Kane Co. Frank Lloyd Wright Farmhouse Owners Seeking Landmark Status

The only known farmhouse designed and built by Wright, which is located in Hampshire, could soon be recognized as a national landmark.

The 3,200-square-foot Muirhead Farmhouse is located at 42W814 Rohrsen Road in Hampshire. The Muirhead family, who still owns the farmhouse, will be heading to Springfield this week to request the home be included by the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council for recommendation as a national landmark, CBS Chicago reports.

Photo credit: Muirhead Farmhouse website

Robert and Elizabeth Muirhead commissioned the home from Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948. Robert was a mechanical engineer who was interested in design and knew of Wright’s work, said current owner Mike Petersdorf, whose wife’s grandparents were Robert and Elizabeth Muirhead, said in a YouTube video.

The family drove up to Taliesin, met Wright’s secretary, which lead to a meeting with Wright that day, and Wright agreed to design a home for them.

After two years of planning, Wright completed a design. Construction on the six-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home was completed in 1953, according to the Daily Herald.

At the time, the home served as an active farm operation. Because of this, there were distinct separations of the home and farm part of the house with the living room and bedrooms on one end and on the other end, the kitchen, the dining room and the workshop, which was an extension of the farm business.

The Usonian-style home is now surrounded by nearly 800 acres of restored prairie.

The Muirhead family. Photo credit: Muirhead Farmhouse website

The hearing in Springfield this week is the first step toward having the property considered for historic status during a federal hearing, the Daily Herald reports.

“It was a dream of my grandmother’s to be listed, but they never took the time to seek the recognition,” Sarah Muirhead told the Daily Herald. “We are pursuing this in their honor.”

Robert and Elizabeth Muirhead moved out of the home after retiring and moving to Wisconsin in the 1980s, according to the article.

The home was run as a bed and breakfast up until 2012. Sarah Muirhead and her husband moved into the home in 2003 and competed a major restoration project, the Daily Herald reports.

Tours are still offered at the farmhouse. To schedule a tour, you can contact Mike and Sarah at 847-464-5224 or by e-mail at info@muirheadfarmhouse.com.

Tours are $15 per person and $10 each for groups of 6 or more. Proceeds go toward the home’s ongoing restoration.