properties.
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Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com
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